II Timothy 1:1 –“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus: verses 7 & 8 – “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.  So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”

Over the years I have noticed many Christians have a problem with their past and overcoming their guilt.  Paul, in writing to Timothy tells him he has a clear conscience.  Most of us find it is easy to accept being forgiven.  Our problem is how do we forget?

Scripture promises us a new life through Christ that starts at conversion.  This new life is a time given to preparing for life after death and living throughout all eternity with God.  It is not necessarily what we do but what we believe and the knowledge that we receive from studying the Bible.  Prior to Christ’s coming, personal salvation was not possible.  Christ came to destroy death.  That does not mean we as humans will not die.  However, physical death is just the beginning for those who have been saved through Christ.  This is one of the greatest promises in the Bible. Christ brought to Christians that they will become immortal.  They shall rise and live again and death is not the end.  Paul tells Timothy what Christ commissioned him to do was proclaim the Good News, the gospel.

Paul continually taught that God was in control and He would protect the souls of those who accepted salvation.  No matter what situations or problems occurred he could fully trust God and that nothing could separate him from God.

It is not uncommon for those who have received salvation and have made a commitment to live a holy life to be suddenly energized and eager to take on the world.  This places them in the unenviable position of reversing themselves.

I have witnessed too many Christians who downplay the seriousness of negative influences.  No two Christians are defeated in precisely the same way, yet there is a definite pattern to the traps in which they fall.  The four most common traps are directly related to our worldly natures and our spiritual natures.

Every Christian or non-Christian has an inherent need to love and be loved.  It is well-known that love can be a source of inner strength or it can be the source of individual weakness and misery.  All Christians should understand that God fulfills the need to love and be loved and He does it unconditionally.  Be alert to the possibility of finding the wrong kind of love in the wrong place.  No one is immune to being attracted to a person of the opposite sex.

The need to belong and be accepted is universally recognized.  We know that teenagers take up everything from using drugs to committing acts of violence in order to belong.  There is no difference with adults; they may just be a little more discreet.  We must remember we have become a member of the most privileged group in the history of the world.  No other group has the gift of salvation and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

We all need an identity or the need to be someone.  Christians must know God has given them an identity.  Our worldly natures tempt us to fulfill this need of identity through careers and business successes.  No matter how successful, well-known or even famous, it will only last for a matter of time.  Galatians 1:10 – “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Finally, everyone needs a purpose in life.  The enemy is once again ready to set the trap by leading people, one step at a time, into believing that career success and the financial rewards that often accompany it, are one’s only true purpose in life.  Nothing in Scripture indicates that God opposes successful careers, wealth, position or the pursuit of personal interest, recreational or otherwise.  In fact, we have every reason to believe that God will bless us in those endeavors.   Our true purpose is to serve God by living a holy life, be accountable to and dependent upon Him and live at peace with others.

Who but God can meet all of our basic needs?  Do you want what God can give you?

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We are told we have a mind and soul that are influenced by our flesh or by our spirit. If we are mostly allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our thinking we can usually live a less sinful life. However, when we permit our flesh to direct our actions we probably would live more like the world. If we should live as the world lives we might encounter problems from a negative perspective and become either overly discouraged or depressed. It would be more likely that we try to solve our problems by ourselves rather than trusting God to meet our needs.

A number of years ago a very devote Christian lady we know was encountering some problems in her life. She became very depressed. She allowed her depression to become an escape from her problems. Rather than trusting God to meet her need, she became involved in an affair. She then developed a guilt complex that she couldn’t seem to get over. She was sharing the situation with my wife and how it had affected her life. Instead of overcoming her depression it became worse and caused anger and loneliness. Of course, she allowed her flesh to make her decisions.

I heard a story how doctors believed that the mind, under certain circumstances, can cause one’s body to heal on its own. They had two patients who needed knee operations. For the first patient they did what they normally would do in order to surgically fix the problem. The second they made three minor punctures and stated they had used a new procedure. They both were wrapped equally and afterwards both were treated the same. Two years later they both had no knee problems and x-rays indicated both had healed. Surgery healed one and the mind or a miracle healed the other.

My wife was having tremendous pain with a foot. X-rays indicated the need for surgery. A nurse told her to take a tennis ball and roll the bottom of her foot back and forth on the ball. She did this constantly for days. She has had no problem with pain in her foot for the past two years.

We make choices every day. When problems come and they always will, do we ask: “God why aren’t you meeting my need?” Or, do we say: “God, I know you are with me. Please help me make the right decisions and get through this situation?” How can God build our faith and trust unless we see Him getting us through the valleys of life? The greater our knowledge that we acquire through Bible study the more wisdom God gives to us. Our relationship to God and our trust factor can be a very positive effect on our minds and bodies. We are told stress is probably harder on our bodies than anything else. Why would the Bible tell us not to worry? Disappointment and depression is normally caused by fleshly thinking and results in stress that can be damaging to our health.

