18 Comments on Is Jesus the same yesterday, today, and forever?

Bobby on Fri, 2nd Sep 2005 03:04


Hey Brian, interesting post! You said:

“Disclaimer: I am speaking in temporal terms here, just as most of the Scripture speaks in temporal terms. I believe God is completely sovereign over everything and nothing thwarts His will.”

Aha, so you do believe in “two wills” of God, His absolute will (sovereign), and His ordained will (temporal outworking)–this is a distinction that many church fathers also made :).

But more on point to your post. I see what you’re driving at, “that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” but this doesn’t necessarily lead to the fact that He will heal “all” who come to Him now in faith (i.e. just because He did that in fulfillment of passages like Is. 35 to establish the fact that He indeed is the promised Messiah–giving people a foreshadowing of what they can expect in the future Messianic Age–doesn’t establish such action as normative on Jesus’ part, presently speaking).

Indeed I agree with you, that Is 53 points to the fact that Jesus’ atonement took care of physical and mental illness and death–but Jesus inagurated His Messianic kingdom at His first coming–and will consummate it at His 2nd coming–then all disease and sickness will be healed.

I don’t disagree with you, that physical and mental healing are something that God is accomplishing, even today, I just don’t think they are normative (i.e. they are still miracles–out of the norm). I think the Mt. passage you quote above should be framed in light of an eschatological and proleptic understanding. In other words the “Shalom” that Jesus inagurated at His first coming is yet to be futuristically realized at His second. I think the “NOW and the NOT YET” distinction is a healthy one that should be applied to the issue you have brought up for discussion here. I think this helps provide a proper perspective when trying to understand the concerns surrounding biblical healing.

I did’nt know you considered yourself “reformed”. Although I started to wonder when I saw you listed on the Jollybloggers “League of Reformed Bloggers” list :). That’s ok–I’ll still keep reading and interacting with you on your blog :).

Bobby

BA on Fri, 2nd Sep 2005 09:18


Bobby,

Well I am not quite sure what I believe on the “two wills” thing. I am still trying to work that out. However, I know I believe the Scripture, so it is just a matter of trying to understand something that doesn’t seem logical (if that is even possible). There is no doubt that the Scripture lays out the free will of man. God tells us to make choices, God changes His mind after men in the Bible prayed, etc etc… (I call this the temporal tone of the Scripture). In addition, the Scripture clearly teaches that God is totally Sovereign. So for me it is about teaching both of those things and not trying to make the Scripture fit into my human understanding.

The “now and not yet” is also something I am not totally sure on. It definitely helps in understanding certain aspects of the Scripture. Some people apply the “now and not yet” concept to other things as well (i.e. Satan being defeated on the cross, yet he still works in the world). I don’t disagree with the concept…I just haven’t formulated a solid opinion on it.

I meet most of the “qualifications” of being considered reformed. I hold to the 5 solas, I agree with some of the doctrine in the canon of dort, etc etc…

However, I am not real hip on being put in a box by a label. First and foremost, I call myself a Christian. In addition, I am not prejudice against any of my brothers and sisters who claim to be Christians. If someone claims to be a Christian I judge their doctrine based on Scripture. I personally don’t really make a big distinction with a label (in thought that is). I may actually use labels as shortcuts for meanings in writing or conversation. For example, if I read a blog that discusses Scripture, I am not really looking for whether they are reformed or not. I am not looking for whether they are a calvin or an arminian. I am looking at whether it is Scripturally sound or not. In addition, I do not stop interacting with someone just because I disagree with some of their doctrine. I have good friends that are both die hard arminians and die hard calvinists, not to mention preterists (I do believe full preterism is borderline, if not totally, heresy).

I appreciate the comments as much of what I blog about is me working out the truth (and my understanding) of the Scripture. I think that feedback, whether it be from blogs or writings from other Christians, is a good component of that process.

