Rhonda,

Great debatable questions.  And here I thought nobody was reading those
notes and comments, haw.

Confidence, for one thing, is strictly human in nature.  Having confidence
can change how you feel about things and situations but it cannot change
those situations and things.  Confidence, in short, can do no miracle.  It
is my personal opinion that a majority of the teaching on faith have
received has substituted confidence for faith.  Faith is who you are in
Christ.  It identifies you directly and completely with Christ.  Without
that identity in Christ, you wouldn't be born again because it is the faith
God gives us that makes salvation instantly possible.

When we start praying about cancerous situations and illnesses and diseases
and the like, first you must answer the question, if this person dies and
isn't healed, what will I be like, or what will I do, if my prayer isn't
answered.  If you can't answer that one, praying for the sick is very
difficult.  Additionally, there are those in the Body of Christ who have
been gifted in the area of healing.  Don't ask me to name any but the ones I
know aren't on television.  Furthermore, Rhonda, I honestly don't have the
answers.  I am still doing what the Bible says about my friend's daughter,
Jennifer, who is critically ill in an Oklahoma hospital and now, due to her
condition, has been taken off most of the lung transplant lists.  God tells
us to choose life instead of death and that's what I am doing.  In my
opinion, it takes more spiritual insight than most people want to gather in
prayer to pray for the sick.  Read the Gospels carefully and you'll discover
Jesus prayed all the time and often all night.  Why?  He was praying to find
out what the Father wanted Him to do.  Didn't Jesus have the power to heal
everybody?  Here's where the trouble begins.  The answer is yes and no.
Yes, as God, Jesus had the power, but no, as God who became man because
Jesus, in order to identify fully with us, limited Himself to exactly what
we need to do when faced with impossible situations.

What should I have done about my headaches?  I should have prayed until I
heard from the Lord about it.  Then, when He said, now do it, it would have
worked.  I was living on the confidence building testimonies of another man
and not the Words of God.

Did they believe?  Upon what was their belief based?  Jesus taught the
disciples things over and over again and then later, even when they
confessed he was the Messiah, had to scold them for their unbelief.  shoot,
He even did that after His resurrection because they still doubted.  When I
get into the meaning of doubt in the Mark Chapter 11 passage, the word
believe verses the word faith may begin to have more meaning.

So, Rhonda, it comes down to this.  I still haven't answered your questions
but it is the best I can do.  I'm still trying to figure it all out myself.

By the way, we can command God and He tells us to do exactly that in Isaiah
45:11 and 12 and John 15:7 and 8 and First John 5:14 and fifteen.  We will
be getting into some of those passages, too, as I continue typing up my
notes to post on the list.

Phil.
I flew Kites With Jesus
www.safeplacefellowship.com



--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.7 - Release Date: 2/10/05