Fear vs. Hope

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)

The apostle Paul’s life took a dramatic change in direction the day the Lord Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, where he was going to find Jews who had come to a faith in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. He had letters from the religious authorities in Jerusalem to arrest these Christians and throw them in jail. He had previously participated in the execution of Christians.

But Jesus himself appeared to Paul and gave him a new life mission: to take the good news about Jesus to the Gentiles (non-Jews). In one day his life turned completely around. He went from being a persecutor of Christians to becoming one of the persecuted believers that the Jews hated. He had to be let down over the city wall in Damascus in a basket so that he could escape death.

The book of Acts in the Bible gives us a lot of information about Paul’s missionary journeys and all the opposition and persecution he faced in carrying out his mission that Jesus himself had given to him. He wrote once to his young apprentice in the faith, Timothy, the following truth: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12) Paul spent a lot of time in jail cells, and was physically beaten many times as well, including being stoned one time, and left outside a city for dead. But these things never stopped him from continuing the mission Jesus had given him, as he wrote to Timothy:

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra--which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. (2 Timothy 3:10-11)

Did the pressure ever get to Paul? Yes, it most certainly did. The opening verse above states: “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.” He was a human being with feelings and emotions just like you and me. He felt the pressure. He “despaired,” or got depressed, and even thought he would probably die on some of these occasions.

But the one thing that kept him going each time was having the proper perspective on his circumstances. He did not give in to fear, but instead turned to God in faith and hope: “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” He knew that if he tried to rely on his own strength, his own wisdom or his own education, that he would never make it. His reliance and total trust had to be on God alone: the God who raises the dead. With a God like that supporting you, what is there to fear, when death itself has no power over you?

Are you facing difficult pressures in life today that are tempting you to give in to fear and depression? Do you need a fresh perspective on your circumstances? Could it be that God has put you in the position you are in today because he wants you to stop relying on yourself and instead start relying totally on him?

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (words of Paul Philippians 3:3-14)

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What is Perfect Knowledge?

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

In previous devotionals we have discussed the many meanings of the word “knowledge” as well as the word “science.” Science used to be a synonym for knowledge, but in modern times has taken on a much more narrow meaning that constrains it to only the physical realm.

In the famous “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul makes this statement about knowledge: “...as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.” (1 Corinthians 13:8-10) So what knowledge is Paul talking about, and how can it “pass away?”

In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul is comparing spiritual gifts that are given to the church for the mutual edification of the church. In chapter 12 the church is described as a “body.” Some of these manifestations of the Spirit are temporary in nature, in contrast to love, agape love, which is eternal. The word knowledge in this context does not have the more narrow meaning that our modern day culture associates with science, the observation of physical facts. It refers to a kind of knowledge that is obtained through a relationship; in this case, a relationship with God through his Spirit. This kind of knowledge is communicated to us by someone else who possesses the knowledge.

We utilize this kind of knowledge in our every day life. If I want to possess knowledge about how a car operates, for example, I can learn that a car operates on gasoline in two different ways. I can try operating the car with some other liquid or fuel source and find out directly through experimentation and observation, or I can rely on someone else’s knowledge either told to me directly, or learned by obtaining the information provided by others, such as books. Knowledge obtained without direct observation of the facts is only as reliable as the reliability of the source of my “second-hand” information. Most of our knowledge is obtained in this way, even in the physical world. We usually learn this knowledge from others – not from direct “scientific” discovery.

The knowledge that we obtain directly from God through his Spirit is an imperfect knowledge. Paul compares it to looking through a dim mirror. Glass mirrors were apparently not invented until the 13^th century, and burnished metal was used for mirrors in the city of Corinth in Paul’s day. An image seen in these mirrors was not very clear. Likewise our knowledge of God, a knowledge based on a relationship, is not very clear at this time. The reason for this is because we are imperfect while we are still living in our sinful bodies. Our spirits can be immediately recreated through the rebirth process, but our bodies will not be transformed until after our physical death. So our sinful flesh becomes a lousy filter for God’s knowledge that is given to us through the Spirit.

But a day is coming, after we die the physical death, where we will be able to look at God face to face! “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” In that day the sinful flesh will have been removed and no longer be able to obstruct God’s word to us. We will hear him and see him perfectly – there will be no doubt as to whether or not he is the one speaking to us.