AMDG

Bobby on Fri, 2nd Sep 2005 12:01


Brian, I appreciate your response! I hope you know that I was “kidding” about the reformed thing–”a bit of tongue in cheek” :). I would place myself on the “reformed” continuum–just not along the same lines as most people over at Challies.com or, for example, with someone like the Whitehorse Inn (i.e. Michael Horton). Obviously I have no problem interacting with all traditions within “Christendom”. I think if we could engage in collegial/Christian dialogue we could learn a lot from eachother, i.e. abandon our “sectarian” attitudes.

I think there are various theological concepts that help capture realities that are presented in scripture, like the “now and the not yet” concept (i.e. realizing that an amil and a pre-mil use this language differently).

BA on Fri, 2nd Sep 2005 14:58


Question for you Bobby…

If we take the “now and not yet approach” to healing. How can we pray for healing and have faith that we are healed? Would we not be waivering in thinking that maybe it isn’t God’s will to heal us just yet?

It seems when I ask for healing I have to ask in faith so I am not like a wave that is blown and tossed around in the sea (otherwise I can expect nothing). I have to believe that God took my sickness on the cross and that I am going to get healed when I ask for healing. I have a hard time reconciling the two ideas.

BTW, I knew you were kidding and I took no offense whatsoever.

AMDG

Bobby on Sat, 3rd Sep 2005 01:46


I think that the reality of the “New Creation” interfacing with the “Old Creation” is the current reality of our lives right now. Much like Eph. 1:13; II Cor. 1:21; II Cor. 5:5 point to, we have been given a deposit/guarantee of what has already been purchased by Christ (Heb 10:10). This applies to physical healing as well. Indeed, Christ did bear our ailments in His body (Rom 8:3)–but He never said that these bodies would be glorified (thus no total immunity to death, sickness, and disease) now; rather we are looking forward to the day that the salvation Christ won will be fully realized in the escaton. Rev. 21 says that the eternal state will be the place where there will be no more sickness, disease, and death–not “now”.

You’re right, if Jesus wanted to heal everyone, right now, He could–but this is not contingent upon “how much ‘faith’ we can muster up”; but rather on God’s compassionate, and from my perspective, not His, arbitrary pleasure. For example, Mark 4:4-4 says,

“Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. 5. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’”

Indeed faith was involved in this scenario, but whose, not the paralytic’s, apparently, but his friends faith.

Or what about Lazarus’ faith, in John 11, talk about a healing, did he have faith in God to raise him from dead–of course not :); rather God (Jesus) choose to raise him from the dead (heal) for His purposes. Interestingly, with Lazarus, Jesus is in fact pointing to His own death and resurrection–which provided the real hope for Lazarus who still died again physically.

I think you can ask God in faith for healing, and still have the attitude “if” the Lord wills. Faith in God says He knows best–His action, one way or the other, is not necessarily contingent upon our faith–although without our faith/trust I think we fail to discern God’s action. If we are sick, and die, and we had been asking God to heal us–well He did–the moment we enter eternity the realization of His atonement is realized–at that point we are eternally healed.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26. and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
–Jn. 11:25-26

God’s perspective on death (I would consider physical/mental sickness part of the death process) and life obviously is much different than ours. My answer, to your question, might not be the most “pastoral”, but I think it’s an attempt at viewing your hard question through an eternal/biblical perspective.

I’ll end with part of a prayer of David, which I believe reflects a prayer of faith and trust in God’s wisdom (applicable to asking for deliverance from physical/mental sickness):

“13. But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, at an acceptable time; O God, in the greatness of Your lovingkindness, answer me with your saving truth. . . .” –Ps. 69:13ff

I hope this answer helps you a bit more . . .

