Can Love NOT Heal? Yes.

When our faith is met with God's power, healing happens. Faith has to be present somewhere, in someone, for healing to happen. Without faith it is impossible to please God. That being true, I might also add, without faith it is impossible to create access to God. Praise God for the gift of faith!

We have the glorious experience of interfacing with the Creator many times in life. While God has chosen to give us experiences of His grace sovereignly, there are also times when He withholds the experience of His Presence until beckoned by the simple faith of one of His own. In the case of the friends who lowered the man from the ceiling to be healed by Jesus, it was their faith which provoked the Son of God to forgive the ailing man from his sins. When He saw their faith, He moved to meet it. (See Mark 2:3-5.)

Sometimes a person leaves the ministry of the Holy Spirit unhealed and, though it would seem, untouched. Yet this is God's wisdom – the choice not to heal. For, in the words of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, "healing is not reasonable in the case of those who would afterwards be injured by unbelief." (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Fourth Theological Oration, 10. B#7, p.183)

Only God knows what our faith levels will be in the future. If we are sore intent - perhaps even dying - to to live within the trajectory of discipleship, he heals. Yet, if he knows that we might, after the room being swept clean, open it up again to the same critters for which we needed healing in the first place, it is an act of Love NOT to heal - or even to consider what we think we need best.

Would He bestow a blessing? Sure. A special grace/anointing to make it 'round the next bend? Well of course. Perhaps even gifts of ministry wherewith to serve others? It happens all the time. But would He bestow healing to that which He knows will be fractured or undone by one action or another?

In cases such as this, love demands He NOT heal.

God lives as Master over Death itself. Nothing is impossible for God. Yet, there are things He chooses not to accomplish in our lives – and that for good reason, reasons for which we simply need to trust. And while His “inaction” may lie behind disappointment, frustration, anger, pain, and even bitterness - it too, in itself, is an act of healing – an act of preventative healing, if you will, motivated by His knowledge of your future, faltering faith. In this case, God's greatest healing for you would be, and perhaps is, not to heal.

Why? Because He loves you.

Something Better than an Email

Two Sundays ago we were singing the song, “Til I See You Again.” The song’s chorus includes the phrase, “I will learn to trust you…” As we sang the song I had the impression that someone out there was giving their life to the Lord.

After the song I said to the congregation that I knew that someone had given their life to Christ during the singing of that song. I mentioned that when a person comes to the Lord there is more celebration in heaven than any of us could muster up with our guitars and worship team.

And I asked that person to email me and tell me who they were.

Sunday afternoon came. I checked my computer. No email. Sunday night I logged on, disappointed that no one had written me. Monday morning came. No email. Monday afternoon. Nada. I was beginning to feel like I missed the Lord. What a fool, I thought. I went home. I take Tuesdays off.

Tuesday morning I wake up and take my daughter to the dentist. I’m sitting there looking at a recipe on how to make grilled cheese sandwiches with brie cheese and crabmeat in the Houston magazine when I hear a woman’s voice behind me.

“Father Bill? Is that you?"

I glanced back to see a woman who I know attends church. “Hey. Good to see you.”

“It’s so funny to see you here." She pausesd "I was going to email you this morning.”

"Email?“ I dropped the magazine, turned to face her and smiled. “And why were you gong to email me?”

And she shared how, during the singing of that song, she had given her life to Christ! Tears came to our eyes. This was the real deal.

“This is way out of my comfort zone,” she said. “But it is really happening.”

We talked for a while, she left, and I sat there thinking, “Isn’t that just like the Lord?” There I was looking for an email and God gave me a person-to-person confirmation. I guess the redemption of a soul is something that should be shared, person to person.

By the way, last Sunday, during worship I was looking out over the congregation as we were singing and we caught eyes. She was beaming!

Volunteers or Ministers?

I have often heard volunteers say, “I am not a minister.” And, for the most part, in the secular realm, that statement could be true. But as Christians, everything we do – whether it is getting paid big bucks and flying all over the globe, or copying pamphlets to be stuffed in give-a-way bags – it's all considered ministry.

A volunteer has an easier time of it. He or she comes in, does the duty, and leaves. Nothing more but a cog in the machine. But a minister is different. A minister has something on the inside going on. He or she is expressing a hint of passion in everything they do. And, she knows her actions represent the Lord. Thus, she is accountable to present her skills with deliberate passion and the fragrance of eternity bound therein.

If being a volunteer is a “duty;" being a minister is a life-style. If being a volunteer is a task; being a minister is a life-style. See the difference?

