Monday, August 26, 2019

Why Does God Heal Some People But Not Others? A Different Kind of Sliver. Update.

For “Scripture Sunday”:

Why Does God Heal Some People But Not Others?

“Why would God ever choose not to heal a person? Isn’t health and wholeness in this life what He wants for us?

A young woman sitting with her arms on a counter looking through a window.Joshua Rawson Harris/Unsplash

Our present lives with all their trials and suffering should be viewed as a training ground. Preparing us for a future that is bigger and brighter than anything we might enjoy in our present physical lives.

Our Creator can and does heal people. But not always. Many times God deliberately chooses not to heal.

Why would God ever choose not to heal a person?

Isn’t health and wholeness in this life what He wants for us?

Does He withhold healing because we have sin we haven’t repented of yet?

Or is it because we lack faith?

Or is it because we have simply not asked?

Any of these factors can, and often do, lead to a situation where healing is withheld. But what about situations where none of these is a factor? Consider Paul’s prayers for his own healing 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. God’s reasons for answering “no” were not because of sin in Paul’s life or some lack of faith. God said “no” because He had something much bigger and much better in mind for Paul that could only be achieved through perseverance in suffering.

For believers, that bigger and better goal God has in mind is to be transformed into a new type of person who thinks and acts like Jesus himself (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:12-15). That transformation is what makes us fit to receive God’s gift of eternal life. If we were to receive that gift of eternal life without having first undergone this transformation in the way we think and act, eternity could end up being a very unhappy place.

God’s purpose was that Paul be moved towards this goal through physical suffering. Even in this physical suffering, Paul was following the example set down before by Jesus Himself (Hebrews 2:10).

As with Paul’s life, our present lives with all their trials and suffering should be viewed as a training ground. Preparing us for a future that is bigger and brighter than anything we might enjoy in our present physical lives.

Why then does God choose to heal some people?

We cannot possibly know all the reasons why God chooses to heal or not to heal. However, two broad categories shine forth in the Scriptures:

1. God heals because He is compassionate. He desires to act with kindness and gentleness towards human beings. In the greater world around us human disobedience, indifference and disbelief often disrupt the flow of His compassion.

2. God heals to demonstrate His power to perform works in this world (John 9:2-3). He often heals for the purpose of building and strengthening newly forming belief in Himself, either in the person being healed or ones looking on.

By contrast, Paul’s strong faith was tested and strengthened when he was required to persevere through the trial of not being healed.

Only God, who knows the heart, can properly assess a person’s life. Only God can know whether to heal or not heal will best move the person forward toward His goal of building the mind of Christ in them. His deep desire is that we learn to trust Him in all things including matters of healing.

To more fully explore what God’s Word has to say about the larger questions related to human suffering in this world, our free Bible study guide Why Does God Allow Suffering? is a good place to continue learning.” From: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/why-does-god-heal-some-people-but-not-others?source=weeklyupdate

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A Different Kind of Sliver

Slivers are annoying and hard to get out. But what about spiritual slivers?

Transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/384230eMaos

[Steve Myers] “I was doing a project the other day working with some wood and wouldn’t you know it? Boom, I got a sliver. I could feel that thing. In fact, I still got the little mark here on my finger. I could feel it, but I could not get it out. And it was there and I tried. I looked at it and I just said, okay, I’ll worry about it later. Maybe it’ll work itself out. Right? Well, the next day I looked at my finger and now there was a big red spot all around, right where that sliver was. And I couldn’t ignore it anymore because it was getting worse and it wasn’t just gonna go away on its own. So I had to work at it. And you may have been in this situation before as well when that sliver isn’t one that’s easy just to pull right out, you kind of have to get a needle or something so you can dig at it a little bit and get a tweezer and work at it to get that thing out of there.

And in a way, a sliver is a lot like sin. It’s not gonna go away on its own. And sometimes you’re gonna have to work at it and you’re gonna have to dig at that sliver of sin to get it out of your life. Because if you leave it, it’s just going to get worse.

And that’s really the lesson that you’ll find throughout the chapters of Romans 6, 7and 8. It points right to that fact. You don’t want to leave sin alone. You’ve got to get rid of it. So Romans Chapter 6 is probably a summary verse, in verse 12 that reminds us of this very fact. When you recognize it, it says, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust.”

Don’t put up with it. Don’t just leave it there. Think of it as a sliver. It’s a splinter that we’ve got to get rid of. The great thing is, with God’s help when we turned to him in repentance, He’s going to help us get rid of that.

So when you think of sin, you might think of a sliver and work at it and get rid of it with the help of God, and then we can begin to heal.” From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-daily/a-different-kind-of-sliver

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Update.

Nearly every day I am still going back to the storage and bringing more totes to the apartment and sorting them out.  Some things get donated and some things I find a place for them.  My daughter took me to College Station and I bought a wooden kitchen cabinet with a hutch with upper cupboards, and it is so much more convenient and better looking.  This meant that I could donate several plastic chest of drawers. 

