Has God Really Said?

I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me. For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. [2 Corinthians 11.1-4]

"Has God really said...?" were the cunning words of deception Satan used to cause the fall of man.

I spoke to a man last night who, when I quoted Jesus' words regarding a matter straight from the New Testament, said, "I don't see it that way!"

Really? Has God really said...? This man I spoke to was a fellow church member and we were at church!

What has so infiltrated the Body of Christ that we feel comfortable to say, "I don't see it that way" in response to the words of Christ Himself?

Has God really said...?

I challenged this man to know God based on what God says about Himself instead of this man basing his knowledge of God on his or someone else's experience of God. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE! That is a totally different Jesus than is presented by the Bible!

Jesus said nothing is impossible to him who believes:

“Anything is possible if a person believes.” [Mark 9.23b]

And yet, this man I spoke to last night firmly declared God chooses not to heal sometimes.

Let me tell you, someone is wrong in this scenario! [hint: it isn't Jesus!]

Furthermore, we have no record that Jesus ever refused to heal anyone. Where did the notion come from that God refuses to heal at times? Maybe from Paul's story in 2 Corinthians 12.5-10??

Anyone who takes the time to actually read this passage will see that Paul's famous "thorn in the flesh" was not something God randomly condemned Paul with! It was, as is clearly stated in the context, a correction for pride! "So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud."

That thorn in the flesh was the result of an easily correctable misgiving of pride. Pride, like every sin, is forgiven in Christ ...through God's grace! God's grace IS the sufficiency in which salvation, healing, provision, and every blessing of God is ours through FAITH! When God directed Paul to "grace" it wasn't a refusal to heal, but instead an invitation to believe!

So, herein lies the pivotal point: Do we build our theology then on Jesus' Word, or Paul's experience?

Father, help us to take Your Word - especially all it says about You, Your character, Your Son, and faith - as seriously as Jesus Himself did. Help us to understand that Jesus demonstrated exactly what that looks like!