Glenn Piper on Wed, 7th Sep 2005 07:21


Hi,
I have been chronically ill for the last 3 years with Hep C. I believe in healing, I have personally witnessed amazing healings which were medically confirmed.
In my case God used the illness to teach me many things and to cement into my spirit lessons for now and the future.
Did I pray for healing? Of course I did, but gradually God showed me He had a purpose in not healing me at that time.
So, is Jesus the same now and forever? Oh yes.
Does He heal today? Oh yes
Does He always heal? No. Otherwise no christian would die of anything because Jesus would be healing them.
In the bible you read that He healed ‘all’ in most cases, but if you read carefully you will find at least 2 occasions when He healed ‘most of them’, not ‘all’.
Sometimes how we handle being ill as a Christian is more of a testimony to the greatness of our Lord than being healed.
Don’t forget that Pauls advice to Timothy concerning his stomach problems was not that he should be availing himself of healing, but to mix some wine with his water.
Also Paul was told by God that ‘My grace is sufficient’ in regard to the ‘Thorn in the flesh’, whatever it was.
God does heal, but it is not an automatic right and it is not always.

blestwithsons on Wed, 7th Sep 2005 20:33


Jesus also raised several dead people, but that’s not something you still see happening. I think the “rules” (for lack of a better word - I’m tired!) were different when He was here on earth and doing miracles to testify to His Godhead. (am I making any sense?)

BA on Wed, 7th Sep 2005 23:54


Glenn,

I don’t doubt that many Christians don’t get healed. However, I still don’t see anywhere in the Scripture where Jesus denied or delayed healing to any person that asked. Not to mention that we are told to pray for healing and believe (have faith). We know that He has taken our sickness and disease upon himself. I don’t go for the whole “thorn in the flesh” thing either…the argument is weak. I must say that I do agree with you that God does not automatically heal people though. The point of the article is more of a question of Scriptural “facts” vs temporal experience.

blestwithsons,

I personally don’t think that there is really a difference in operation. That was one of the points (questions) in writing about it. In fact, if there were a difference, I would have to say He operates in a more powerful position now than He did when He was walking the earth.

In all this, I don’t really have the answer as to why some Christians do not get healed. As stated in my original post, I do believe in the complete Sovereignty of God. However, I cannot deny what the Scripture teaches about healing and I have to tell myself that the Scripture supersedes my experience. The other thing to remember for all of us is that we live in a temporal world, bound by time…we do not live outside of time as God does…I think this is an important fact that many calvinists need to keep in mind.

BTW, great comments. As mentioned before, they are really helpful.

AMDG

blestwithsons on Thu, 8th Sep 2005 06:27


Of course Scripture supercedes our experiences. But every time someone is showing you something is Scripture that goes against the position you seem to be taking - you brush it off. Paul’s thorn in the flesh is an excellent example - you call it weak. Why is it weak? Paul asked to be healed. Paul obviously had tremendous faith. Paul was told “No”. I think that is significant.

And nothing changes the fact that it is appointed to men once to die. Saying that all Christians can be/should be healed of illness is saying that we can only die properly if it’s from a sudden accident (no time to ask to be healed) or old age.

And saying that Jesus was doing miracles when He was here and not doing them in the same way now is not a judgment on His power. Just because He may be choosing Not to heal people now doesn’t mean that He can’t. And I’m sure there were plenty of sick people on the planet while He was here that He did not heal.

While I absolutely believe that Jesus can heal… I also believe that in His sovereignty He may choose not to heal. There is nothing in Scripture that promises us freedom from suffering - quite the opposite in fact.

One other thing I’ve always found interesting is that the whole “prosperity gospel” thing (not quite what you are espousing - but related) is that you don’t find it in countries which are less fat and sassy than America. Christians in the Sudan, or Iraq, or any poor nation you want to pick - are not under the impression that everything on earth will be golden once they get enough Faith. I think our tremendous earthly blessings in this country make it hard for us to remember that we’re supposed to be living for the reward to come. Dan Edelen over at Cerulean Sanctum had a good post on that yesterday…

BA on Thu, 8th Sep 2005 09:17


blestwithsons,

First off, nobody has shown me Scripture that goes against my position. They have done nothing but talk about their experience and why they don’t see what they want. When I say “weak”, I am referring to Scriptural proof. Who says Paul’s thorn in the flesh was “sickness”? It surely isn’t Scripture. I have read several books that say it is sickness and several books that say it is not sickness. That is called a “weak” position. Scripture doesn’t give us enough information on the issue to take a strong stand one way or the other.

