Message from Carman

A message from Carman: (had to repost this... I agree with the man, what can I say?)

Dear Friends and Partners,

This month I want to deal with the topic of healing. One of the benefits of being a Believer is that we serve a God who saves, delivers and heals. And we all want to be totally the picture of health right up to the day we die. One of the most clearly identifying characteristics of any Christian is the willingness to say to someone who is sick “Would you like me to pray for you?” It is part of the believer’s spiritual DNA to believe that God is a God who can take a sick body and heal it. But is this something that Bible believers just accept as part of the “Church Goers Benefit Package” or is it really a tangible life experience? Healing is a serious matter in the world in which we live. In this world forty million people die each year from Aids, thirty million from measles, eight million from tuberculosis and an unbelievable four hundred million from Malaria. People stand in line for days to be prayed for by an evangelist. And why is this? Because 82% of all people still believe in the healing power of prayer.

Within the church walls, when we think about healing we usually think about it in one way - a trip to the altar, a loud emotional prayer, a physical reaction and a miraculous instant healing like in the time of Christ. But the Bible actually expands our understanding about all that healing can be. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that there are gifts of healing. That’s plural. In other words, there are several different types of gifting that bring the healing process. Some have a gift to heal through medicine, others through nutrition and some through faith. Also there is the healing of the mind through psychiatry. And there are even those who heal nations like Martin Luther King Jr. did with the Civil Rights Movement in the 60’s. Healing comes in many forms and in many ways. When Jesus spoke of healing in the New Testament, He used the word 'therapeuo’. This is where we get the word therapy, which means to heal or a process producing healing. But the most important thing is this.gifts of God are dispensed to create gifted people in many areas of life. In one way or another, it is still 'God’ who is bringing this healing into your life, whoever you are and wherever you may be. In Isaiah 53 the Bible clearly says “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

One of the most basic desires that we all have is to be healthy. If ever there is a divinely inspired wish, it is found in the third book of John. Here John writes “Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.” If you’re sick or injured in anyway, the desire to be healed is not a selfish one. It’s an instinctive one - as instinctive as eating, sleeping or breathing. Jesus Christ meets mankind at the key points of our most basic needs. Two of these are (1) to be healthy and (2) to prosper both in this world and in the world to come (in time and in eternity). You see, God has a twofold reason to include healing as part of his revelation to mankind. Mark 2 Jesus says: “Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” In this case He gave him a three-step process. In some cases healing is a process, in others it’s instant. But in all cases it’s miraculous. Healing is still the essential ministry of Jesus Christ because He envisions it as the physical symbol of forgiveness. He forecasts the ultimate glory of a resurrected body in heaven by the healing of a broken body here on earth. This is why healing, by whatever means God chooses (whatever the process or whatever the prayer), is still within the scope of God’s demonstration of love for you today. If you need to be healed, then allow the Holy Spirit to take you as you are and lead you into a place of wholeness. May the Lord speak to our hearts and minds and touch our bodies.

As you can see in addition to an instant divine miracle, there are many different ways God has provided for us to receive physical healing. Statistics tell us that someone who attends church at least once a week increases his or her life expectancy by seven years. So here is my simple word of advice...This Sunday go to church! You’ll live longer.