Our spirits and minds have tremendous influences over our bodies and our well-being. Would you rather have your mind controlled by the flesh or by your spirit and the Holy Spirit? Romans 12:2 – “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Do we not believe that God is in control and can change things? When problems come do they control us or do we, through Christ, control them? Therefore, we must stop conforming to the pattern of this world and have a mind that daily is being transformed and renewed to have the mind of Christ. Once we are developing the mind of Christ there is no longer a need to become depressed. Maybe disappointed or frustrated but only temporarily.

For most of twenty years as an elder I have had the opportunity to pray for those who have needed prayer for healing. James 5:14 – 16 – “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

I have struggled with the meaning that says: “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.” Not everyone, I or others have prayed for, are healed and some have passed away. One question I have always wondered about is how important is faith in healing? Research tells us that fear can actually kill. We have heard of people dying of shock resulting from an accident. Can fear cancel out faith?

Mark 6:5 – 6 – (Jesus) “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.” Mark 10:52 – “Go’, said Jesus, ‘your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.”

I have written about this previously. However, Scripture that says “faith will make the sick person well” keeps me struggling for an explanation. Each week some of us receive a prayer list from our church asking that we pray for the sick. How many actually are healed? Why did some receive healing and others seemed not to? Was it because of a lack of faith on the people praying or the person asking for healing? You may have heard me say faith does not heal you; it takes the power of the Holy Spirit. But it takes faith on the part of the sick person to be healed and stressful-fear must be overcome. How about the person in a comma? They may not be aware that there is anyone praying for them. Then are the prayers of those praying for healing dependent upon the prayer’s faith?

In the 9th chapter of Mark a father asks the apostles to rid his son of an evil spirit and they couldn’t. When Jesus arrived He was frustrated at the apostles for not having enough faith. The father asked Jesus to rid the demon if He could. Mark 9:23 & 24 – “’If you can’? said Jesus: ‘Everything is possible for him who believes.’” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” The apostles asked Jesus why they couldn’t handle the demon. Jesus indicates that prayer was the key that unlocks and reveals faith. Effective prayer needs both an attitude of complete dependence and reliance on God.

Jesus then sent out His disciples with instructions to heal the sick. I don’t think the disciples prayed: “God if it is your will heal this sick person.” It is like saying: “God if you don’t want to heal this person you really don’t have to.” I still believe that God, in His way, answers every prayer of a faithful believer. He may not do it in the way we expect or in the time we want. But His love for us tells me He will do whatever is best for us. Many may not believe going to heaven can be God’s answer to prayer when we are praying for healing. Yet, it may be what is best but only God knows. Some people have been terrified of being sick and God took away their fear. That was His answer to prayer. It was then possible that they healed according to nature’s normal way or as a result of medical treatment. That I believe was God’s answer to the many who prayed for me. If our church had elders that miraculously healed the sick every time they were asked we would have a congregation of many, many thousands. People would come because of the healing more than to hear the gospel. This is what attracted most to Jesus, His healing and His miracles.

One thing I can attest to when going through a life and death situation is that the Holy Spirit can give you continual peace. John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 16:33 – “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Worldly peace usually means a lack of conflict. Christ’s peace is confidence that the Holy Spirit will comfort and guide us through any circumstance. There is no reason for our hearts to be troubled or should we be afraid.

For the past 26 years I have had a heart problem. I have had bypass surgery twice and angiogram procedures twice with stenches inserted. My cardiologist is amazed that I am alive. Through it all I have learned that faith can remove all fear. This has made me question how important is one’s faith and can fear block out faith? Fear can be a lack of faith and trust in God’s healing power as we learn in Scripture. When the doctor tells your family your heart is not strong enough for you to live and tells you your organs have just shut down and your color is as yellow as a lemon, knowing that you are in God’s hands can give you complete peace and joy knowing God cares. Thank God no matter what I have gone through, problems or in health, I have always felt the peace that only the Holy Spirit can provide. Were it not for answered prayers, faith and a deep peace and God’s healing hand I would not be writing to you.

Now let’s address the importance of faith and peace in life. Going through the deepest recession since the 1930s many have become scared, frustrated and to a degree hopeless. Ask them if they have any peace in their lives and the answer is unequivocally no and their stress is horrible. As a financial advisor with over 500 clients seeing their investment portfolios go down month after month was very disconcerting. Yes it is very disturbing. However, this is a time when we must completely put our trust in God that He will meet our needs. I had the same peace that was there when I was going through my physical problem. It was the same peace I believe Paul talks about having. I assume it comes from having knowledge of the Bible and believing in God’s promises. It may require reaching a certain spiritual maturity that allows complete trust and being totally dependent upon God. It is a peace that I believe every Christian can have. However, I believe it takes time to reach that trust factor with God before His peace overcomes all stress and hopelessness. Seek it out!

P.S. Each week as I receive the church’s prayer list, my heart aches for those who are going through some very serious situations. It reminds me of the story of the man who was complaining because he had no shoes until he saw another with no feet. We often just take for granted that life is to be one big bowl of cherries. However, many of us have been blessed, in general, with good health and few problems. Let us remember those unfortunate and the stress they are going through in our prayers and thank God for His blessings that we still have feet.