Again, as far as Jesus operates. You opinion is nice, but I need Scripture to show that somehow He operates differently today than He did when He was on the earth. Unfortunatly, your experience, my experience or anyone else’s experience isn’t going to cut it. Scripture supports what I am saying here and overwhelmingly so. Experience supports other positions.

Go back to my original post and read the Scripture I mentioned. Then let me ask you…

You say Scripture doesn’t promise physical healing. Does it promise forgiveness of sin? In the same respect that Jesus took on your sin He took on your sickness - that is Scripture.

In addition, I am not from the “health and wealth” camp in the respect that it is a “faith” thing. However, the Scripture is overwhelming when it comes to promises from God about health and wealth. There are also Scriptures that talk about suffering for Christ’s sake. Something I realized just as I was typing this (and something I need to look at more closely) is that the promises of good things, health, and prosperity all seem to be very general promises to the obedient and God fearing people. I believe the verses that speak of suffering are very specific and written to certain people. Without actually studying it in more detail I would still say both apply to everyone. However, it is interesting to note that certain “camps” love to go into the context of a verse in relation to who it was written specifically to and who the writer was talking to on certain verses pertaining to salvation and the death of Christ (as well as other things) - a la inconsistent hermeneutics.

At any rate, good conversation…all I have time for now.

P.S. I will probably do a blog entry at some point looking for some sort of Scriptural proof showing a different “operation” of Christ and the Holy Spirit in the church. I don’t think there is any Scriptural support for such a position, however, that is for a different blog entry.

AMDG

blestwithsons on Thu, 8th Sep 2005 11:20


I didn’t say Scripture didn’t promise physical healing. I said it didn’t promise freedom from suffering. There’s a big difference.

You know, there are a lot of things that we have to use both Scripture and our experiences to piece together what Christ would have us do. Try parenting. Yes there are Scriptures about child-rearing…but certainly not scriptures to give a detailed answer to every problem I face on a daily basis with my kids. Basically, if you take the position that every Christian is promised absolute physical healing from illness - and if they don’t get it then they must be doing something wrong… Well, You are condemning a whole lot of people. Bill Bright - disease. Dawson Trotman - heart defect. Larry Burkett - disease. Joni Eareckson Tada - spinal injury (or are we just talking about illnesses and not injuries - where do you draw the line?) .. the list goes on and on. So did these people not have enough faith? Did they not have the wisdom to grasp this Spiritual truth?

Anyway - you said you didn’t have any more time for now - which I take as a dismissal. No worries - I don’t need a response to this comment. One other thought for you and I both though… Are you currently sick? Cause I’m not. I do wonder if both of us are wasting brain power on an issue that might be distracting us from more immediate spiritual issues that we ought to be acting upon. Do you know what I mean? (and I really am including myself in this) I don’t know about you, but I find it a whole lot easier to sit around and debate theological issues than to just start obeying stuff that I know for sure.

Thanks for the back-n-forth. Have a great day!!

BA on Thu, 8th Sep 2005 11:52


blestwithsons,

I don’t believe there is a promise for feedom from “suffering” either. Perhaps I missed your point.

I encourage you to read my entry on why I blog if you haven’t already. That really is my purpose in all of this discussion. I really enjoy discussion/learning about Christ, the Scripture and anything to do with it.

We learn some parenting from experience but Scripture is our guide (it has clear teaching on the subject that my wife and I try to follow). I must mention it is difficult to follow the Scripture 100% of the time too, but we try.

