Willing and Able

 Here's the song that has been insistently floating around in my head today:

Dare to Believe (written by Ray Boltz and Steve Milliken; my recording is by Charlie and Jill LeBlanc)

You’re standing at a mountain that you know you cannot climb.

Your enemy’s approaching; you hear him coming from behind.

There is trouble all around you.  There’s no place to run away

But there’s a voice that’s deep inside you saying, “It’s time to stand in faith.”

Chorus:  I dare to believe that miracles happen, 

              That mountains still move and demons must flee

              For the God that we serve, He is much more than able

              So don’t be afraid, stand up and say, “I dare to believe.”

There’s a miracle inside you; it’s just a mustard seed of faith,

But by the mighty hand of God now, you know that tiny seed was placed.

And though this world may try to crush you, it can never keep you down.

Soon the life of God inside you will come breaking through the ground.

Bridge:  No matter what the doubters tell you, no matter what the devil says,

             No matter what anybody, anybody else does,

             You just keep trusting Jesus - you’ll see it won’t be long

             God is right and the doubters are wrong.

There a story in the gospel of Mark, chapter 9, about a man who brought his son who was subject to severe seizures to Jesus' disciples to be healed.  My Modern English Version said the boy had "a mute spirit.  Wherever it takes hold of him, it dashes him to the ground.  And he foams at the mouth and gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid."  But the father reported to Jesus, "I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not...Often it has thrown him into the fire and into the water to kill him.  But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."  This man was not sure that Jesus could do anything for them.

In contrast, we have another story in Mark 1: 40-42 about a leper who came to Jesus.  He said, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."  His doubts were not related to Jesus' ability, but about His willingness.  

How did Jesus answer each of these?

In our first story, Jesus' response is, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  He needed the man to have faith in Him.  The man's limited faith ("Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!") was enough.

The response Jesus gave the leper was, "I will (or "I am willing", or "It is My will").  Be clean."  Apparently, knowing that Jesus was willing gave the leper enough faith to receive also.  "As soon as (Jesus) had spoken, the leprosy immediately departed from him, and he was cleansed."

The father of the boy had that "mustard seed of faith" that the song mentions.  The leper is in the song too; he knew that "God is much more than able", but just needed to be assured it was His will.

It seems to me that this second scenario represents the way much of the church now prays for healing:  "If it be Thy will."  But if you think about it, you can see that Jesus never questioned God's will when it came to healing.  He clearly said that He was here to carry out the Father's will (John 4:34), and we are told that He was the "exact representation" or the "express image" of God (Hebrews 1:3).  So in healing everyone who came to Him, all the multitudes and all the individuals, He was doing the will of the Father.  He "went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him" (Acts 10: 38).  The only time He prayed, "If it be Thy will" was for Himself when He was struggling with the prospect of crucifixion, death, and separation from His Father.

When someone gets saved, we don't wait around to see how they feel or look before we assure them that they are truly saved.  We give them a promise from the Word, like Romans 10: 9:  "...if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  

But when we pray for healing, we wait to see how the doctor's report goes, or how the symptoms respond before we call ourselves healed.  We walk by sight, instead of by faith.

Isaiah 53: 4 says, "Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows."  The word translated here as "griefs" is "choli" in the Hebrew, which was translated as "disease" 7 times, "grief" 4 times, ( 3 of them right here in Isaiah 53), "sickness" 12 times and "be sick" once (in the King James Version).  That it should have been translated as "sickness" is confirmed in the gospel of Matthew 8:16-17:  "When the evening had come...He healed all who were sick, to fulfill what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, 'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.'"

I would just like to encourage you to pray for healing, daring to believe not only that God is able, but also that He is willing.  Not just generally willing, but willing to heal you.  Find healing promises and hang onto them in spite of symptoms and negative reports, and start giving thanks in advance of the evidence.  Jesus is reaching out and putting His hand on you just like He did the leper, saying, "I am willing.  Be cleansed of your condition."

What a Friend!

 The song that was originally in my head when I woke up this morning was a useless Christmas song about the star.  So I suggested to the Lord that we could do better than that and what popped up next in my mind was the old hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

So I looked up the lyrics and found to my amazement that, even though I have sung and/or heard the song countless times, there were lyrics there that I had never paid attention to.  As I worked my way slowly through the words, I became thoroughly blessed.  Let the lyrics speak to you, too, as you pay attention to its message all the way through.

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit!  Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!

It is so true that it is a privilege, but sometimes we think it's a chore.  And how true that we forfeit peace and bear needless pain when we try to carry our burdens on our own shoulders!

Have we trials and temptations?  Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged - take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness - take it to the Lord in prayer.

Remembering that Jesus already knows all our weaknesses and still offers to share all our sorrows, and that He is such a faithful Friend should draw us into conversation with Him.

Are we weak and heavy-laden, cumbered with a  load of care?

Precious Saviour, still our refuge - take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?  Take it to the Lord in prayer.

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee.  Thou wilt find a solace there.

Making prayer, not a formality, but a time of intimacy in which we can see ourselves shielded "in His arms" will make it much more valued.  

The site that I looked up had a fourth verse that I had never seen before and that is not in any of my hymn books.  Here it is...

Blessed Saviour, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear.

May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.

Soon in glory bright, unclouded, there will be no need for prayer - 

Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there!

I think of our precious brother-in-law who recently went to be with Jesus, and the last two lines give joy in the middle of the grief.  He is presently experiencing nothing but rapture, praise and endless worship. I think his rich bass voice will be a great addition up there!

I listened to a YouTube message the other morning by Jimmy Evans, called "The Power of Peace."  He quoted Philippians 4: 6 & 7 (this is the Passion translation):  "Don't be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing.  Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude.  Tell Him every detail of your life; then God's wonderful peace, that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ."  His point was that peace guards our hearts and minds, and peace comes by "taking everything to God in prayer"...faith-filled prayer "with overflowing gratitude."  Jimmy Evans was saying that faithless prayer is really only griping to God, and he gave an example of a grateful prayer of faith.  It goes like this, "Father, I thank You that You love me.  Thank You for hearing my prayers.  You care about every hair on my head, and every detail of my life.  I am thankful that I have such a loving Father to take care of me.  I'm coming to You now with my requests, not to inform You because I know You already know, but I'm coming to transfer the burden of these onto You.  I am just a sheep, which is not a burden-bearing animal like a donkey.  I'm giving these to You, Father, and I'm trusting You with all my issues."

I'll tie it up with 1 Peter 5: 5b - 7 (Passion translation again):  "God resists you when you are proud but multiplies grace and favor when you are humble.  If you bow low in God's awesome presence, He will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in His hands.  Pour out all your worries and stress upon Him and leave them there, for He always tenderly cares for you."  If we are humble enough to admit that only He has the answers for us, and to give our cares to Him, then we will find He is our refuge, our precious Saviour, our solace, our shield.  What a Friend!