Heal!

3. Sin, Sin, Sin

2012-02-11T21:34:00.001-06:00

Sin and the Sinned Against

In order to understand the work of the HolySpirit in healing prayer, it is vital to grasp the theology of sin and itstransmission. There is a profound, destructive relationship between the sinnerand the sinned against, and this requires some study of and commentary onrelevant Scriptures to ascertain the roles of salvation, sanctification,confession, forgiveness, and healing for the sinner and the sinned against. Thebiblical passages examined in this chapter are representative of andfoundational to the theology and practice of healing prayer. They are intendedto clarify the nature and scope of healing prayer, grounding the project in thetheological conviction that healing prayer touches both sides of the problem ofsin, but focuses primarily on the sinned against.

During their wandering in the wilderness, the Israelitesrebelled against God again and again. At Kadesh-barnea, God was about todestroy them for their numerous sins, but then Moses reminded Him of what Hehad said about His judgment and mercy:

And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great,just as You have spoken, saying, “The Lordis longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression;but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers onthe children to the third and fourth generation.” Pardon the iniquity of thispeople, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You haveforgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
Then the Lordsaid: “I have pardoned, according to your word; but truly, as I live, all theearth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord—becauseall these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and inthe wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have notheeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore totheir fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.” (Numbers14:17–23)

At Moses’ plea for pardon, God withdrew the deathsentence, but the physical consequences and the lesson of the Israelites’ sinpersisted: They would not see the Promised Land. The translation of “visitingthe iniquity” in this passage is consistent with much of Hebrew thought, whichheld that God, being sovereign and omnipotent, is responsible for everything,including the evil we experience. This is not to say that He is the author ofevil, but that everything, in order for it to happen at all, must be a part ofHis will. Therefore, “visiting the iniquity,” or punishing future generationsfor the sins of their parents, would not mean that God unjustly intended theharm, but that it required His assent, which is righteously given, for the harmto occur.

This view of God is expressed frequently in HebrewScripture, and many Christian theologians agree with it. For example, inconsidering Romans 8:20 (“For the creature was made subject to vanity, notwillingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.…”[KJV]),John Wesley commented, “The creation was made subject to vanity—Abuse, misery,and corruption. By him who subjected it—Namely, God, Gen 3:17,5:29.”[1] That is, God made creation, and us, subjectto abuse, misery, and corruption.

This idea is often difficult for modern readers tograsp. They read this and ask, “Why is God so mean that He punishes childrenfor the sins their parents commit?” A historical parallel might help accountfor this difference in thought. In ancient times people believed that God orHis angels pushed the stars and planets across the sky. The assumption was thatif God stopped pushing, everything would stop. The modern view is that Godestablished the laws of physics and that stars and planets alike obey thoselaws. Just as a ball continues on it own after a baseball pitcher throws ittoward home plate, God does not have to run behind the stars and planets momentby moment for them to continue to move. Both the ancient and modern views areattempts to explain what people observe, but whatever the explanation, thestars and planets still move. This can help us understand the passage from thebook of Numbers.

The substrata of the Hebrew are worthy ofconsideration. The Hebrew words for visiting(dq;P' paqad ) and iniquity (!wO[' `avon) are important.[2] The first can mean not only to reckonor to punish, but also to witness or watch over. The second can mean not only fault or sin, but also theconsequences of sin. So another way to say that God is “visiting the iniquityof the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation” is to saythat God witnesses the consequences of sin committed by one generation assin infects and flows through subsequent generations.

This is clearly true in families and nations. Sindoes not stop with its perpetrators. Not only does it harm its victims, but italso harms—and even leads into sin—those in its wake. It has a ripple effect inthe networks of relationships surrounding the sinner and in the lives ofchildren, grandchildren, and so on “to the third and fourth generation.”Everyone has seen and experienced this truth, and whether it occurs because Godmakes it happen or because He allows it and witnesses and testifies to it doesnot change the reality that it does happen. It might be more useful simply torealize that because people are created in God’s image, they are made to be inrelationship with one another, and thus the sins (and love and good deeds) ofthe individual always affect more than just that person. They affect the peoplethe sinner touches, and the people they touch, and so on and so on.