I was specifically speaking of sickness/disease. I do take the position that every Christian is promised absolute physical healing from illness. However, I am not so sure about the “doing something wrong part”. I am not going to make that statement. I really don’t have the answer as to why Christians get sick and some even die of sickness/disease. Off the top of my head I can only think of one instance in the Scripture (NT) the question was asked about a person that was healed and Jesus answered the question in the great Godly fashion that He answered almost all questions posed to Him (I love His answers).

John 9:1-3 NET. Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. (2) His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?” (3) Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him.

So for me I don’t know the exact answer. However, I do know that the Scripture promises physical healing and that Christ took upon himself our sickness and diseases. I do know that Christ always healed everyone who came to Him (and asked Him) for healing (without delay). I do know that there isn’t any Scriptural proof for Christ “operating” differently today than He did in the New Testament. So that is pretty much where I stand on the subject at the moment.

James 5:14-15 NET. Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. (15) And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up — and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

I am not currently sick, however, I do get sick from time to time…I am surely not making the claim that I never get sick. I don’t believe we can ever waste brain power when we are discussing The Word, however, I do know what you mean. Many times I “blog out loud” about things that I think about in my ongoing process to conform my mind to the Scripture. As always, I will continue my study of the Scripture and seek the truth in it as I mold my understanding and perception to God’s Word.

I enjoyed the discussion.

AMDG

Bobby on Sat, 10th Sep 2005 02:11


Brian said,

“I really don’t have the answer as to why Christians get sick and some even die of sickness/disease.”

Here’s one more passage to answer the “why” question here:

“The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart; merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil.”

–Is. 57:2

I think that’s one good reason “why” Christians still get sick and die. Another good reason, I think, is discussed in Romans 8:12-39. The reality is, is that we still live in a fallen world in fallen bodies (mortal bodies soon to be swallowed by immortal bodies cf. I Cor 15). We wait in hope groaning for the revelation of the sons of God. Jesus indeed has done all to guarantee (II Cor 5:5) total wellness–but not now–he promised that to be normative in the future escaton (Rev. 21).

When reading narrative in the Bible, which gospel literature falls under, it’s important to, hermeneutically, keep in mind the distinction of “prescriptive” and”descriptive”. Narratives primary intent is descriptive, i.e. reporting the story line of the gospel message found in the life and time of Jesus (remember I said primary intent, I’m not saying there aren’t intentional didactic sections embedded in gospel narrative–i.e. sermon on the mount); but the examples you cite, Brian, are definitely of the descriptive sort which are intending to bare witness to the fact that Jesus is the promised son of David, son of God, etc. (various emphases represented by the gospel writers).

Brian said,

“However, I do know that the Scripture promises physical healing and that Christ took upon himself our sickness and diseases. I do know that Christ always healed everyone who came to Him (and asked Him) for healing (without delay). I do know that there isn’t any Scriptural proof for Christ “operating” differently today than He did in the New Testament. So that is pretty much where I stand on the subject at the moment.”

But, Brian, there isn’t any scriptural proof that the way Jesus operated while physically on earth was to serve as normative for the intradvental state. The burden of proof is really on you to show that Jesus’ operation was, and thus, is normative for today. This has nothing to do with whether he is the same yesterday, today, or tomorrow–it has everthing to do with Him working out His sovereign purpose–He heals some temporally and some He “heals” by allowing them to die and be “eternally healed”–for His own good/loving reasons.

BTW, Brian, do you think Jesus ever got sick when He was walking on this planet, He was completely human after all? I would argue that He did get sick and tired, pre-resurrected body; but His post-resurrection body (glorified body) never will get sick. We are still in the pre-resurrected body, longing in hope for our glorified bodies. I argued this way above, but you didn’t seem to think it was scriptural or substantial or something :); at least judging by your comments with blestwithsons.

Hope this adds some more healthy fodder for discussion!