So until that day, how do we obtain God’s knowledge? We work hard to minimize sin’s obstruction of hearing God’s word in our life:

So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8:12-14)

“Perfect knowledge” then is not defined by “knowing everything” that exists in the physical realm. As created beings, that is impossible for us, even in the future after our physical death and we take on new perfect bodies. Only God can know everything about his creation, the physical realm. Perfect knowledge then is defined by having a perfect relationship. It is knowing without doubt who God is, and what he is saying.

Jesus is a perfect example of this kind of knowledge. Even though the world was created by Jesus before he took on human form and came to earth as the Son of God, once he came to earth and was born into the flow of human history, he was constrained in his knowledge by his human body. There were certain things he did not know:

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. (Matthew 24:36)

And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” (Mark 5:30)

However, Jesus had no earthly father, and he had no sin in his flesh. So the obstruction of sin was not present in Jesus’ body to prevent him from having perfect communication with God:

Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19)

Imagine the power of a human life perfectly in tune with God’s Spirit, doing nothing but exactly what God was communicating to that person! This is the kind of life Jesus lived; doing only what God was leading him to do, and accomplishing God’s perfect will in his life (and death). Jesus’ life serves as an example for us to follow and strive for:

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Perfect knowledge then is not defined by how much we know about the physical universe. That kind of knowledge "puffs up" and makes one arrogant. Perfect knowledge is defined by how well we know God, and how closely we allow God’s Spirit to lead us day by day, rather than giving in to the sinful desires of our flesh.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16-25)

So let’s strive to be like Jesus who said: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” If you have been born again into God’s kingdom, God’s Spirit lives in you, and you have the ability and opportunity to have sweet fellowship with God and learn everything he wants you to do today. Are you taking advantage of that opportunity?

Since we are imperfect vessels to hear God’s word, make sure you take time out each day to read and meditate on his written word, the Bible, which can impart more knowledge to you than all the “science” books in the world combined could ever impart. Let God do the talking, and you do the following. Your life will be radically changed.

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Who is Responsible for Providing Healthcare?

If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you. (Exodus 15:26)

But you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst. (Exodus 23:25)

The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed; In his illness, You restore him to health. (Psalms 41:3)

Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases… (Psalms 103:3)

Ask any believing Jew in Old Testament times this question: “Who is responsible for providing your healthcare?”, and it is unlikely they would have even had to think about the answer. The answer was very clear in the Old Testament writings: The LORD our God, the one who created us, is the one who heals us and gives us our health.

Ask that same believing Jew who they would turn to for help if they were sick, and their answer would be equally as quick in their reply: the priests. They were the ones who administered God’s health care plan:

and the priest shall examine the diseased area… (Lev. 13:3)

Take care, in a case of leprous disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. (Deuteronomy 24:8)

Now let’s fast forward to the believers living in the days of Jesus and ask them the same question: Who is responsible for providing your healthcare?

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him (Jesus); and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them. (Luke 4:40)

Great crowds came to him (Jesus), bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. (Matthew 15:30)

But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. (Luke 5:15)

The news about Jesus and his power to heal spread far and wide, and crowds sought him out. Everyone who believed in Jesus knew that he had the authority and power to heal, because they witnessed it first hand. They trusted in him for their health. But it was not yet time to set up his physical kingdom, and he was a threat to those in power at that time, so he allowed the authorities to kill him. His sacrificial death on the cross satisfied God’s punishment against sin. As we have noted in other places, sin is the cause of all sickness, either directly or indirectly. If there had never been any sin, there would never have been any disease or sickness in a perfect world. So Jesus’ death took care of that problem once and for all. In the Old Testament times, continual blood sacrifices were needed to cover up the effects of sin.

But Jesus’ healthcare plan did not stop when he died his physical death. Jesus still lives today, and he passed the administration of his healthcare plan on to his disciples:

These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them…. “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:5-8)

And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. (Luke 9:2)

At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number, to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed. (Acts 5:12-16)

God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. (Acts 19:11-12)

So believers living at the time of Jesus or during the beginning of the church right after his death, would answer the question as to who was responsible for their healthcare by stating their belief that Jesus was their healer, and the one who restores them to a relationship with God, resulting in health. The apostle Peter wrote:

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

Healing was not seen as simply dealing with sickness in the physical realm only, but also as a spiritual problem with sin that only Jesus could heal. And if you would ask these believers in Christ who they would turn to for help when they were sick, they would reply that they turned to their leaders in the church, because Jesus passed on his ministry of healing to his disciples. James, the brother of Jesus who became one of the key leaders in the church at Jerusalem wrote the prescription for us:

Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:13-20)

Now fast forward to today, the 21^st century, and walk into any church in America and ask the believers this same question: Who is responsible for providing your healthcare? What would be the response? Would they respond in a similar way that believers have always responded throughout the history of the Bible, a book which is the written record of God’s people and their faith in God? I don’t think so. I think most believers today think “healthcare” is equivalent to “medical care” and the domain of drugs, doctors, insurance companies, and hospitals, which in most cases only deal with the physical realm, and is part of a multi-billion dollar industry that controls our economy. I think most believers today would take sides in the debate as to who should be paying for this medical system that is called “healthcare,” rather than discuss what true health is, and what true healthcare is. The world system built upon the foundation of humanism and evolution has defined the term for “healthcare” for us, and Christians are not even debating it.

Wake up America! You have traded the truth for a lie, and equated “healthcare” with what is actually medical care: a system that for the most part only manages disease and brings great profit (and power) to those in charge of the system. Instead of seeing Jesus as the one who is responsible for our healthcare, and the leaders of the church as responsible for administering it, we have turned to the world system built upon the lie of evolution and humanism, and made it our idol as we trust in it for our “health.” The result is a highly technical system, but very sick people.

But as we have noted in other places, real health is not something that can be purchased. It is a free gift given to those who put their trust in the right things, instead of lies. When will we repent and turn to the one who truly can offer us true health? Let’s stop participating in the debate of who is going to make the providers of the medical system richer, and instead start debating the true meaning of healthcare!

I am the LORD, who heals you. (Exodus 15:26)

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What is the Purpose of Your Sickness?

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:29-32)

The “Lord’s Supper” was something Jesus himself had set up to commemorate his death on the cross, and the beginning of the New Covenant where the bread and wine symbolized his body and blood: the bread symbolizes his broken body and the wine symbolizes the blood he shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. But in the city of Corinth some participants were not acting like believers at all. They were acting like carnal people still walking in the kingdom of darkness. Gluttony and drunkenness were being observed in some of these celebrations of the Lord’s Supper, and the result was that some of them had become weak and sick, and some of them had even died as a result of their “eating the bread or drinking the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner.” They were “guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord,” and their sickness was a result of God’s judgment on their sin. They did not take the Lord’s Supper seriously, and suffered as a result.

Paul then states this very important principle: “But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” Sickness is often a way that God is judging us to try and get our attention; to get us to repent and start moving in a different direction. It is the discipline of a loving heavenly father who wants us to enjoy his blessings, and not the judgments he needs to carry out against the kingdom of darkness and those walking in that darkness. When we are reborn into God’s kingdom, we become children of God and can walk in the light of that kingdom. But if we choose to continue walking in the darkness even after we have become God’s children, we will often suffer many of the same consequences that those who are not God’s children suffer in the kingdom of darkness. God disciplines us as his children:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:1-13)

I realize that the idea of our sickness being a result of our sins is not a popular message today, because our humanistic culture is built upon the foundation of evolution, and it has taught us to believe that all sickness is a result of natural causes that we can control in our environment. The drug companies have developed a medicine or vaccine for just about every problem now with this belief system. If they cannot find a cause for the sickness in the natural realm, they usually just cite the cause as "stress" and give a pill for that too. The spiritual realm, including sin, is usually not even acknowledged. While it is certainly true that our environment, the physical realm, can cause us to be sick, we should first examine ourselves and see if there is a spiritual cause. Sin is very real, and it has very real consequences in our physical bodies. If God is disciplining us through our sickness, then physical remedies (natural or medical) will probably not work:

Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you. (Jeremiah 46:11)

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored? (Jeremiah 8:22)

Are you properly evaluating your sickness and its causes? There can be many causes of sickness, including physical causes and spiritual causes. The spiritual causes are most often related to sin, as we read above in I Corinthians chapter 11. If the cause of our sickness is spiritual, the solution is also spiritual:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)

Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord… (Acts 3:19)

If you one of God’s adopted children and have been granted access into his kingdom, do not ignore the discipline of your loving heavenly father! His goal and purpose in your struggles is to draw you closer to him and to be separated from the kingdom of darkness which will experience his condemnation and judgment.

So when you experience sickness, do you trust in a humanistic culture and their solutions, or are you like King David who knew who to trust in when he faced sickness?

O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. (Psalms 30:2)

The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. (Psalms 41:3)

Related article: Who do You Run to When You are Sick?

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