This is an extraordinarily important insight becausemuch of the theology and teaching in the church (the Western church inparticular) has been focused on sinners and their need for repentance. This isa vital concern, to be sure, but of equal importance is the consequence of sinon its victims. Not only are they often crippled physically, emotionally, orspiritually by the sin of the sinner, but they are also often drawn intosin—either the same one or another—in reaction to it. Thus, the abused oftenbecome abusers or, conversely, they express their wounding in (to name a few)eating disorders, promiscuity, self-injury, drug or alcohol abuse, or bitter,fearful, or icy relationships with others and with God. The truth is that justas all are sinners, all are also sinned against. This can help usunderstand and empathize—to a degree—with even the greatest victims of sin andsuffering.

Sinand Sinners

Most Western theology has focused on the redemptionand restoration of sinners.[3]Sin separates people from God, and no amount of “being good” can make them holyenough to live in His presence. But when they confess, they are forgiven, evenif the confession is merely implicit in accepting forgiveness. God extends Hisgrace to them on the basis the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross—His willingnessto die as a sinner though He is Himself God (Philippians 2). Jesus’ standing infor men and women so God can declare them righteous and set them free is a giftthat need only be accepted.

This, however, is not the end of the story. God’spassion and plan for His people is that they move beyond salvation intosanctification—that they be healed and reformed and matured into His likeness.For this, He gives them the Holy Spirit as their advocate, counselor,intercessor, and sanctifier. After salvation, the Holy Spirit, who worked inthem to set them free from slavery to sin, now works to free them progressivelyfrom sin’s influence and its worldly consequences.

It is in this light that Western Protestanttheologians have often based their understanding of the expression “He came toset the captives free,” which is based on Luke 4:18, where Jesus, reading from Isaiah61:1, says:

The Spirit of the Lordis upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hassent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives andrecovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

Christ didcome to free sinners from their sins and from the often intolerableconsequences of them. But this is not the meaning of the passage in which thissaying has its roots. The language of Luke 4:18 and of the original text inIsaiah 61:1 are focused not on sinners and freeing them from their sin, but onthe victims of sin and misery. Here Jesus is not a philosophical abstraction ofhumanity and divinity residing in one body, however theologically correct thatabstraction might be. Rather, here is Jesus, a poor carpenter, who touches realpeople who are really ill, suffering, and oppressed—and He heals them. He livesnot in royal splendor befitting a God-man, but in the ghetto with the dregs ofsociety, and right there He reveals the very heart of the Father.[4]

[1]Seehttp://www.ccel.org/w/wesley/notes/home.htmlfor Wesley’s note on Romans 8 in John Wesley, Wesley’s Notes on the Bible. GrandRapids, Michigan: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1765.

[2]Notethat the underlying Hebrew word translated visiting has broaderimplications as well. It is God’s presence that brings blessing or judgment(and even both at the same time).

[3]EarlWilson et al., Restoring the Fallen (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsityPress, 1997), 41–51.

[4]BryanP. Stone, Compassionate Ministry, Theological Foundations (Maryknoll,N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996), 70.

2. The Victims of Sin

2012-01-27T12:33:00.000-06:00

TEACHING HEALING PRAYER FOR THE VICTIMS OF SIN

You can hear this chapter as it was preached over three Sundays by clicking on this link:
Sermons for Chapter 2. The Victims of Sin. THREE PARTS.

Note that what is below and what was preached are not the same! The same material is covered, but the sermon and the text expand upon it differently. In the book which will come from all of this, both of these contents will be combined. For now, the reading and listening experience will vary!

The world today is filled withvictims. This includes both those who are genuinely victims of oppression,physical, mental and emotional violence, injury, disease and more, and also– to be blunt – those who live in a perpetual state of ìpoor me,îeither stuck or reveling in a daily role of victimhood, presuming others arethere to meet their every need.

Healing is available for all of these conditions, andthis book will reveal Who does it and how you can be a part of it. Letís beginwith some foundational insights.

The Problem

Sin and the redemption of the sinner are the focus of muchof the churchís theology as well as the fuel of its striving to save the world.The church uses both fear of judgment and invitation to a better life to helpindividuals turn from their lives of sin to Jesus as the way of salvation.While this is an essential part of the Good News of Jesus Christ, it is notall of it.