BA on Sat, 10th Sep 2005 12:22


As far as burden of proof…I like to put the burden of proof on “experience”. If we just look at Scripture and let it speak without trying to usurp our experience over what the Scripture says then we can easily come to the conclusion that physical healing is for us. The burden of proof does not lie in trying to show that Jesus is the same, it lies in trying to show that Jesus is somehow different…if the proof is our experience, it isn’t very good proof IMO.

The problem with “experience” is that it does not acknowledge the unseen and faith is being convinced of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). We need to live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Matthew 17:14-20 NET. When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, (15) and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and into the water. (16) I brought him to your disciples, but they were not able to heal him.” (17) Jesus answered, “You unbelieving and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I endure you? Bring him here to me.” (18) Then Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment. (19) Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” (20) He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.”

I have not looked at it in detail but my response would be that Jesus was never physically sick. Definitely some good fodder for discussion.

AMDG

Christendom Blogosis » Blog Archive » Demon Possession & Sickness on Sat, 10th Sep 2005 12:56


[...]

Just a quick observation before I head out of town. I recently wrote about Jesus and healing and as I was reading through Scriptures on [...]

Bobby on Sat, 10th Sep 2005 17:30


You still didn’t interact with many of the issues I have brought up above :)? I would be careful in saying that Jesus never got sick–this almost borders on a heretical understanding of the person of Jesus (i.e. the historical heresy known as “Monophysitism”–which believes that the divine nature of Christ is so great that it swallows up the human nature of Jesus–the implication being that the body of Jesus is just a container; or maybe the heresy known as Docetism which says that Jesus’ body was just an apparition and not a real human body).

If we take seriously the Chalcedonian Christological reality that Jesus was 100% human (and 100% Divine) then it behooves us to believe that indeed He was not provided with some sort of “different-than” human body that does not get sick (he definitely got tired, hungry, thirsty, etc.). If that were the case there would be serious problems related to the concept of substitutionary atonement–because He then would not really be substituting for real humans (i.e. if He had a “different-than human body” from ours).

Good discussion, just give in to my points, it’s much easier that way :)!

Tod Faasse on Fri, 21st Oct 2005 13:44


“Jesus is a living example of the Love, Truth and Light of our Father Creator. He started by asking each of the apostles to ‘follow me’. I know that this has not changed. Each of us has his/her own ‘measure of faith’. We all have faith, some of us have faith in sickness and death, others have faith in wellness and life. It is not always as obvious to ourselves as one might first think. The ways of the world have mis-taught us many habits that seem to autonomously ‘defend’ us from the light. Jesus expects us to follow Him through our acceptance of His atonement. The same love and grace that created Him sustains us today. In truth He lives through us. The desire to be sensitive to God’s thoughts rather than to be distracted by our own thoughts miraculously empowers us with our Father’s Will. It need not be defended , nor completly understood. The ‘desire’ to discover the truth is paramount, just as the ‘little mustard seed’ of willingness is requisite to healing. Healing is the purpose of the gift of communication. ‘Remove the log from our own eye, before we attempt to remove the splinter in our brother’s eye’.When we accept healing into our own life, into our God given hearts, then we may share the light of that truth more completely.’Follow Me’, He says. ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand’. God is waiting upon us. We act as if we would sway God to change. ~ Because, He is Here, NOW! That is eveidence that He always was, and always will be. The present moment, NOW, is the closest experience we have of Heaven HERE on Earth. His presence is present, Everpresent. Our ‘desire’ to commune in this present grace is our ‘Holy Teacher’. For example, when I accept God’s Love, I receive His Love. I have now totally and unconditionally received His Perfect Love! In fact He gives this Perfect Love to us even before we ask. Now that we have ‘received’ His Love, it is our possession. In this way we can ’share’ God’s Love. This is evidence that I have received, through ‘giving’. Unlike the things ‘of’ this world, whenever we give away something, we then have less. God’s Perfect Love INCREASES. When you share it, the act of sharing ‘proves’ you have it. We are all unhealed healers walking the earth. We carry the answer in our heart of hearts. ‘Follow-me’, he gently speaks. It is not a question. It is the answer. All power comes from God. Anything less is the illusion of power. It is our ‘investment’ in sickness, that is the root cause of sickness itself. ‘Blessed are those who believe without seeing.’ I may look around and ’see’ a witness that compells me to believe what it beckons to be. But I refuse to fall prey, for the father of lies is everywhere, this is the danger! The real evidence is beyound our mortal senses. We can say, ’sickness’, get thee behind me!’ and it will. Accept the atonement for ourselves, each and everyone! Then we can ’share’ , then we can truly ‘help’. That is the big picture that the apostles didn’t understand , untill later. But any of us could receive that ‘peace beyound understanding’ at any moment, NOW, Here, where He abodes! Bless you , everyone, for it is through fellowship, in no matter what form, that we learn to sharpen our swords of righteous reason.” Thank you, Tod

