Faith Culture

I said I would write this week, so here I am. This is a continuation of last weeks blog.

I wanted to explore this notion of faith and healing because time and time again it seems like Jesus couples these two things together, especially in the book of Luke. I encourage you to read some of those stories on your own.

As I have read these things and evaluated my own life, I have seem to have come up with a few diagrams to emphasis our main point.

First we seem to have what I call "The Balanced Life" or "The New Pattern":

It all begins with hope which moves into hearing, then having faith, to finally acting. The cycle continues in everything we do as a believer. Connected to faith is where we find the development of righteous, which leads to being tested, which in return cultivates endurance. This cycle also continues as we have seen in the different seasons walking with the Lord. All of this diagram is based heavily on the book of Romans, Hebrews 11, and James 1.

On the flip side, if just one element falls out of our "Balanced Life" we get this:

This is the work of our enemy, the great adversary, the Devil. He starts off the cycle with tempting us and then, we do the rest. We rationalize or justify why we should disobey Yahweh, we then conduct the action, we feel guilty, and for too many of us then we allow Satan to bring shame.

An example of the unbalanced life-which keep in mind, can happen at any moment in the day, was when Peter denied knowing Jesus and when Judas betrayed Jesus. In Peter's case his faith was being tested, but he let fear creep its ugly head in; thus, transitioning him not into endurance but rather to sin instead. In Judas's case, he didn't let his faith develop and mature; thus, leaving him wide open for temptation from the world. Both men, both Jesus's disciples who sinned on the day He was crucified, experienced guilt. Except, Peter choose to begin again and have hope that Jesus would forgive him. Which in turn lead him to hear the words of Jesus again, which lead to faith, and so on. We thank Peter for beginning the Church. Judas, choose to allow his guilt to move into the deathtrap called shame. Judas choose to hang himself.

As you can see it is all about our choices, our daily, moment by moment choices. Yet, keep in mind the internal defines the external, not vice versa. We can choose to have hope in Jesus of Nazareth born of the virgin Mary and her husband, the carpenter, Joseph. The Jesus who thousands of years previous was foretold to come and rescue His people, the one who was God's son; yet, simply God incarnate. The one who never sinned, but died a criminal's death. The one who on the third day rose again to break the power of sin and death over mankind. The one who lives today and still echos these words "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

When we have this hope, we listen:

"...my sheep know my voice..."-John 10

When we listen, we have faith:

"...nothing will be impossible for you..."-Matthew 17

When we have faith, we act:

"...faith without deeds is dead..."-James 2:14-26

• So where are you? What does your life look like right now and why?
• What element have you taken out of "The Balanced Life" and why?
• Where is your greatest weakness? How do you get stronger?
• Are you doing this life with Jesus or alone? How is that working out for you? 

Note, it is only through doing this process with the Holy Spirit (not religion) that when you act out your faith will it produce good fruit:

love

joy

peace

forbearance

kindness

goodness

faithfulness

gentleness 

and self-control

-Galatians 5: 13-26

Can We Ever Be Well?

If I could, I would have the extraordinary superpower of miraculously healing people. Except the healing I would freely give would not be of the physical nature; no, rather it would be of the mental kind. It seems to me that healing mentally is superior to healing physically. Just ask those who suffer from phantom pain. Yet, don't just ask them. Ask those suffering from Bipolar, Depression, Eating and Social Orders. But don't stop there. Ask those you go to school with, who you work with; and heck, those whom you even eat dinner with. But most importantly, ask yourself:

"Can we ever be well?"

I would come then face to face with question. I would look it straight in the eyes, firmly grasp it in the face and say,

"No."

But I would say it in a tone like you would say to your dog who is about to grab something he shouldn't.

"No."

It would be a command, but yet said elegantly and full of vigor.

"No.

No, you pain will not last forever. You, sorrow and grief...you unforgiving heart, you tormented soul...no, you will not reside here any longer."

Then like a spell being released from my aura, I would give my nonnegotiable demand:

"You will leave this place. You will never return. Your grip on this person is no more. Your power has diminished. Your chains have been broken. And you will wonder in a wasteland like you once bound this body to."

Then to finish it up, I would breathe this incredible cool yet colorful mist over the person's head and speak my final words:

"You are free, my friend. You are free. Live and fully live. You are new today and for the rest of your days. There is no longer fear or shame, regret or hatred that ties you down or trips you up. You are no longer your addiction or disorder. You are you and that is: beautiful, handsome, precious, priceless, unforgettable, lovely, and worthy."

And just like that the people of earth would be made well, all thanks to my extraordinary superpower.

My downfall, however, would be...

Who's going to save me?

I need to tell myself that it is not selfish of me to want the same things the rest of the world wants; it's normal. And like a friend quoted to me, "It's okay, don't feel embarrassed about it. Just learn from it."

That is what life is all about isn't? Learning. Learning from our illness how to be well. But if we could, would we ask someone who had magical healing powers to just take it all away so we didn't have to fight...I mean learn so hard?  

Truth is (and I have to tell the truth as a Christian, it's one of the top commands or something), Jesus did not save you mentally. He saved you spiritually-that of which deals with the spirit. And He, as well as those who have the spiritual gift of healing, can save you physically-meaning cure blindness, leprosy, cast out demons (another spiritual gift but similar) and ect.

But don't lose hope nor faith, my brothers and sisters. 

For I have witnessed healing of those mind/the spirit. It is not an instantaneous phenomenon, rather it is an ongoing process that we have coincided with religion.

Read Luke 6:46-49 then answer the questions below

• Do you call Jesus "Lord?" Why or why not?
• If you do call Jesus "Lord", do you do the things that He says to do? Why or why not?
• If you do what Jesus's asks you to do, what is one thing that you find your self you can not do no matter how hard you have tried?
• Which foundation are you? How do you know?
• What are the "floods" and "rivers" in your life? 
• Are you constantly "rebuilding" or "redecorating?" 
• And lastly, are you well?   

I find it humorous that our English word for being "in a good or satisfactory way" is the same as "a shaft sunk into the ground to obtain water, oil, or gas." This homograph is extraordinary and implicit to our beginning scenario.

We can't breathe some colorful mist on each other and be well, but we can be well insured that our faith in Jesus will get us there. 

"Yes, my soul, find rest in God;

    my hope comes from him."

-Psalm 62:5

I hope to continue this exploration of the healing power of faith and invite you to join along with me. Please check back next week for more.