Sin is not victimless, but the church often seems devoted primarilyto the redemption of sinners and only secondarily to the victims of sin.Yet the gospel is also for the victims of sin, and it promisesredemption and healing for them.

Romans 5:9 is usually translated like this: ìHaving now beenjustified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.î The NewLiving Translation says, ìHe will certainly save us from Godís judgment.î Explanationsof this verse usually emphasize how we are under Godís judgment because of oursin and how we can be acquitted because Jesus, who was innocent, took ourplace. In our theology, we assert that God is justifiably angry toward us butthat we escape His wrath because of Jesus.

It would be truer to the original text, however, to say thatGodís wrath[1]is against evil. We are subject to His wrath because as sinners we areparticipants in evil, immersed in evil, literally ìdevoted to sin, evil (a`martwlo,j, hamartolos).î Romans 5:8declares,

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we werestill sinners [still devoted to evil], Christ died for us.

This verse illuminates what the gospel is about. God isangry about evil but loves us so much that Christ died for us even while wewere still devoted to evil.

Why is God angry about evil?

This is a foundational question. Is it because it interfereswith His authority? Because Satan is competition for Him? If so, God is pettyand insecure and, thus, not God. Rather, He is angry about evil because of theharm it does, because of the relationships it destroys, and because of thesuffering it causes—in short, because it has victims.

There is no victimless sin. For every sinner and sin thereis always a victim. Sometimes the victims of sin are the sinnersthemselves; more often the victims are others. But there are always victims,and Jesus died for them too. His heart clearly was for the marginalized, theoutcast, the prisoners, the blind and the wounded. He even told us that when weserved them, we served Him:

Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of theleast of these My brethren, you did it to Me.[2]

The world and the church are filled with sinners, but theyare also full of sinís victims. And just as Jesus desired to heal both sinnersand sinned against while He walked on earth, He wants us, as His body, to serveand heal them in the world today. He loved and touched and healed them, and Hecommanded us to do the same. ìHeal!î is both the command Jesus gave to those Hehealed, and the command He gave His followers when He sent them into the world.It is the command He gives us, you and me.

The Good News is for both the redemption of sinners(all of us) and the healing of the sinned against (also all of us).Without both of these, the gospel is incomplete.

Sin wounds – physically, mentally, emotionally,spiritually. That is why God hates it and why He loves to heal its victims. Andjust as there are great sinners (that is, those whose devotion to evil has manyvictims), so are there great victims (that is, those who have been crippled bythe sin done to them). The church must be willing to see and offer the GoodNews to both, yet it often ignores or condemns the victims while it attends toand redeems the victimizers. Healing prayer is focused on healing victims fromthe effects of sin. This must apply to all, and most certainly it must includethose most profoundly wounded.

Definition of Terms

Few of the terms used in this book require explicit definition.Those whose meanings may be unique or uncommon include:

∑ Healing Prayer—prayer that explicitly seeks andrelies upon the supernatural intervention of God through the agency of the HolySpirit for the healing of victims of sin in the physical, mental, emotional,and spiritual dimensions of their lives.

∑ Han—a Korean word introduced by Andrew Park as acategory referring to the sinned against, their state of oppression andvictimization, and the consequences of sin for them, whether caused by anindividual or an institution.[3]

∑ Peculiar—a term used colloquially to describe peoplewho are social misfits, often as a result of their woundedness as victims ofsin (Han), but which ironically (and irenically) in older English usage meansìa hidden treasure.î

Heal! rests on the biblical revelation thatGod is willing to heal. ìThe God Who healsî is even one of His names in the OldTestament.

Healing has occurred throughout the history of the church,even though at times it is has faded among those who disbelieved, failed toask, or injected misunderstandings and theological error into theirunderstanding of God. This book relies upon Godís numerous promises inScripture to heal, His healing initiatives throughout history, and the beliefthat healing can be taught and ìcaught.î Since healing can bedemonstrated, experienced, and learned by others, the effectiveness and thesuccess of the teaching can also be seen.

Just as sinners need forgiveness, sinís victims need healing.

Healing, as construed in this book, is confined to repairand recovery from wounding. It is distinguished from forgiveness and redemptionfrom sin, which are used here to refer to sinners who victimize. Broaderdefinitions of these terms might allow them to cover both kinds ofneeds—of sinner and sinned against—but they are used narrowly herefor the sake of clarity.