The church is different from what I am used to, but the fellowship and the worship is sincere, and that is what counts.  I took another neighbor lady from these apartments who attends there, so that the elder wouldn’t have to come and pick her up. The first week I was there the theme was: “Set Your Mind on Things Above”  From Col. 3:2, and this week it was “The Lord I My Shepherd” From Psa. 23.  As before, the potluck was very enjoyable with the Spanish congregation sharing with us in the dining room.  Each congregation brings their own contributions for the pot luck, so it is a good feast for all.  I was told to bring it again, a dish that I had bought at Brookshire Bros was Chipotle Salad, which was the hit of the day.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Casting Out Spirits of Darkness. How Can I Maintain Meaningful Relationships With My Kids After They Leave Home? Update.

For “Scripture Sunday”:

Casting Out Spirits of Darkness

“Do evil spirits exist and influence our world, or are they just folklore, myths and legends? Let’s explore what the Bible has to say about evil spirits and their future.

During a recent chaotic and divisive week in the U.S. Congress, the chaplain of the House of Representatives prayed for the “spirits of darkness” to be cast out of the House. Though he may not have intended his prayer to be interpreted as exorcising actual spirit beings, it was still an interesting choice of words. His words made headlines because we live in a culture where fewer and fewer believe in the existence of a real spirit world.

In a 2016 Gallup poll, 61 percent of Americans said they believe in the devil. But what did they mean by the devil? A 2009 Barna poll found that a majority of Christians believe the devil is merely a symbol of evil and not a living being.

It seems the old adage often attributed to the French poet Charles Baudelaire is true: “The devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.”

Despite what people believe, the Bible doesn’t present Satan and other evil spirits as mere symbols of evil—but as real, living beings who have a powerful influence on our world.”

Continue Reading

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How Can I Maintain Meaningful Relationships With My Kids After They Leave Home?

You will always be their parent, and though your relationship has changed, now you can nurture a lifelong friendship with them.

A young man wearing a suit and carrying a leather case on his shoulder walking in busy city.Saulo Mohana/Unsplash

A long and meaningful relationship with your children will be one of the greatest joys of your life.

Your kids are on their own now. Perhaps they are well into their careers and raising their families. How do you keep up a meaningful relationship with them after they have left your home?

Relationships will change as circumstances change throughout life. When your children leave home, they are looking ahead to making their own way in the world. You will always be their parent, and though your relationship has changed, now you can nurture a lifelong friendship with them.

You can offer advice and counsel without being overbearing, but let them make their own choices about life.

That will take time and effort, because any meaningful relationship needs to be nurtured. This is where the Word of God offers guidance to help us. God’s Word contains the wisdom to deal with all our relationships, especially our relationship with God Himself.

God takes the long view with us. Even before the foundation of the world He determined to send His Son for our salvation (1 Peter 1:20). Chances are, you will have a relationship with your adult children far longer than you had with them when they were young. Therefore, it is worth your time and effort to strengthen your unique, parental bond with them.

The kind of love that God has for us is described in these famous verses from 1 Corinthians 13:4-5: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.” To help you visualize how this applies to your relationship with your grown children, substitute your name for the word “love.”

As the Scripture reads, “love suffers long and is kind.” Longsuffering is another way of describing patience. Your children are going to make their own decisions about life. As a parent, you may often find yourself disagreeing with their choices. Here is where patience is needed.

You can offer advice and counsel without being overbearing, but let them make their own choices about life. They already have a pretty good idea of what you think, because they watched you for years. So let your life stand as a guide and example for them. If they struggle because of poor choices, you will have a better opportunity to help them if you are not meddlesome. 

Like God shows us love by what He does for us, we show love with our actions. Notice: “Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Therefore, be available to your children. Be aware of what is going on in their lives, and help them where you can.

Following the example of God’s love for us, you can build a relationship with your children that lasts a lifetime. Then, as the years go by, they will come to appreciate you more and more. A long and meaningful relationship with your children will be one of the greatest joys of your life.” From: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/how-can-i-maintain-meaningful-relationships-with-my-kids-after-they-leave-home

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Update. 

Well, I am finally all moved into my little senior apartment in Navasota, TX.  It is a quiet, slow-moving town with only four traffic lights, and I like it.  It doesn’t have a sprawling downtown, which is less than a mile away, so it is easy to find my way around. 

It seem so strange not to have to get ready to go to work on the house or mini-house most mornings.  That’s someone else’s worry now. 

I went to church on the Sabbath, not an organization that I have attended before, but this was the only Sabbath church that I could find, the Seventh Day Adventists. More singing and less Bible study than what I am used to.  I saw a lady at the church who I had seen before at a Bingo game here at the apartments, so that helped. She doesn’t have a car, so I will take her to church next week so that one of the elders doesn’t have to come to pick her up. They had a great potluck afterwards put on by the two congregations there, the English speaking and the Spanish speaking ones.  We all ate together so that was great fellowship.

I brought way too much stuff that I won’t need in this little apartment, like a whole bunch of tools, my air compressor, shop vac, two upright vacuums, etc. so I am donating items every day.