Most of us Christians err on two extremes: either our notions of “the ministry” are so highly defined (i.e it is a sacred activity reserved only for the oradained seminarian), or we think the word “ministry” is just the church's word for volunteer, and treat it as such. (To be fair, the church has always tended to "Christianize" common-place things - like the the word "narthex" for "foyer," for example). Both extremes are not only bad theology but taint the wonderful expressions of what God could be doing in you.

On the one hand, “ministry” is the outpouring of who you have been made to be. It is the releasing of your heart and energies into the community. When you dare to give away the stuff in your heart - the stuff God gave you in the first place - it’s like the pouring forth of water onto a dry and thirsty land which, in it's need to have something "living," laps it up. And somewhere in all that, Jesus - seeing the water you offer - does what he does best: he turns it into wine. Before you know it, “ministry” changes from something a seminarian gets paid to do to something you get to do.

On the other extreme, if ministry was just an excuse to volunteer for a task, where would the abundant life be? The world is dying. THe last think it needs is another purposeless volunteer who needs to fill a space? On the contrary, you have been wired with specific gifts, passions, and purpose. Simply volunteering for things is not only a waste of God’s good gift and talent invested in you, but it robs you of your full potential to grow and mature into a seasoned diciple of Christ. Anyone can volunteer, only you can minister.

The idea of ministry presupposes a higher call - that you are dong the thing that you do for, on behalf of – as a representative of – God. When your actions stem from that kind of a heart, everything changes. Your expectations are high. Your accountability is raised through the roof. You are careful to dot every “I,” and cross every “t,” You care for those you lead. For, at the end of the day, you know your activity reaches for greater than just a duty at some mundane hour in the afternoon. It is an action that has eternal repercussions. The very kingdom of God is influenced by the gifts you bring with a servants heart.

We have no volunteers at our Church. You – me – all of us – are ministers. We may not have much, but we lay it out before the Lord in humility and grace. We know that he will take our water and turn it into wine.

Go with that.

The Frustated King

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a young, very self established young prince. He was blessed with the wisdom of the ancients’ and had the wondrous ability to do all things well. Soon after his 21st birthday his father, the King, established him as Coordinator of His Mighty Kingdom. “My son does all things well,” the King proclaimed. “It is my dream that all of my faithful subjects become as he is today. Go, my son.. Share what you have been given to everyone you see!”

And the crowd roared! Everyone was filled with the desire to live into the dreams of the King.

Many years came and went. The Father rarely saw his son. And, when he did, he looked haggard, empty – unlike the joyful young man whom he had consecrated years before. In addition, and contrary to his Father’s desire, the Kingdom had begun to shrink. Ponds dried up, illnesses and plagues savaged the land, and the dragons were spawning everywhere.

“My young Prince,” the King questioned. “What is happening to my Kingdom? I left it in your most capable hands and yet I have yet to see my dream established in the hearts of my faithful subjects.”

“Alas, my Father,” the young Prince said, “If it be not for the servants of your Kingdom, I would have had the whole land alive with the joy of your dream.”
“What?” the King questioned. “Tell me more.”

The weary Prince drew closer to his Father’s throne. “Your servants are slow to learn, O Father. They aren’t as gifted as you and I are and thus cannot adequately fulfill the noble task of fulfilling your dream. Thus, O Father, I have taken it upon myself to do all things – without delegating the tasks to other, more menial folk. In this way, we can be sure that the dream of the King will be done decently and in order, made perfect under my most adequate hands.”

At this the King grew sad. Later that night he looked from his bedroom window across the rolling hills of his Kingdom. The sun was setting and the sparse flickering embers of lighted fires began spotting the hills. He heard the bleating of sheep, the barking of a dog, the sounds of children laughing and singing simple songs of the Kingdom., and...

O, how he longed that everyone in the Kingdom could be given the chance to live His dream.

Matthew 28:19

Journey of the Magi

Fellow Magi,

I stumbled across this powerful T.S. Eliot Poem this morning in my quiet time. Check it out for yourself.

Journey of the Magi

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.

Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped in away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no imformation, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say)
satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like
Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

Leader's Corner - by Rev. Mike Flynn

As promised on my last BLOG, here's Mikes article on accountability as posted in his most current Newsletter. If you'd like to read more from Mike visit: www.freshwindministries.org

LEADER'S CORNER
Accountability

Ted Haggard's fall from grace reminds us of the need for accountability relationships. Let me offer some quick, challenging thoughts on the subject.
Accountability suggests the lateral, horizontal aspect of life.

• We're accountable to other people.
we count to them (matter) and we count to them (itemize).
• These people need to have some authority in relation to us, which we give them.
• It involves trust of those to whom we're accountable.
• also respect

Accountability presupposes love and acceptance (if you don't love me, I won't level with you).
Accountability presupposes a desire to be well.
Accountability presupposes a determination to relate.
Accountability requires honesty, trust, courage in the one being held accountable.
Accountability requires trustworthiness, discretion, largeness of heart in those holding accountable.
Accountability promotes balance, health, teamness in the sense of not-being-alone.
Accountability is not an adversarial but a parakletial relationship.