Jesus sent His disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit, intothe entire world to share the Good News and to heal and minister much as Hedid.

Some victims of sin have overcome their wounding; others canseem quite ìnormalî and not attract attention. But other victims often havephysical or social affects that single them out for ostracism or belittling.Our culture (including the church) looks at many of them as ìpeculiar,î andmany in the church at large are made uneasy by their presence and behavior,which may be in the form of self-destructiveness, drug or alcohol misuse,weight gain or loss, anger, withdrawal, sexual confusion, helplessness, orother disability. Sometimes they dress oddly, do not bathe, or act in otherways outside social norms.

So wounded are they that often they would agree they areproperly the object of the scorn they experience, and it is common for them tosee themselves as unworthy of respect or love, whether from other people orfrom God. At times the wounding causes them to invent a new persona in anattempt to escape the pain and disguise the one who was in harmís way. In somecases this even appears to result in multiple persona (called ìpartsî or ìaltersî)in a single person, who presents to the world the one that seems appropriate inthe face of a specific need or threat.^{^[4]}Many of the wounded become wounders themselves, even sinning in the same waythey have been sinned against.

Of course, some victims of sin can appear quite ìnormal,îthough the simple reality is that those who seek out healing are often amongthe most needy. They manage to develop or maintain a normal affect and soappear without obvious wounds. But the sin of which they are victims stillintrudes into their present lives and disables them, leaving them broken andincomplete, just in less obvious ways—some hidden and some delayed intime, to burst forth later in life.

Clearly, training in healing must acknowledge a vast rangeof needs in those being prayed for, and this training teaches those who prayfor healing to be sensitive to these realities, to avoid judging onappearances, and to withhold the kind of disdain common in our culture and inour churches. Nevertheless, the practical essentials of healing can be taughtregardless of the specific need or the depth of the wounding.

Understanding how to willingly seek Godís intervention, howto give up control to the Holy Spirit, and how not to interfere or misdirectare the basics of healing, and they are independent of the degree of need. Theyare not just for the profoundly wounded or their wounds, though these areimportant. Teaching about the badly victimized is an element of the overalltraining, but it is not its sole focus.† Understanding deep need equips thosewho pray to respond more broadly to all needs, but the basics remain the sameacross the spectrum.

The effects and affects described here are commonconsequences of sin and as such are open to healing through prayer.^{^[5]} Jesus charged Hisdisciples to heal the sick, and we are the inheritors of this charge. Just asJesus trained His disciples by ìuse and practiceî (one of the root meanings of disciplein Greek), those who have learned healing prayer teach it by doing, by explainingwhat is being done, and by inviting those being discipled to do it as well.

When trained ministers (that is, disciples) pray, the HolySpirit responds willingly with healing. Even in large group demonstrations, itis not uncommon to see the Holy Spirit touch and heal people profoundlythroughout the room, even though the prayer is apparently focused on just theperson in front. When invited, the Spirit ìblows where it wishesî (John 3:8),which is often well beyond the expectations of even the trainers. It iseloquent testimony to Godís willingness to heal.

Jesus explained this willingness in this way:

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and tohim who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father amongyou, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him aserpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him ascorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to yourchildren, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to thosewho ask Him![6]

In teaching believers to exercise this gift of healing, itmust be made clear that this promise of Jesus is not a spiritual abstraction,but a real event with a real effect in the real physical world.

In some cases, the coming of the Holy Spirit producesphysical healing. In others, it frees people in the present from thedestructive intrusion of the past into their minds, emotions, and spirit. Thatis, instead of being disabled by the wounding and damage of the past, they arereleased from its power and begin new chapters in their lives, free from thebondage that was their constant reality. In time, they often become the mostcompassionate and willing to pray for the healing of others.

The Holy Spirit directs and empowers this change throughhealing prayer—prayer that directly seeks the Spiritís intervention inpeopleís lives for the healing of the effects of the sins committed againstthem by others and by themselves, as well as for their ongoing sanctification.Thus, the basic assumptions of training in healing prayer are:

∑ Sinís victims need healing.

∑ Healing is repair and recovery from wounding, not forgivenessfrom sin.

∑ Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus empowered His followers to behealers.

