The Healing Business

Satan is depicted in the Garden of Eden as a serpent. We think of snakes as carriers of venom and death. Yet, when the Israelites sinned in disobedience to God, God told Moses to make a brass serpent.

He place it on a pole (Numbers 21). That took some time, and meanwhile, many died. Once the brass icon was in place, however, everyone who looked at the serpent was saved from the pestilence ravaging the camp of sojourners.

God used this experience as a foreshadowing of Christ being raised on the cross (John 12:32). The evil symbol of Satan in the Garden of Eden was now used for the promise of eternal redemption for us all.

When we fix our eyes on Jesus, who supplied us with His grace for salvation (Hebrews 12:2), we too are saved. God wants to heal every facet of our life, if we will simply trust and believe.

God heals marriages, which He designed to give us a safe haven from a world that often frightens us and stresses us out. Two become one flesh and should never be separated.

If you try, you do not split in half; you rip apart in shreds. If you purpose to stay together, there is not one issue that cannot be worked out between you.

It takes healing, forgiveness, open communication and a selfless commitment to one another. It is easy to get a divorce. It takes unconditional love to stay together.

Sure our partner is not perfect and may get on our nerves or wear us down at times; but a little understanding and a great deal of appreciation is all you need to stay together.

God also heals parent-child relationships. When mentally or emotionally stunted adults have children, they are sure to miss the mark in certain areas of parenting. Reading every book on parenting ever written is no guarantee of success - I know, I tried.

All we can do is our best. No human being is capable of doing more. At times, our best is sub-par, but we can give our parents credit for what they did give to us; sometimes at their own financial, physical and emotional loss.

God also heals individual lives. He fills in the gaps of our childhood and teaches us to meet our own needs and to allow Him to reveal to us the lies, which Satan planted along our life's path. As we replace the lies with God's truth, we are healed from the inside out ( www.theophostic.com ). 

Prayer:

Father God, You show us through the serpent on a pole not to focus on exterior symbols and make doctrines out of them, but to follow Your Spirit, which often works contrary to our human reasoning (Proverbs 3:5-6). You are God and there is no one like You (Jeremiah 10:6). You are our alpha and omega (Revelation 22:13).

We cannot thank You enough for condescending to our human level and dwelling among us for 33 years; only to offer Your own life as a sacrifice and propitiation for the punishment, which we deserve for our sins. Your mercy and grace are new every morning and Your faithfulness is as fathomless as the sea (Lamentations 3:22-23; Psalm 36:6).

Thought for the Day:

God is in the healing business as we totally surrender our life and will to His ultimate plan for us. - Ephesians 2:10

Success in Life

Read: Hebrews 12:5-8

“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”  -Matt 7:13-14 " (RSV)

God does not punish us; He disciplines us. There is a difference! Punishment comes from the desire to hurt the other person in retaliation for him hurting you. Discipline is for the purpose of teaching us self-discipline, a trait paramount for our success in life.

As we embrace God’s chastening, the correction of an employer or the advice of a parent, we grow in wisdom and maturity. When we face a rebuke, we can feel encouraged that the person cares enough about us to speak up and make the correction. God uses discipline to teach us to use self-control. The Bible tells us that the Lord loves those He chastens, and that if He does not correct us, then we are not His sons (Hebrews 12:6). Thank God that He disciplines us for straying from the straight and narrow road.

Although it requires a great deal of effort, we also need to discipline our children. They need to learn that there are consequences for negative behaviors. Nurturing discipline helps prepare children to achieve self-control, self-discipline, proficiency in decision-making, and consideration for others. We do this by affirming their behavior when we see them doing something positive, by providing them with opportunities to make wise choices and to develop ownership and responsibility of their own lives a little at a time, and also by helping them to learn to use their words to express their feelings rather than to use foul language or to strike out physically when they are frustrated or angry. Loving discipline is a positive tool in encouraging all human beings to excel to their utmost for God’s pleasure.

Prayer:

Lord, help me to embrace Your discipline and to learn from it what You want me to know. Thank you for loving us enough to keep us on the straight and narrow road. Help us to discipline our children so that they can grow up as self-disciplined adults who make productive citizens and Godly saints.

Thought for the Day:

When parents are angry, irritable, depressed, fatigued, and stressed they are more likely to use corporal punishment instead of loving discipline, or to use a permissive parenting style that teaches children nothing.