Accountability's areas of concern are:
• sin
• responsibility--to agreed upon criteria
• growth
• health
i.e. the tough stuff.

Accountability allows us to be agents of each other's growth and freedom.
Accountability recognizes that none of us is a capable judge of ourselves.
Accountability provides an on-going opportunity to get real, to become truthful, to face our spiritual enemies, to lay hold of the grace to change what should be changed.
Accountability realizes that I can hold off God all day long, but I really start to deal when I tell you,
and that God is the author of this dynamic.

Accountability says "I give you permission to ask tough questions".

• "Have you done what you said you were going to do?" "Why?" "Why not?"
• and the toughest and last question is, "Have you just lied to me?"

Accountability in the church is an opportunity to grow through a relationship that no other relationship on earth provides. No other relationship provides the combination of grace, honesty, forgiveness, forbearance, hope, and power which this can provide.

The goal of Accountability is not success but growth, not perfection but improvement, not flying solo but as part of the flock.

May I suggest a New Year's resolution to get an accountability partner?

The Safety Net of Accountability

Yesterday I was eating lunch with a friend. One thing led to another and the conversation got around to the topic of a well-known Christian who, for lack of a better term, fell from grace. Like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son for a cup of stew (Hebrews 12:16, 17) this well-known Christian lost his ministry, his reputation, his family, and his spiritual vitality – all in one short, self-gratifying decision.

Of course he didn’t loose his walk with Christ, his relational position of being a brother in the Lord, forgiveness of sins, the gifts of the Spirit, or eternal life – and that’s important to remember.

At a particularly emotional time in our conversation I found myself leaning over the table and saying to my friend, “All that could have been avoided if he had voluntarily allowed himself to be accountable to someone else.”

“'Accountable?'" My friend looked up. "What do you mean?”

“I wonder if he had ever verbally expressed his struggles to a confidant, someone who could call and encourage him in the weak times, someone who would meet with him and check in with how he was doing in his struggles.”

Accountability.... Say it with me... Accountabilty.

The word itself raises eyebrows. But it need not. Accountability isn’t like the old “Leave it to Beaver” show when you screwed up Ward invites you into the den for a lecture and you renter the world with the dirty tear-stain down your left cheek. Quite the contrary, Biblical accountability presupposes we have a common enemy and that we find ourselves on the front lines of those wars, fighting battles that are uniquely are own, and need back-up support from someone fresh in from leave.

The concept of accountability far exceeds the specifics of sin (though it includes them). It raises the bar to a much more global issue – the fact that we have a real enemy whose soul intent is to drag down the saints of God. (See 1 Peter 5:8.) It doesn’t matter if it’s habitual stealing, backbiting, spreading rumors about others, rage, seeking sexual fulfillment outside of marriage, or taking drugs. In the end Satan wins. He doesn’t care what sin will bring you down. The important thing is that he will use ANY sin to bring you down.

Your accountability person needs to be of the spiritual maturity NOT to get caught up in the specifics (the why’s and how’s) of your sinning but be more in sync with the forces BEHIND the specifics of your sinning. While the two or three of you will often get hit in particular ways (for whatever reason), no one way is worse than another. It’s far beyond all that. The focus needs to be on helping your brother out of the pit (through unconditional forgiveness) and guns need to be aimed at the one viciously assaulting the child of God.

With that level of maturity in mind it makes it easier to confess specific sins. They love you and have your “best” in mind. Sure, they may give you guidelines or advice on how to avoid future pitfalls – and well they should, as they may have attained real victory in your weakest areas and have something to say about that. But, in the big picture, you want them to see far beyond your bruises and casualties of war and assist you in the fight over your soul.

I have know idea if our well-known Christian person had an accountability partner. And it’s easy to say in hindsight this or that could have prevented what went down. But I can tell you that it is much easier to get up after a fall with the ongoing assistance of an accountability partner than trying to crawl out of the smudge on your own.

So, this morning I sit down to have my quiet time. I don’t know what to read (an ongoing struggle) so I decide to pull out a newsletter that my friend Mike Flynn sends out from time to time. I rarely read it (true confession) but this morning I did. And what do you think the subject of the “Leaders Corner” was? Accountability! Way too cool! So I emailed him and asked him to send me a copy of the article in a Word format so I can post it here – which I will do when I get it.

You can read it a forehand at http://www.freshwindministries.org/.

As Mike concluded his writing, so do I:

May I suggest a New Year’s Resolution to get an accountability partner?