I Timothy 1:12 – 17 – “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”

Paul was chosen by Christ to take the gospel to the Gentiles and much of the New Testament tells of his past. He was the worst of sinners. He says we should look at him and see how desperate he was. He then praises God and says if He can save me, empower and strengthen me, then by His grace He can and will do it for anyone.

Scripture says that Paul did not exaggerate his past. He approved the stoning of Stephen. His purpose, prior to being converted, an ultimate goal was to destroy Christianity and the church. He went from home to home dragging people off to prison. He yelled murderous threats to the Lord’s disciples. He was a huge part of the Jewish persecution of Christians. The Jews put some to death and others were placed into prisons. He did whatever he could to oppose the followers of Christ.

Regardless of everything that Paul said and did, once saved, God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit gave him the love for both believers and unbelievers. What Paul lacked God supplied. What He did for Paul He can and will do for each one of us because of His grace. As we know, grace is a gift and cannot be earned. Yet, many believers struggle with grace, which is given through Jesus Christ, believing that they must work and earn their way to heaven. Too often we set ourselves personal standards that we cannot reach or the church or church people do it for us. Frustrated and discouraged we feel like failures and unworthy to be children of God.

How does one become convinced we are forgiven and accept God’s grace? We must thoroughly understand the meaning of “grace” because it is major in comprehending what the New Testament is based upon and how God is different from the Old Testament. It may take reaching a certain spiritual maturity. But once we fathom the meaning of grace and can accept it, then Christ wants to show His unlimited patience in our lives. We then can become examples to others. So we may need to stop trying to make certain changes in our lives, which many cannot do and totally die out to our self-centered nature and let the Holy Spirit make those changes for us. But that can only be done by faith in Christ that God truly loves us regardless of our past, present or future. However, our part is to become obedient and accountable to the teaching of the Gospel. If we do not know what the Gospel teaches it makes it most difficult to feel accepted by God and feel worthy. We do not earn being worthy. We are made worthy by God through His Spirit. It is His gift and it is “free” to us. Do you have the faith to accept it?

There are three things that can make us feel worthy: faith, love and hope. First, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ. To have faith requires certain facts. The Gospel is a simple message that God asks us to believe. The world continuously looks at a Christian to see how they treat other people and family. The Gospel repeatedly states that we are to love our brothers and if we have hate in our hearts we will not have eternal life with Christ. Lastly, hope is believing in the future and our lives in heaven and beyond. Why have love for Jesus Christ if there is no hope. Possibly it is the “hope” we have for eternal life that motivates us to have “faith” to accept and the “love” that comes from being transformed by the Holy Spirit.

It is the acceptance of God’s grace that forgives our sins. It is faith, love and hope that helps us understand that through Christ we are judged worthy to become God’s children. It is the devil who tries to defeat us through promoting negative thinking that we are just not worthy and God’s grace won’t change that! It is the Holy Spirit who is trying to convince us otherwise. To whom should we listen?

Have you ever been to a party where everyone was given a number and number one told a story to number two and on it goes? Two hours later number twenty tells the story and it is a little like the original story. At our Bible study John heard a lady on TBS tell her story. I will share how I heard it.

The lady had lost her father and her husband. Now her one and only young son had terminal cancer. The last few days completely consumed her. Once her son passed on and the funeral was over she could not seem to get on with her life.

One morning she woke up and went to the kitchen to make coffee. On the table was a letter. The letter starts out: Dear Mom – You will only be able to read this letter once and it will disappear. I just wanted to tell you that Jesus does not look anything like His pictures. He told me to sit on His lap and He would help me write this letter. Mom, you have no idea how beautiful the surroundings are. When I first got here dad and grandpa showed me all around. We are having a ball. Mom, I just wanted to let you know that I am o.k. Love, your son. She rose to get a Kleenex to wipe away her tears. She came back, sat down and the letter was gone.

If you are a doubting Thomas you may ask: is this something she imagined, is this for real? Could she have made up this story to get on TV? My attention was drawn to thinking just how much Jesus loves us. As I was reading Scripture it was sharing how the leper came to Jesus to be healed. Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. Something no one else would have ever done. The man was healed of his leprosy.

Assuming this lady’s story is true, (many knew her young son had passed away from cancer), this letter allowed this woman to get on with her life. God met her need. To the rest of us it gives just a glimpse of how much God loves us. God knows what everyone of us needs and He meets our needs. However, we believe our personal needs seem to be unlimited. If we lived in the slums of Calcutta, India our needs would probably be different than if we were raised in a very wealthy family in America. Are our individual needs greater than those living in Haiti?

How many times does God meet my need and I do not recognize it? Probably the more we have and the ease in which we live, it is unlikely we would be aware of how much God is in our lives compared to those Christians having very little.

It is stories like these and the many I have heard from foreign missionaries that give me the faith knowing each day God is aware of everything I do and each word I utter. He promises that if I have a need He will meet it. We may think we need a million dollars but God knows better. The greatest need we all have is to have the Holy Spirit within us actively guiding and checking us, giving us direction and a purpose for living our lives.

How does God meet most of our needs as American Christians? Spiritually! When we pray we should be sure to thank God for meeting the needs we may not even realize we have to be met.