Whose fault is it when healing doesn't happen?
I want to start by saying I believe in healing. Wholeheartedly, 100%, with all my heart and my soul, I believe God heals today. In fact, I pray for it every day I walk into work in a special needs preschool room.
Which leads me to the next point - it doesn't always happen. No matter how hard I pray, believe, fast, and declare the Word, sometimes it doesn't come.
I've spent a long time blaming myself. If I only prayed longer or fasted more...maybe my faith is weak, or I have hidden unbelief.
My understanding was that if I believe God is a healer, then the problem can't be with him. Logically, that means the problem is me.
But I'm finding it's a lot bigger than me.
Galatians 4:7 says, "So you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir."
Wait a minute. If I am an heir, that means I already have access to everything in the Kingdom. Now. All of it. I am seated in heavenly places with Jesus, a place of authority.
That means I'm not the problem.
Don't get me wrong; it's appropriate to examine our heart and faith level. I'm not removing personal responsibility to maintain a dynamic relationship with God, resulting in increased faith, courage, boldness, and anointing.
But as I pondered this verse in Galatians, I got a picture in mind. I was remembering the story a Mozambican missionary told about massive flooding in their nation. Thousands were without home, food, or basic medical care. Other nations and relief organizations flew in aid, but the roads were washed out, so there was no way to deliver it where it was needed.
There wasn't a lack of help; there was a lack of working infrastructure to deliver the help that was available.
There is no lack in God. In certain situations, there might even be no lack in us. But we are in relationship with a corporate-minded God, and he doesn't just see us when we pray. He sees his body. And his body, the Church, is currently lacking essential infrastructure.
I am beginning to believe that when we pray, the Lord looks, but he's not finding enough pipelines to get healing where it's needed. Where he needs intercessors laying themselves over the gaps in the "road," he instead finds people unwilling to expend the spiritual energy. Where he needs evangelists making bridges by connecting with those hurting, he finds a quick "like" on Facebook from those who can't find actual time to spare. Where he needs pastors lined up, passing the Bread of life person to person, he finds those more concerned with their popularity and offerings.
And so healing doesn't come. Not because God doesn't heal, or even because your faith is weak. But because God is working with a faulty "delivery system," Church-wide.
Obviously, not everyone in the Church is fooling around. There are many intercessors, evangelists, pastors, and others fervently working to see the Kingdom of God expand where they are.
But there are still gaps in the road. That's where you come in.
In Mozambique*, they got creative. They found smaller airplanes that could land in smaller places, trucks that could navigate waist-deep mud, and folks simply willing to carry goods on their heads through disease- and leech-infested water.
What are you willing to do? Instead of blaming yourself or wondering "why," what if you turned that energy towards discovering what gap God wants you to fill? No one can fill all the holes; but if each one of us begins covering the ones God assigns us, the road will eventually be rebuilt.
And the healing we long to see will flow without interruption from Heaven to Earth.
*Information on flooding and resulting problems in Mozambique from Mozambican missionaries Rolland and Heidi Baker's book Always Enough and their other books / teachings.
Which leads me to the next point - it doesn't always happen. No matter how hard I pray, believe, fast, and declare the Word, sometimes it doesn't come.
I've spent a long time blaming myself. If I only prayed longer or fasted more...maybe my faith is weak, or I have hidden unbelief.
My understanding was that if I believe God is a healer, then the problem can't be with him. Logically, that means the problem is me.
But I'm finding it's a lot bigger than me.
Galatians 4:7 says, "So you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir."
Wait a minute. If I am an heir, that means I already have access to everything in the Kingdom. Now. All of it. I am seated in heavenly places with Jesus, a place of authority.
That means I'm not the problem.
Don't get me wrong; it's appropriate to examine our heart and faith level. I'm not removing personal responsibility to maintain a dynamic relationship with God, resulting in increased faith, courage, boldness, and anointing.
But as I pondered this verse in Galatians, I got a picture in mind. I was remembering the story a Mozambican missionary told about massive flooding in their nation. Thousands were without home, food, or basic medical care. Other nations and relief organizations flew in aid, but the roads were washed out, so there was no way to deliver it where it was needed.
There wasn't a lack of help; there was a lack of working infrastructure to deliver the help that was available.
There is no lack in God. In certain situations, there might even be no lack in us. But we are in relationship with a corporate-minded God, and he doesn't just see us when we pray. He sees his body. And his body, the Church, is currently lacking essential infrastructure.
I am beginning to believe that when we pray, the Lord looks, but he's not finding enough pipelines to get healing where it's needed. Where he needs intercessors laying themselves over the gaps in the "road," he instead finds people unwilling to expend the spiritual energy. Where he needs evangelists making bridges by connecting with those hurting, he finds a quick "like" on Facebook from those who can't find actual time to spare. Where he needs pastors lined up, passing the Bread of life person to person, he finds those more concerned with their popularity and offerings.
And so healing doesn't come. Not because God doesn't heal, or even because your faith is weak. But because God is working with a faulty "delivery system," Church-wide.
Obviously, not everyone in the Church is fooling around. There are many intercessors, evangelists, pastors, and others fervently working to see the Kingdom of God expand where they are.
But there are still gaps in the road. That's where you come in.
In Mozambique*, they got creative. They found smaller airplanes that could land in smaller places, trucks that could navigate waist-deep mud, and folks simply willing to carry goods on their heads through disease- and leech-infested water.
What are you willing to do? Instead of blaming yourself or wondering "why," what if you turned that energy towards discovering what gap God wants you to fill? No one can fill all the holes; but if each one of us begins covering the ones God assigns us, the road will eventually be rebuilt.
And the healing we long to see will flow without interruption from Heaven to Earth.
*Information on flooding and resulting problems in Mozambique from Mozambican missionaries Rolland and Heidi Baker's book Always Enough and their other books / teachings.
Comments
Post a Comment