Proverbs 3:5-8 (NKJV) 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.
In 2016, I believe the church needs to get back to a place of believing that all things are possible for God. That was Jesus’ exhortation to the father of a sick child in Mark 9. We acknowledge this in principle, but as I travel it seems to me that we increasingly depend on what we can do in the natural. We have access to so much technology, teaching, finance and myriad of other things that help us do the work of the Lord I think we are forgetting to lean on his ability. The result of this lowering of expectation is the limitation of our vision to natural possibilities.
Especially for us in the west, our resources can be very successful. We can build large ministries. We can meet many kinds of needs. We can overcome many problems and challenges with the natural resources at our disposal. There is nothing wrong with using those resources. However, what will we do when those resources are no longer enough. Let me use physical healing as an example.
The bible tells us that God is a healer. Jesus healed sick people by the multitudes. Both the Old and New Testaments teach healing as part of our covenant. Today, medicine has progressed to an amazing degree. Things are possible that were never possible before. We can transplant organs. We can replace limbs with artificial substitutes that can be both functional and ascetically pleasing. We are learning new ways to treat cancer, heart disease and many other deadly conditions. Yet with all of the technology and medical knowledge at our disposal there are still things that we cannot cure.
As wonderful as the miracles of modern medicine may be they are not available to all. Some people simply cannot afford them. Other places in the world simply do not have the medical infrastructure to provide them. Some say that we must make them available to everyone but, good intentions aside, there are only so many doctors and so much money. It is impossible to make modern medical science available to all.
Even if it was universally available, modern medical science is not able to fix everything that can go wrong with the human body. What do we do when we cannot access medical possibilities or they just do not work? The father of this child in Mark 9 turned to another set of possibilities. He went to Jesus.
Over my lifetime I cannot recall the number of testimonies I have heard about people who were healed by the power of God and prayer. I have never had a serious illness, but I have experienced the healing touch of God for common things. I believe I have experienced the “keeping” power of God as well. I am 62. I take no prescription medication; I am not under care for any chronic illness. I have traveled extensively in some very “suspect” places. I know the hand of God has protected me and sustained me. I believe for that.
It does not matter what need or condition you cite. In any area of the human experience there are things that can be enhanced and/or fixed by modern scientific and social developments. However, there are more things that we cannot fix than things we can.
What do we do when we are faced with them? What do we do when the diagnosis has no natural cure? What do we do when there is no place we can go to get the money we need? What do we do when we simply cannot overcome the inward pressures of depression, worry or fear? Where do we go to find restoration for our marriages? What do we do when our children get into trouble? What do we do when we face things that have no natural solution?
We are taught how to build a successful ministry. We study how to reach the current generations. We learn how technology, music, quality of organization and skillful use of money can be used to build the church. Yet the church of today is not growing. More churches close than start, especially in spirit filled Christianity. These things can be helpful and are certainly not wrong. However, what do we do when they do not work?
I travel a good bit in second and third world countries. The methods we often find indispensable in the US are not available and will not work in those places. How are they to build the church? You might say, “Their needs are different than ours.”
You would be right. Nevertheless, with all we have at our disposal, the church is losing ground and influence. What do we do when these things do not work? What do we do when there is nothing left to try in the natural? What do we do when we run out of possibilities? We must know how to look to other possibilities.
If we are not careful, we will be lulled into a false sense of security because of all the natural possibilities we have at our disposal. Whenever Israel or the church allowed that to happen, the devil always came in and brought destruction. Read the books of Kings and Chronicles. Israel went from desperation to faith to security and self-reliance again and again. The result was always the same. Eventually their reliance on the natural brought them to a place where the natural was not enough.
Church history is no different. Starting with the acceptance of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine and throughout church history until today we have seen a similar cycle. The church starts persecuted and outcast. It has no choice but to depend on supernatural possibilities. The supernatural power of God changes things and the church becomes more accepted. That acceptance causes the church to lean on natural things to an increasing degree. The result is that we forget how to access the supernatural possibilities of the God we serve.
Once that happens, it is always a slow but steady slide to ineffectiveness, worldliness and sin. The church, or some part of the church who hears the voice of the Lord and begins to hunger for more of the Spirit of God, is rejected by the world, the culture and religious establishment. As they begin to depend again on the supernatural possibilities of the invisible God, they grow in holiness and then in power and the Kingdom of God is extended.
I challenge you to look at the current condition of the church. At what point are we in the cycle. As is often the case when I preach, I find that I have gotten off the “outline” for today’s post. Nevertheless, I believe this is what the Holy Spirit is saying to me today. We must learn to depend again on the supernatural possibilities of God. Not as a last resort but as our primary resource.
We are in the downward cycle. I believe that the teaching, worship and resources of the church can keep us from “bottoming out” again if we will get back to depending on the invisible and not be seduced by the power of the visible. We need to use our resources not let our resources use us.
If we do not, we may be headed for the darkest time in the history of the church. I do not believe this is God’s will. I believe we can and we will lean not on our own understanding. I believe as we acknowledge him in all our ways, we can overcome the pattern of spiritual history and make this the churches greatest hour. We can only do that if we believe. What we must believe is that “all things are possible.” We can only do that if we prioritize relationship with him above all else.
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