Tod on Fri, 21st Oct 2005 14:23


“Jesus is a living example of the Love, Truth and Light of our Father Creator. He started by asking each of the apostles to ‘follow me’. I know that this has not changed. Each of us has his/her own ‘measure of faith’. We all have faith, some of us have faith in sickness and death, others have faith in wellness and life. It is not always as obvious to ourselves as one might first think. The ways of the world have mis-taught us many habits that seem to autonomously ‘defend’ us from the light. Jesus expects us to follow Him through our acceptance of His atonement. The same love and grace that created Him sustains us today. In truth He lives through us. The desire to be sensitive to God’s thoughts rather than to be distracted by our own thoughts miraculously empowers us with our Father’s Will. It need not be defended , nor completly understood. The ‘desire’ to discover the truth is paramount, just as the ‘little mustard seed’ of willingness is requisite to healing. Healing is the purpose of the gift of communication. ‘Remove the log from our own eye, before we attempt to remove the splinter in our brother’s eye’.When we accept healing into our own life, into our God given hearts, then we may share the light of that truth more completely.’Follow Me’, He says. ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand’. God is waiting upon us. We act as if we would sway God to change. ~ Because, He is Here, NOW! That is eveidence that He always was, and always will be. The present moment, NOW, is the closest experience we have of Heaven HERE on Earth. His presence is present, Everpresent. Our ‘desire’ to commune in this present grace is our ‘Holy Teacher’. For example, when I accept God’s Love, I receive His Love. I have now totally and unconditionally received His Perfect Love! In fact He gives this Perfect Love to us even before we ask. Now that we have ‘received’ His Love, it is our possession. In this way we can ’share’ God’s Love. This is evidence that I have received, through ‘giving’. Unlike the things ‘of’ this world, whenever we give away something, we then have less. God’s Perfect Love INCREASES. When you share it, the act of sharing ‘proves’ you have it. We are all unhealed healers walking the earth. We carry the answer in our heart of hearts. ‘Follow-me’, he gently speaks. It is not a question. It is the answer. All power comes from God. Anything less is the illusion of power. It is our ‘investment’ in sickness, that is the root cause of sickness itself. ‘Blessed are those who believe without seeing.’ I may look around and ’see’ a witness that compells me to believe what it beckons to be. But I refuse to fall prey, for the father of lies is everywhere, this is the danger! The real evidence is beyound our mortal senses. We can say, ’sickness’, get thee behind me!’ and it will. Accept the atonement for ourselves, each and everyone! Then we can ’share’ , then we can truly ‘help’. That is the big picture that the apostles didn’t understand , untill later. But any of us could receive that ‘peace beyound understanding’ at any moment, NOW, Here, where He abodes! Bless you , everyone, for it is through fellowship, in no matter what form, that we learn to sharpen our swords of righteous reason.” Thank you, Tod

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