With this foundation laid, the hypothesis of this book canbe asserted clearly and with confidence: By the power of the Holy Spirit,victims of sin can be healed, and believers in the body of Christ can betrained to be the agents of this healing.

Of course, the victims of sin are not just the badlywounded, nor are most of the elements of healing prayer specific to the needsof the most wounded. The foundational aspects of healing prayer are broadlyapplicable.

All of us, including those badly sinned against, aresinners, and the ministry of healing does not seek to minimize or ignore this.In fact, healing the damage of sin done to us sometimes begins with ourreceiving forgiveness for the damage of sin we ourselves have caused. But oftenthis is not true, and healing for the victims of sin has specificcharacteristics, dimensions, and requirements that are often unknown or ignoredby the church. Perhaps this is why the profoundly wounded are more likely toseek out opportunities for healing prayer and attend teaching on the subjectthan those who are less obviously wounded.

In healing prayer, the Holy Spirit is invited to work in theprayer ministers and in the victim, both to lead to forgiveness of others andto the healing of the damage done to the victim. This prayer is appropriate foranyone, since all are sinned against, just as all are sinners, but it bringsparticular satisfaction and joy when those who have been badly hurt are healed.As the healing unfolds, even the people once regarded as peculiar by an oftencruel culture and church are revealed to be Godís ìpeculiarî people in thesense intended by the King James Bible, which uses peculiar to translatethe Hebrew word meaning treasure, jewel, or valued property:

Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lordhath chosen thee to be a peculiar[7]people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.[8]

Backgroundand Significance

There are a significant number of healing ministries in thechurch at large today, ranging from charlatanry to genuine, caring, andeffective efforts, but even in the best of these, there is little other than healing.That sounds odd to say – since healing is wonderful! – but thesecret of Godís gifts to us is that they are then be used to bless others. Thosewho are healed should learn to do healing prayer themselves! Perhaps combiningthe best lessons from these healings with insights from Scripture and theleading of the Holy Spirit can produce a resource that will benefit theindividuals being trained and allow them to take the training home to impactthe world at large.

This is of particular importance to the church in itsunderstanding and care of ìpeculiarî people. Not all who seek healing prayerhave so profound and apparent a wounding as these. While some people come forhealing prayer much as they would visit the family doctor for a minor illness,the ministry of healing prayer would be a failure if it served only such needs.It is in its ability to serve those more seriously wounded that the churchgains true understanding about the depths of Godís love and His willingness toheal.

Because many in the church have not even thought about thebadly sinned against, much less learned how to love and heal them, these peoplequickly realize that they do not fit and are not understood, and they thereforefeel pain while in church and quickly flee. This is both an acknowledgment ofhow the church has failed to be Christís body and a challenge to it to grow inChristlikeness.

I have delighted in how powerfully the Holy Spirit moveswhen invited, and how touched people are who have witnessed His power,experienced His infilling, or been healed by Him. The ministry of healing isvery focused on how these transformational experiences have the power to drawunbelievers to Jesus Christ and believers into a deeper healing and sanctifyingrelationship with God through the Holy Spirit.

Healing is always a sovereign move of God, not somethingthat can be packaged or manufactured. Yet there are areas where training isimportant:

∑ In correcting misunderstandings about the nature of healing

∑ In identifying things that can act as barriers and distractions

∑ In finding methods to focus participants and lead to greatereffectiveness in prayer

Some churches put little emphasis on the Holy Spirit, andsome ìcessationistsî believe that the miraculous healing work of the HolySpirit ceased after the apostolic age. While the principles of healing prayerare broadly applicable, some additional teaching and caution may be required inintroducing this teaching in such venues.

[1]ovrgh, orge

[2]Matthew 25:40

[3]Andrew Sung Park, The Wounded Heart of God: The Asian Concept of Han and theChristian Doctrine of Sin (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1993).

[4]JamesG. Friesen, Uncovering the Mystery of MPD [Multiple PersonalityDisorder] (San Bernadino, Calif.: Hereís Life Publishers, 1991), 41–67.

[5]The teaching also values the contribution of professional therapy and medicine(including psychiatry) and explicitly teaches those who pray must avoid amateurattempts at these professions.

[6]Luke 11:10–13

[7]------ cegullah, Hebrew for treasure,jewel, valued property.

