Saturday, March 6, 2010

A view of healing & the sovereignty of God I've never heard quite this way before

I've had my struggles over the past 20+ years as my wife Fiona's kidneys have gradually grown worse and worse until she ended up on dialysis.  Wanting to believe that God heals today when we pray today, I and others have prayed for her many times, but only to see her health grow worse.  Amidst all this, in an effort to find peace with God amidst so many disappointments, my theology has gradually shifted toward an emphasis on God's sovereignty regarding the timing of His answers for such prayers.  In other words, if I can just see how God has a purpose for such lengthy delays in answering, I can be at peace that all is well, and that my wife is still living in the midst of God's plan for her life, and that her healing will happen when the time is right.  After all, she certainly has grown tremendously through her trust in God amidst all the challenges of this illness.  Obviously God is using these circumstances for good.

And then today I watched the following video and it bent my brain. It's from Bill Johnson, the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California that has seen many miracles of healing.  Sometime just after the 5:20 mark, I thought my brain's hard drive was about to crash.  And yet, even though I have no idea how the Biblical promise and purpose of suffering fits in with this man's theology, there's something in what he teaches that stirs me to greater passion to pray.  I'm processing... processing...

Check it out, and I'd appreciate your comments if you have any thoughts about it.



© 2010 by Ken Peters

9 comments:

Coralee said...

okay, I'm following the abiding faith vs. the gift of faith and that was a light bulb moment for me, but the control vs. in charge point I'm not sure I'm getting it. I have to believe that no matter what, God is good. What I don't understand now, He can and might reveal to me at some point and if not, then I don't really need to understand it. I too, have had my struggles in regards to healing, but I a work in progress.

Ken said...

I can identify with your comments Coralee. As I heard him say that control/in charge part, my brain did a double-take. But as I've processed it, I've wondered where this phrase "God is in control" came from. It's not a phrase found in the Bible, though it is clear from the Bible that God is in charge. It's a distinction I find difficult digest, but if it's true, it sure seems to ramp up the importance of our role in things through prayer!

Anonymous said...

Cmon...........I love this , no more schizophrenia in the church in Jesus name!!!!
Look at 6:20 secs and on when he talks about the handcuffs! Were you at the service last week when I stood there with the toy handcuffs my son brought to the service?....CMON God is moving and its so exciting!
What an awesome word man........ very encouraging ken ...lets go for it bro!!!!
Zach

Anonymous said...

Thanks Ken for posting this. My brain doesn't fully understand this But my heart says yes yes yes!!!
Pat

Ken said...

It warps my brain too Pat. But I want to absorb whatever truth is in what Bill Johnson is saying here. And Zach's right -- too many of my prayers are double-minded! I want to grasp the authority I'm meant to be exercising so that I can deal decisively with sicknesses that God has allowed Satan to inflict on us. Just like we see in the NT!
And yeah Zach - I remember the cuffs! I've just never heard someone say so boldly that they're on God unless I pray! I'm trying to reconcile that with a view of God that sees Him as so big, He'd never allow Himself to be put in that position. But if He has done, this view Bill Johnson is encouraging seems to make a whole lot more sense out of praying for the sick, and makes prayer seem a whole lot more important for us to be engaged in.

Anonymous said...

I am also uncomfortable with the handcuff phrase, it seems to take away the fact that God is ALL-mighty and if we could grasp with our human minds the intricacies of who God is and how He operates, than He wouldn't be worthy to be called God. Of course prayer is important, but if God has something He wants carried out and I don't pray into that, then it's my privilege taken away of being a small part of God's plan and He will give someone else that privilege. He wants me to pray, but He doesn't need me to pray. As CS Lewis said "Prayer doesn't change God, it changes me"
Coralee

Ken said...

The handcuffs on God is truly an awkward illustration. It communicates that God is helpless until we pray, which gives the impression that we have the upper hand over Him -- we have a key that sets Him free, so to speak -- and I can't accept that. But -- aside from the awkwardness of that illustration -- I wonder if what Bill Johnson is getting at is simply that God sovereignly chooses not to act until we pray because He is committed to us as His people exercising our dominion in the earth and having a part to play in what He does to restore people to Himself and to wholeness in Him.

Anonymous said...

God is not in control the way we have been taught in the 21 century North American church.......GOD WILLS THAT NONE PERISH, BUT THEY DO, DONT THEY?

selah

zach

Ken said...

I suspect Zach, that in God's infinite greatness - which is far greater than we can understand - there are things He does not control or direct that we, in our imperfect thinking, may think He does, ...and... there are things He does control or direct that we, in our imperfect thinking, may think He does not. My posture lately has been to try to be careful how definitive or opinionated I am about each of those possibilities re God's sovereignty. Otherwise I'm at risk of thinking that my puny mind can figure God out when I don't think these issues are that cut & dry.