Re: Gift of healing...

E: My point of how i so deeply love the Lord and honor and appreciate and cherish Him for all He is and all He has done has always been wasted on you because you misunderstand it and believe it's me making it about me :). I also believe it is a wonderful testimony to who He is that He has chosen to include those who are His in His work, including in His miracles.


V: This is how I see this. If I go to church and the pastor gets up and gives a whole sermon on how much he loves the Lord, how obedient he is to the Lord, and all he is doing for the Lord, then I'm not likely to leave there thinking about the Lord, but about that pastor and how great he is, and how either I don't measure up to the level he's at or I think I'm at a higher level than him even. Reminds me of Luke 9:46 (An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest). On the contrary, if I go to church and the pastor gives a sermon about Christ and all that he is, and has done, and is doing, then I'm more likely to leave there looking to Christ and thinking on Him, and that's where to power comes for anything good.

And it's not that I'm against ever talking about how much we love the Lord, or the things we are doing in obedience and service to him. That's totally fine and good unless it becomes the focus. When it becomes the focus to talk about all were are doing, instead of focusing on Christ and who he is and what he has done and is doing, then I believe we get off track and lead people to look at us, and measure themselves against us, instead of looking to Christ. I believe all those in Christ are equally righteous, because they have each been given the righteousness of Christ which is perfect and not lacking in anything. They can be at different maturity levels, but it's by grace that we mature anyway, so that's not something we should be comparing either, but should all be encouraging one another to grow in grace and truth.

If christians could truly embrace that all of salvation from start to finish is by God's grace alone, then all this comparison and focus on what all we are doing for the Lord compared to others, or how much we love the Lord compared to others, would stop. All the comparison is not helpful. It either produces pride or causes despair and neither are good.

1 Corinthians 4:7
7 For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?


E: My point of sharing how He uses His children today in the miraculous, (including myself as only one example, just as He used His early disciples in the same kind of work, is to help others to know that they too can be used as His vessels in this way so they too can much more effectively help in His Kingdom work. Without the same tools He had given to His early disciples, this is a much more difficult uphill battle. I know this because i have experienced both.

V:What do you think of John 12:37:

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

And:

Psalm 78:32
In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.

And also this part of the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich man:

Luke 16:
27And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

I think all these scriptures point to the fact that maybe people need more than a show of miracles to believe. I think they need a new heart first. That's the real miracle they need. (Ekekial 26:26) Because apparently, people can see miracles all day long, and still not believe.

So is it true that it's a much more difficult uphill battle to preach the gospel to people and they come to believe without a show of miracles? Nah! God can change a person's heart just fine without a show of miracles. I came to Christ seeing no show of miracles. I just heard the gospel and believed. And I know of loads of other people that came to Christ by hearing the gospel alone too.

I believe a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after signs and wonders, and I believe God is going to bring people to Himself without them.


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