"And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind Him, and touched the hem of His garment: For she said within herself, if I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned about, and when He saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour." Matthew 9:20-22
Note: Even if you never had any doubt and faith that was unwavering, you would still be in the world and subject to the free will of others to interfere with your life and to provide a cause and effect that does not always end favorably.
"She said within herself." If you have ever wondered just how important God thinking might be, here is the center of how our faith works. The mind of God hears the voice of man, whether it is spoken outwardly or just thought inwardly. What we think becomes awfully important in light of this truth.
"She said within herself, if I may but touch His garment , I shall be whole." Whether she was a religious person or not, whether she had read the scriptures or not, what she said within herself was a statement that only faith can generate. At least up unto this time it had not been so, that if you thought in your mind, that if you touched the edge of Jesus's clothes, you would be healed of a disease that you had been suffering from for twelve years. This was the kind of thinking that comes from believing that God is who He says He is. This is the kind of faith that comes from understanding the omnipotence and the omniscience and the holiness of God. This is the kind of faith that is available to every one of us.
If you are not getting this kind of faith-building teaching at your church, at some point in time, it would do you well to think deeper and let God teach you about Himself for a season. It will change your mind. If you are a pastor and you have trouble believing that verses like these are just as potent today as when they were written, you too need to let God teach you about Himself for a season. It would do your congregation more good if you were to take a sabbatical, than to teach the Bible with doubt in your heart. Doubt interrupts the connection between God and man that brings about healing and miracles.
Ok, so does that meant that there is no formula that always works, every time? Yes and no. Yes, with faith all things are possible and with faith you can move mountains, but all of this is under the parameters set by the Express will of God and in that express will of God there is in operation unbelief and doubt by those who oppose the will of God and do adversely to the provisions within the will of God that negative affect certain outcomes. Trusting God always works is a fact, but trusting God does not foretell the outcome. Yes, God knows the outcome, but you will find that the outcome is not always what you perceive is the will of God for you.
No, formula's don't work. Formula's are religious in origin and designed by man to incorporate the church polity into the schema of God's economy. No God can not be thwarted by some religious jargon, nor can the will of God be suppressed or altered by some religious rite or some polity rule or some church doctrinal statement. Formulas are for the religious minded and they work or don't work based on the unpredictable outcome of life's events, but in no way do the formulas avert God's will or alter the written Word of God of thwart the inner man working of the Holy Spirit.
The takeaway from this is Doubt interrupts the connection between God and man that brings about healing and miracles.
No comments:
Post a Comment