Jesus the healer

I hope I am not babbling and this makes sense.

I found myself in a position to show love to a hurting family this weekend. A man that I care for deeply was in the midst of real turmoil, his sister was in intensive care and his family was pressed from all sides. It was great to hear from him how so many “strangers” rallied around them, prayers from people they never meet before, prayers for a sister that had never been seen by any of these “strangers” prayers from so many Churches and people that were so far away. The common thread to all of this was the centrality of Jesus and His power to heal.

One of the pictures we get from Scripture is Jesus has complete control over healing. Be it spiritual or physical, he is in control. Luke 6:19 shows the power of Christ as leaving Him and entering “all” that were sick. This is not some magical trick or slight of hand but the real power of the Spirit of God to heal as He sees fit.

The touch of Christ is as real as anything we might encounter in the physical world. The difference is the power of the Holy Spirit and His work in the healing process. Paul and Barnabas healed a lame man in Lystra, they insisted ‘We are only human beings like yourselves’ (Acts 14:15). They carried no power of their own; they simply relied on the power of God and were conduits of His grace.

They figured out that they too could heal the sick, but only when they took themselves out of the mix and leaned on Jesus to heal. The New Testament points us to this power and it is called Faith, not a faith in what we as people can accomplish but upon Faith that is soundly fastened in Jesus, the Great Physician.

How sad it is that today so many people look to great faith healers and think they hold the keys to healing. It is not the overly saintly self appointed healers or the wonder working televangelists, nope, not the guy on TV that says send in your request and if so lead a few bucks and we will send you in return a “special” holy cloth that will surely heal ol’ Aunt Martha

It is so very unfortunate that today we associate healing with hucksters and the “saintly”.When it is really something that we all posses, the power of Christ to heal lies within our selflessness of relying on Him. It only takes us stepping out of the way and allowing His will to be done.

The New Testament clearly shows us that the healing ministry should have a central place in our Christian walk. Not a second fiddle position of an afterthought that we will fall back on. That is not to say that everyone will be healed but everyone deserves the privilege of allowing the Holy Spirit a place at the hospital bed.

When we find our brothers and sisters are in need of the touch of the fringe of His garment we need to be in position to allow that to take place. We need to be loving, kind and real. We need to be there for those that need to know Him, we need to be a conduit of the Love that is found in Christ the King.

Uncle Tone

29 pages and counting

Just finished the Stadia application, wow it started out around 15 pages or so, after I entered in all my answers it jumped to 29+ pages.

It is an exercise I think well worth the time I put into it. No matter the outcome it made me quantify and qualify all of my beliefs, doctrine, philosophy.

I will be sending it in later this week so if you need something to pray for, toss this on yout list

Thanks

Uncle Tone

Celebration of friendship

I am a Blessed man; I have friends that mean more to me than any thing I can imagine! When I think of my circle of friends, I think of three brothers, one sister, brothers in law, sisters in law, nieces, nephews…. the circle just expands. I have two guys and myself that make up the three musketeers; Greg & Dean are more than I can ask for in friends, then there is Rick and Llori, Carl &Luanne, Ron and Robert, Brad & Lisa, the list goes on and on and at the risk of forgetting someone I will just stop there and say, man, I have a bunch of great friends.

All that being said, my thought tonight was, why do we celebrate the Lords Supper, One central aspect of Sunday is ‘The Lord’s Supper’, a meal. A symbolic meal, times of togetherness like weddings, anniversaries and Irish wakes that are still surrounded by a shared meal.

The communion table is a celebration of friendship that I think is so missing in today’s society, in my Irish family; the meal is the central point of our gathering, We huddle around the table, sharing stories, sharing love, sharing memories. I am sure one of the reasons our Lord made sure the communion table was such a great importance was for many of the same reasons, we share love around the table. When we do this in remembrance of Him, it is in love and something we look forward to.

Communion is a celebration of our shared friendship with God and friends

As our fast paced lives plod on and our sense of the need for fellowship dwindles and as our faith continues to be questioned by those in the world, remember, friendship and fellowship are two parts of our lives that we need to make us whole

Without faith, the communion table is nothing more than a ritual or superstition. Since communion is meant to be a celebration of God’s love, it cannot be meaningful without friendship, both to Christ and those that we share the table with.

So many of us today are honestly searching whether our commitment is deep enough to celebrate communion or even attend church, It seems to me that so many of us who do say this would do well to engage in the communion meal, that is the shared friendship of both the Lord and those that love you. Come on back, He is waiting.

2007, Let it Rip

Hi Guys

Sorry I have been MIA for the past couple of weeks, we have been busy with Meg & Mike in town. I just wanted to let you all know we are well and I hope to get back to my little blog this week.

I am wrapping up the paperwork for the first round of discussions on the Desert ministry,

as I get more info I will keep you posted.  Just wanted to say, I hope you all have a great 2007, more later

Tone