Mike Winger does a great job of explaining and answering these thoughts. A constant question I get asked is, what do the scriptures really mean, when they're used in so many different ways by so many different people? I asked Mike Winger to come on my channel a while ago and break down ten of the most misused Scriptures from the Word of Faith camp and the New Age movement. I gave him the scripture and explained to him how it is interpreted by someone in the New Age and Word of Faith movement. He then broke down the passage and explained what he believes it actually means. There are a lot of Scriptures that are used to support Word of Faith, New Age and New Thought teachings. Matthew 7:7 is just one of the ones that I see mostly misused in churches and from New Age and New Thought teachers.
Melissa begins podcast: We are going to go to Matthew 7:7, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, Knock and it shall be given you.” It connects with Mark 11:24 “Whatsoever things you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.” These verses are the “life force” of so much of the New Age or New Thought teaching. What do they really mean, Mike?
Mike Winger (edited and added to by Dennis): The first thing we need to expose is the idea that God will give you whatever you ask. That’s the ‘Secret’ of the New Thought or New Age movement. “Ask and you shall receive.” However, that idea is not completely true. God is a relational God who wants to be in relationship with us. He answers prayer in regards to His plan and how He will use it to draw us closer to Him, into a deeper relationship with Him, and to form our character more like His. Hebrews 12:11.
Apostle James wrote, “You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts,” James 4:3. In the psalms we read, “He gave them their request, but sent leanness to their souls,” Psalm 106:15. If we continue to ask, without clarifying that asking, like Jesus did, “nevertheless, not my will but thine be done,” or in the example prayer where Jesus says, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we may actually receive what we want but fall out of close relationship with the Lord.
Dennis Edwards: We can read in Scripture where the children of Israel asked for meat in the wilderness, and God sends it to them to prove He is capable of manifesting their desire, but then He allows those those that go on an eating spree to get deadly sick and die. Numbers 11:4, 13, 17-23, 31-34. 1 Corinthians 10:5-6. In the book of Judges we find Samson, one of God’s judges, lusting after the Philistine woman rather than being content with an Israeli wife. God fulfils Samson’s wish, or lets him fulfil his own desires, but it leads to Samsons losing his eyesight and then his life. Judges 13-17.
Apostle Peter has a message about being spiritually blind when we don’t keep our goals on the spiritual qualities of character which God is trying to develop in our lives.
2 Peter 1:2-9 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
It's when we stop progressing in our spiritual walk with the Lord and in His character-building process in our lives, that we become fruitless and eventually blind, lose our vision and forget the salvation we had found in Jesus. Our hearts become hardened.
Apostle Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 13.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.
Apostle Paul seems to be saying that the top goal in our spiritual walk with the Lord is not speaking in tongues, or having a word of knowledge, or even having the faith to remove mountains through prayer, or sacrificially giving away everything we have to feed the poor. The top or supreme goal in our lives is to love God and to love others. Our loving attitude, our loving relationship with God and others is the greatest proof of our relationship with God, and the greatest sign of God’s presence with us. God is more interested in transforming our heart so that it is in right relationship with Him and with others, than in transforming our bodies. His goal is the transforming of our character to become like His. That’s why we pray, “according to thy will.” We don’t want God to answer our prayers, if they are not according to His will. If Jesus had gotten His desire to avoid the crucifixion, we wouldn’t have salvation. The Bible says, “Though He was a son, yet learned He obedience through the things that He suffered.” Hebrews 5:7-8.
In another example, God allowed Satan to tempt Job to show Satan that Job really did love and trust God. God, in a sense, was witnessing to Satan. Job passed the test and proclaimed, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” Job 13:15. Job was deathly sick, so it looked like God had abandoned him and given him over to death. But though Job didn’t see his healing at that moment. He didn’t feel his healing at that moment. He nevertheless trusted that God knew what He was doing. He manifested his trust and faith in God with his declaration of faith in spite of the seemingly contrary circumstances. In the end, God honoured Job’s faith and trust. God healed Job and restored to him his wealth and family.
Another example where God’s people desired something contrary to His will is when the people of Israel desire a king to rule over them. 1 Samuel 8:1-22.
God told them it was better for them to have judges rather than a king, but then He yielded to their request. He wanted to teach them that relationship with Him was the most important aspect of their lives. God often fulfils our misguided requests in order to teach us to desire Him and His will in our lives, over or above our personal desires or needs, which often end up as being unfulfilling anyway.
Mike and Dennis: Jesus Himself prayed desperately in agony sweating blood for “healing” from the problem He was facing. But He clarified His request with, “Not my will, but thine be done,” Luke 22:42, Mark 13:46, Matthew 26:39, in all three of the synoptic Gospels. Apostle John, whom it was said that Jesus loved the most, wrote; “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight,” 1 John 3:22-23. John went on to clarify, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing, according to His will, he hears us; and if He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him,” 1 John 5:14-15. When we pray, we should want God’s will above our own.
Just think about, if a parent would give his/her child everything they desired, what would happen? The child would turn out spoiled, like many of the children of the rich in the world do today. Our answering the requests of our children is relational. It’s not just “do as you please.” We are pleased to answer our children’s requests when they follow our guideline and rules, which we have implemented for their good and Godly growth. God is the same way. God is interested in transforming our character, not in just answering our requests. Nevertheless, He often answers our requests even when He knows it is not good for us. Why? Because He can use it to bring about some good in our lives, in our character building, and in our relationship with Him and others. We learn more often from our mistakes than from our successes. Romans 8:28.
