Dear Friend, How are you? Hope you had or are having a good day, today? The title of this writing is actually a title of Pastor John Fenn’s audio teaching in The Church Without Walls International website. I’ve heard him talk about the sin of presumption: When are we to do what we know to do in the natural, and when should we ‘stand in faith’ for something? The sin of presumption is assuming something is God’s responsibility when in fact, it is our responsibility. I really like his teachings, as they are down to earth. I’ve seen and heard of some Christians who are off balance in their daily life, doing nothing, but saying God will provide and they heard His voice. Pastor John shared some examples of those who had debts in a credit card company, but didn’t want to talk to them nor get rid of their credit cards. And a lady who didn’t have money for her gas filled water in the gas tank, believing the Lord would turn the water into gas and ended up ruining her car and spending more money to fix it. And he also shared his own example in the weekly thoughts series, Lesson I just Learned. He had a vertigo and he saw Jesus come to a gathering, but He didn’t heal him, saying “You did it to yourself.” And he got to understand that he ignored the inner voice that the Lord spoke to him, to take a rest and he also didn’t listen to his wife, while He used her to convince him to take one day off during the week. And I would like to share more from the weekly thoughts, Lesson I just Learned #1, #3, and #5 that Pastor John wrote in 2018. There is a time to command the body, and a time to listen to the body Some Christians become so enveloped in a particular stream of teaching they think they can command, proclaim, speak their world into existence while ignoring common sense and due diligence. That is presumption: The act of thinking something is God’s responsibility when in fact it is our responsibility. I once had a man who worked for me come to my office early one afternoon asking for prayer. He said he got headaches daily in the early afternoons and he had prayed for himself, had hands laid on him for prayer, commanded, proclaimed, bound and cast out the devil and all the ‘usual suspects’, but was no better. I guess I was the last resort I thought to myself after he told me everyone who had prayed for him and all he had done to be healed. So we sat down and I did what I prefer to do when about to pray for someone, which is to sit in silence and see what the Father would say or reveal. Instantly I heard the Father say, “He is dehydrated. Tell him to drink water and cut back on the coffee, which I’ve been dealing with him about.” He was shocked, absolutely shocked at how ‘unspiritual’ that word was. He was a bit like Naaman the leper of II Kings 5 who balked at the command to wash 7x in the river Jordan to be healed, but eventually humbled himself to do so. My friend was expecting a great, loud, commanding prayer from the Seer to rid him of his headache. “Just drink water? Really? Is that all there is?” The next day he checked in again; never a headache since that day. A year later we saw each other and he was still amazed that something so simple had cured him. And that’s the difficult thing for Christians There is a sub-culture of error among many Christians in which they believe that God will make up the differences for their ignorance or disobedience in the natural, or the ignoring of common sense in life and/or business. That is incorrect. Before I return to healing I can explain the principle by using other examples. He isn’t your silent partner making up for you not doing what is right; Meaning you still have to do what is right and proper with due diligence because He won’t excuse laziness or dishonesty or failing to do what you know to do in the natural. Natural things are here on the earth and therefore our responsibility. IF after we do what is right and proper, moral and just in the natural, THEN God enters because that flow of righteousness allows Him to flow to us. Examples of doing right in Jesus’ life Look at Jesus when He fed 5,000 and at another time 4,000 men, plus women and children. What did He do that was right in the natural? He first organized them according to Mark 6:40 into groups of 50’s and 100’s. That means those maybe 20,000 people were first made to sit down in about 200-400 groups of 50 and 100 each. Walk it through your mind – think it through – imagine the disciples being made by Jesus to take the time to organize that many people FIRST, before the miracle came. But they did, THEN the miracle came. He didn’t just pour out blessing so it would be all unorganized – was the world created so that you see nothing but disorder in nature? Of course not. So why do people think they can ignore doing right in the natural and God will bless? Error. It applies to life, to body, to health, to business, to money, to relationships – everything. We also know the infrastructure Jesus set up before the miracle went from before He started by organizing the groups, until after He finished because they counted up the baskets of left overs – 5 in one case and 7 in the other. (Matthew 16:8-10) God promises not to give us more than we can handle – I Corinthians 10:13. That means not only will He limit the attacks of the enemy and make a way of escape, but it also applies to blessings. He won’t give you more than you can handle. So if you aren’t handling your money righteously now, He cannot bless you with more. The Father could multiply food for Jesus’ life that blessed others because (in part) Jesus could organize the people to handle that huge of a blessing – the Father would not give His Son more than He could handle, and aren’t we glad Jesus could handle it! The same applies to our subject of health – are you handling the food you have properly? Why would He bless you with more activity, more business, more things to do if physically we aren’t handling what we now have? More later…but first to drive the point home some more… That is why Paul… …repeatedly lists the qualifications of leaders as morally upright, stable in life, stable in family. They have the infrastructure in place for God to bless them in the natural. He is in the spiritual, we live in the natural. God is righteous and honest and He can only flow through that – so if our lives are not matching His integrity, then we tie His hands. This series has been one in which I’ve shared my own experience and conversation with the Father concerning why I had vertigo. His solution wasn’t a dramatic divine touch, rather He directed me back to better stewardship of my time and energy. His solution was seen with the very mundane and practical steps of taking a full day off each week, but it was a divine touch. The supernatural is often hidden within the practical. That makes it seemingly simple, mundane, even boring. We don’t want to be like Naaman whose pride at being told to wash in the muddy Jordan river 7x would heal him of his leprosy caused him to turn away – the miracle didn’t come in the form he expected so he rejected God’s solution. Don’t be like that. Very often it is the simple act of taking responsibility for our lives that is the supernatural act God requires. It isn’t glorious nor doest it come with goosebumps and chills. As with Jesus making people sit down in organized groups, the Father flows through practical things we do to facilitate Him moving in our midst. Friend, Does it speak to you? I really like his practical teachings and they are true. Looking back the incident I had related to my health in this February, I’m simply grateful to the Father. Similar to the story of the man whom the Lord dealt with about coffee, He dealt with me by giving me a severe dizziness and nausea. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had a blood test. It made me have the test and I found out my cholesterol and liver index was bad, in addition to anemia, and I changed my diet. Reducing the carb, cutting off the unhealthy foods and coffee and doing exercise were the things I had to do in the natural. My sister is still impressed by my cutting off coffee, except on a special occasion, after I enjoyed it for the last decades. But I chose to drink more water than coffee, as it dehydrates me and it’s not good for anemia. In the latest blood test, my doctor said I have no anemia and my liver index is normal. I still have high cholesterol, when I get off medication. So, for now, I take medicine, while being on a healthy diet and working out. I will do my part in the natural, while I also hope for His divine healing on cholesterol. Friend, it’s my prayer that we do our part in our health, work, finance, relationships – everything in the natural and then leave the rest to the Lord. Have a bliss! Yunee No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13) Comments are closed.
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