Category: healing

Hail, Hail the Gangs All Here!

“One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes.”

Luke 9:1-3, NLT

The first step these men took is to come to Jesus.  His closeness is essential and critical.  The very next step involves our relationship with 12 others.  We never work alone, but with others who have also come to Jesus.

Jesus intends to impart vast power to His disciples.  He might of sold this “power” and funded His ministry.  (That is certainly what I would have done in His place.)  But Jesus has no intentions of setting up ‘franchises.’ He has come to make disciples.

The terrible enemies are in control, both demons and diseases.  They have inflicted the human race with strange forms of darkness for centuries.  The seriousness of what is at stake can be understood by Jesus’ response of giving out, “complete” power.  I believe that this is what it is going to take.

This disciples are not just messengers, but healers.  They fully intend to intervene into the lives of those who are not healthy.  They transmit Jesus’ touch to heal everyone who is needy.  The implications are clear; Jesus is touching, even if His disciples are the ones’ reaching out.

He reaches us in our weakness

There are specific instructions which Jesus commands, and we see in subsequent verses, that there is a basic structure to the disciples life.  We do things that must align to a standard that Jesus established.  We must do it, before we can make it.

The idea of taking with us money or food isn’t permitted.  Leave your comfortable clothes at home in your closet.  This seems to be time for us to “strip” our minds, and desires from those things that might snag us.  The athlete of ancient Greece would strip himself of clothing, to run an exceptional race, with no hindrances and nothing to trip him up.

At Brokenbelievers, I would like to think that we are hungry for Him.  Remember that He who feeds us has drawn really close is to us.  There are many readers of this blog who are well educated and competent to succeed on whatever level they choose.  But they must first and foremost be disciples of the Lord Jesus.  That means we are those who chose to be under His direction.

^

ybic, Bryan

Check out my other sites: http://www.psalmslife.com and http://www.crossquotes.org. Thanks!

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My Health at This Moment, Sunday, March 10

Follow-up.

It’s Sunday morning here in Alaska. We survived already this morning– DST, an earthquake, dog poop on the carpet, and snow, and it’s not even noon yet. (Can’t wait to see what the afternoon will bring.)

I had my appointment Friday, and my doctor was blown away. My Bell’s Palsy is diminished by about 70%. He was thunderstruck. And I believe God healed me!

There are some issues though. The BP is still affecting my eye, and the left side of my mouth.  I have decided to continue the meds, and start to ease off of managing four blogs. The eyestrain isn’t going to help my affected eye.

I was able to open the service with a meditation from the Word last night at our main service. I managed to do this without a translator, or a sponge, so I survived.

Having so many praying for me, especially early this week during the acute stages was profound. Thanks for mobilizing and standing up for me in the Father’s presence. Thank you!

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Kyrie eleison.

ybic, Bryan

My Health at this Moment, Tues. March 5

Pastor Bryan Lowe
Bryan Lowe

I really don’t know what I should say now. Yesterday, March 3, I woke up and made the frightening discovery that the entire left side of my face was paralyzed. Eye-mouth-lips-tongue. But being a true coffee drinker, I found I could only drink my morning joe with a straw, otherwise it just dribbled down my chin. And I couldn’t close my left eye.

I drove my son to his classes, and then decided on a whim that it might be wise to have my doc look at it. I was immediately escorted up to the hospital’s ER. The concern was is that I had a stroke; or in the midst of one. But the real diagnosis though is Bell’s Palsy.

Since I physically couldn’t close my left eye I experienced the horrible experience of not being able to blink. I must of made a ghastly sight with an eye that didn’t close, staring out like a cyclops. That was the worse of it. Even though the pain was minimal, the eye was affected the worst, and since I couldn’t close it on its own was very irritated. It would only close by physical pulling down the eyelid.

I suppose the worst part of it was going in for an MRI. Because of my past brain tumor that has become the biggest issue here. I could tell the tech was aware of something. And that they discovered something. The radiologist deferred any diagnosis until the past MRI from Anchorage could be consulted.

So now I sit here writing with just one working eye, and a prayer. I don’t want surgery again. And yet, at the same time, I want them to carve this thing out. I’m 52 years old, married with two great kids. In ministry that I love doing. But I am fully in God’s hands.

The Bell’s Palsy if that is all its is, has a healing rate of 3-6 months. And that’s fine– if it is just that. But if it is another brain tumor, than my symptoms will only spread. I will know on  Friday, later this week. I will let you know.

If wish to help me, please take my name before the Father. Having this awareness, I can follow Him much more gracefully. We can be excited (and hopeful) for a healing, but I’ve learned it takes just as much faith to follow Him through things like this.  Oh, BTW, if you run into me on the wooly streets of Homer Alaska, I’ll let you buy me a Vanilla latte. But I will need a straw, lol.

&

“I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain.”

 John Henry Newman

*

Kyrie eleison.

ybic, Bryan

Bell’s Palsy Basics– http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001777/

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Real Faith and 3D Glasses

Seeing what others cannot

“When He saw their faith.”

Luke 5:20

The healing of the paralyzed man is loaded with lessons for us.  He lies motionless on his pallet, unable to move.  His incredible and loyal friends have dedicated themselves to getting him into Jesus’ presence.  But the house is full; its beyond standing room only, they can’t get close.  They are desperate.  Jesus is so near, they can hear Him teach, and yet so far away.

One of them has a wild idea.  They will lower him down into the room from the roof!  Energized by this thought they put the plan into action.  I can just see them, working feverishly.  When the hole is big enough, they carefully lower the paralyzed man down slowly.  We read that, “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 5:20).

Example of 3D without glasses

God can see faith.  It is invisible to us, and takes a special work of grace for us to do so.  It is not an easy thing to see faith.  If you go downtown to watch a movie in 3-D the attendant will issue you special glasses.  With them everything is enhanced.

The Lord sees faith, and responds in kind.  His powers of perception and discernment are advanced far beyond our puny human efforts.  But God is pleased when we show our faith by our works. They fascinate Him and He delights when His children prove a living faith by actions.  Our faith can only be seen by what we do.

The faith of the paralyzed man, and the faith of his friends makes them  fluorescent in a black & white world.  It jumps out to Jesus, and it is hard to see anything else.  Faith stands out, and it cannot be hid.

There is so much here in Luke 5, so many lessons and so much wisdom.  Much of it lies at the surface, and can be picked up like gold nuggets.  I think that I could preach six months on this chapter alone.  It is that good.

ybic,  Bryan