The “Law of Attraction” that says “ask and you shall receive,” is a counterfeit. The idea is not that we need to get into alignment with a universal law or force to receive what we desire. Asking and receiving selfishly is self-worship. Satan may grant your requests and take you down the path to destruction. Luke 4:4. If you are just asking to fulfil the desires of your eyes, or of your lusts, or of your pride, you’ll be moving away from God and into the world or the devil’s domain. 1 John 2:15-17.
Mike Winger: When we offer our requests, we bend our wills to Gods’. Jesus modelled that submission in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and we should do the same even in the face of the most dire and painful circumstances. We have our requests. We make them known to God. But then we yield to God and His will, because His plans are ultimately good, even if we can't see it or feel it in the moment.
Melissa Dougherty: I agree with that, and the first thing that comes to my mind is my concern with the people who aren't receiving their healing just yet. But one of the things that I keep hearing is, God should always heal a hundred percent of the time. He should always heal. If you are in a position where you're not getting healed, or getting what you're believing for, if you're not getting your healing, and then maybe somebody else does, how would you break that down to that person? How scripturally would you say that is? Everything you just said, Mike, makes so much sense to me, but it is an offense to somebody else who says, “No, God should always give me my healing, God should always give me my supernatural encounter. I need to have more faith.” What would you say to them?
Mike Winger: Sometimes God's plans are bigger than our plans and better, as difficult as this might be to swallow. But remember the analogy I gave you earlier about the cheap replacement of abundant life, versus the abundant life that Christ was talking about. The immediate healing is as important as it is as valuable. Don't get me wrong, I have issues that I want to get healed. Me too, I need healing. I have had a chronic back problem for quite a while. I have prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. But I’m not healed, yet, and still, I trust in God that he's using it for his glory in my life. I don't think it's a lack of prayer or lack of faith. I think it is somehow His will, at least for the moment. Why? Because I’ve prayed and trusted and I’ve sought prayer with others, and claimed healing. I know God's using it for my good. But that’s not just my idea. That is what Scripture tells us.
I think Paul the Apostle gives us, or even better, Jesus gives us a great example. Jesus doesn't get His healing, or escape from the problem that He is facing. He ends up dying on the cross in what looks like total defeat and triumph of His enemies. But that seeming defeat brought salvation to all mankind, a glorious eternal experience. It was worth it. It was better than him bypassing the cross. His submission to God’s will was better than His own personal desires. Sometimes our situations where we don’t get healing, or we don’t get what we are asking for in prayer, are actually better for us, in the long run. We just have a hard time seeing it at the moment, because we're still not in eternity. We don’t see the benefits of our sufferings yet.
Here's another example from 2nd Corinthians 12. The famous passage from Apostle Paul which every Word of Faith movement tries to explain away. We are talking about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Let's read it and just gather a few important points. Whether you think it was a physical illness or not is irrelevant. Let's read it and think about what it he says. 2 Corinthians 12:7, “So to keep me from being conceited or arrogant because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations.” Paul says that God had revealed such amazing things to him and he knew so much and had seen so much in the spirit, that God has to do something to keep him humble. He says, “a thorn was given to me in the flesh a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from being conceited.”
Apostle Paul has got this evil demonic thing going on, whether it's a physical illness, or a spiritual attack, or persecution. It's obviously something really unpleasant. We can agree there. I don't care if it's a spiritual attack or a physical illness or job stress. All of these things are the same thing. They are not pleasant. In my life right now I'm suffering from a back problem. Paul was suffering and his suffering was given to him ultimately by God, even though it has a demonic, or some kind of demonic element to it. In other words, the Devil couldn't have given Paul the thorn in the flesh, unless God allowed it.
The reason for God allowed it, Paul tells us, is quite revealing. It was to keep Paul humble. In other words, in God’s view, Paul's humility was more important than Paul’s prosperity or sense of well-being or his healing. But then, in the next verse, Paul says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me, but He said to me,” and here's God's response to Paul, obviously a man of great faith, the apostle Paul. God says to him, “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God is clearly saying, “Paul, I want you to be weak, because when you are weak you rely on my grace for your life. It is my strength that enables you to get through these hard times and I’m glorified in that.”
What is Paul's response, what lesson had he learned from all this? He says and he concludes, and this is again just reading straight from the text, 2 Corinthians 12:9. “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities (or ‘weakness’ in other translations).” Paul says, “I will be glad, I will rejoice, I will boast in my weaknesses,” “that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” In other words, what he is saying is very sobering and it speaks to me personally. As I go through hard times that won't leave me even through desperate and or united prayer, I can rest on these promises that God has given to Apostle Paul. I can rest on these scriptures and say, Lord, I’m relying on you. I’m trusting in you and relying upon your Word. Right now, I can rejoice and will rejoice, because there is great spiritual benefit through the great physical trials that I am going through even if I can’t see it or understand it.
Dennis Edwards: There are many similar verses in Scripture where the Lord encourages to go to Him for the strength that we need for whatever battles in life we are facing. Here are a few.
Matthew 11:28-30; Isaiah 40:28-31; 2 Corinthians 1:4; John 14:27; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Romans 15:4; Romans 8:38-39; James 4:6-10, Psalm 23, Psalm 91, Matthew 6:9-13, Revelation 7:16-17, & 21:4.
Watch the Podcast here https://fightforyourfaith.blogspot.com/2024/09/does-god-always-heal.html
0 Comments:
Post a Comment