[8]Deuteronomy 14:2 kjv

1. The God Who Knows, Speaks

2012-01-18T22:33:00.002-06:00

This is a book on healing – how God does it and how you can be a conduit for it. This may sound silly to some, frightening to others, but it is normal in Scripture, and even the least “worthy” of us can be healed – and used by God for the healing of others.

You might think, “That’s all well and good, and perhaps God really is willing to heal me, or heal others through me, but I just don’t know enough about Him or His ways to really be effective. Isn’t that what ministers, or evangelists, or saints are for?”

The short answer is, “No. That’s what you are for.”

Let’s look at the Scriptures to begin to understand God’s heart, and His leading for you, as the nature of healing begins to be revealed.

We’ll start with the first part of Psalm 139, a song written by King David; the last part (not printed here) is valuable as well, as David rails against the enemies of God, and also asks that his own heart be searched. But for our initial purposes we will look at the first eighteen verses:

The God Who knows me

You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.[1] Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts,God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.[2]

This is such an extraordinary Psalm that I hardly know where to begin. It contains deep wisdom and understanding of who God is, and what He knows, and how intimately He knows us, cares for us, and guides us. He knows everything about us – every thought, every need, every fear. He should be as precious to us as we are to Him, and though we sleep and are unaware of Him, when we awake He is still right there. In fact, “…the one who watches over you will not slumber.”[3]

He never leaves. He watches all night long until you awake.

I suppose this should be obvious, but so many of us today – even Christians! – act as if God created the world and left it on its own. At the most we think He visited a few times in the past, and MAYBE comes occasionally into our lives or the lives of others.

But we are functional “Deists.” We act like He doesn’t know our needs and really doesn’t much care. We don’t think of Him as being intimate with us, like a loving husband, never leaving our sides, looking lovingly at us all night long. Yet such an intimate, caring and jealous God is what Scripture reveals.

The God who speaks

Aside from people whose disabilities prevent it, can you imagine a marriage in which the husband and wife do not speak (all kidding aside!)? Rather, those marriages that are most healthy are intimate not just in physical closeness, but in words whispered in love, in plans made together, in warnings given in times of danger, in instruction where it is needed.

The Apostle Paul, writing to Christian believers, reminded them of how different the real God is from the idols they once worshipped:

Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.[4]

We will come back to this passage again later in the book. For now, notice this key insight: the idols they once worshipped were speechless. Paul intends the obvious implication: GOD SPEAKS TO US.

This may happen in a thousand different ways, from actual audible words, to Scripture, dreams, visions, angels, convictions of the heart, worship, prayer, and especially through other believers, led by the Spirit of God to speak to us from God’s heart.

This is why Paul says, “…no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.” Paul is speaking of the quality and content of believers when their speech is from God – speaking by the Spirit of God – as God speaks to us through them.

One of God’s prophets, Elijah, was fleeing from Jezebel, who had vowed to kill him:

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree.

But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.

Then the angel of the LORD came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”

So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.
But the LORD said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.

And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”[5]

Who does Scripture say God speaks to? Here's a partial list. I got tired after about an hour of finding and listing names. God speaks to Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Hagar, to Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Balaam, Deborah, Eli, Samuel, David, Solomon, Ahijah, Jeroboam, Elijah, Elisha, Nathan, Gad, Shemaiah, Zechariah, Huldah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, John, Saul/Paul, Ananias…

This list shows us something crucial: We often think of prayer as us speaking to God, but it is not a one-way channel. It is a conversation, if we will open ourselves to listen to Him. Here's a key example of this willingness, and the desire on God's part for us to listen to Him:

The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
A third time the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”[6]

As we begin to explore Scripture, and try to discover the heart of Jesus for healing in us, and through us, this willingness to listen to God will be a foundation, and a touchstone, for all that we learn to do.

Say it now: "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening."

[1] Interestingly, the English word “man” comes from a Sanskrit word meaning the thinker sprung from the earth, and the Hebrew word “Adam” means made from earth. See Genesis 2:7.

[2] Psalm 139:1-18 NIV

[3] Psalm 121:3b

[4] 1 Corinthians 12:1-2

[5] 1 Kings 19:3-13

[6] 1 Samuel 3:1-10