Many years ago my hubby and I decided to get cable TV but I was disappointed that it didn’t come with the main channels that I wanted to see. We didn’t have the Biography Channel, Travel or Cooking Networks or even PBS.
But it did come with a huge selection of sports and auto channels.
My husband was thrilled with the selection but when I mentioned my disappointment with the choices he shrugged his shoulders and remained mute on the subject.
I was more than a little upset with the cable company but I decided not to contact them.
Over a period of time I stopped sulking and settled for the programs that we did receive.
Then one day we had a power failure and when it came back on I sat down to watch TV and suddenly we started receiving the stations I had wanted all along.
“It’s a miracle!!!”
When my husband got home I was so excited to tell him the good news. But he glanced away, cleared his throat and spilled the beans.
“We’ve always received those channels.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I just, um, used the remote to program em’ out.”
Slack-jawed I stared at him for a few moments in disbelief.
“All this time?”
“Uh, huh.”
How ignorant could I have been to not have reasoned this out.
I should have called the cable company and asked them, or studied the that information that came with the purchase.
This was not a huge deal but it is a great analogy to how we receive things from God.
For example, I recently heard a heart wrenching story about a couple who lost one of their children to an illness. Even though they keep their faith in God they still struggled why their son wasn’t healed after they prayed for such a long time, believing that God would step in and save him.
Those parents love God but imagine how much more faith and love they would have for their Lord if they had an earlier revelation of the truth.
That it is ALWAYS His will to heal! And He has already provided the healing through His Son Jesus. And knowing this, the parents, as believers, could have spoken their authority over that sickness and exercised their faith to believe and receive and see their son receive his healing. What a difference the outcome could have been.
Now I am not trying to bring guilt or condemnation on anyone here but we need to learn the truth. It is the knowledge of the truth that sets us free. I can’t change the past and what I believed in ignorance, but I can open my heart and receive the truth now.
Many people have acted on their faith according to the word of God (not based on our own good works but what Jesus has done for us) and have received miraculous results! Including myself, several family members and people I know.
God is not the problem. His transmitter works perfectly. The mystery is why aren’t we receiving what He has provided through Jesus.
It is very similar to our situation with the cable stations. The stations were transmitting through the cable company, our cable was hooked up, we had electricity flowing into our home so the power source was good. All the elements were in place but because of my lack of knowledge or ignorance about the subject I went without.
Our unbelief through wrong teachings have blocked out the truth of God’s words from becoming effective in our own lives. And our free will is also a huge factor.
I trusted my hubby without question.
Also, I settled very easily for the stations I wasn’t interested in.
It takes effort to renew our minds to the word of God but the results can mean the difference between life and death.
Walking or wheelchairs. Blindness or sight. Hearing or silence. Prosperity or poverty. We just have to make up our minds, how badly do we want to pursue the abundant life that God has provided for us here through His love, mercy and grace.
Bad enough to quit leaning on our own understanding and putting our trust in God’s word?
Bad enough to be prepared to be ridiculed over our decisions to believe God and what His word teaches? Bad enough to put away the doctrines and teachings that preach against our authority as born again believers?
Bad enough to unplug (minimize our exposure) from unbelief through television/relationships/worldly philosophies?
What kind of price would you put on your health, well being, soundness of mind or that of someone you love. Jesus paid with His own blood. Priceless!
God loves us more than we realize and He loves our family more than we do. Love does not stand idly by while people suffer and die. Love does not allow pain to cripple our bodies and souls. Love does not watch a marriage fall apart with indifference to their plight.
On the contrary. Love never fails!
You know love is an action word. God was motivated by love when He sent Jesus into this world to take our sicknesses, sins, sorrows and grief’s upon Himself so we wouldn’t have to bear that.
He doesn’t guarantee perfect in this fallen world BUT He does promise POSSIBLE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS!
Here are just a few verses that you will find in the Bible (NKJV) where God’s Love left a trail of healing over a few thousand years and affecting thousands of lives …
( Malachi 3:6; 3 John 1:2; Isaiah 40:31; Jeremiah 33:3; Mark 11:23-24; Luke 13:10-13; Luke 8:47-48; Mark 6:12-13; Matt. 14:34-36; Psalm 42:11; Romans 4:19-21; Luke 8:28-33; Mark 3: 14-15; Matt. 14: 13-14; Isaiah 40: 29; Psalm 23: 18-20; Rom. 4:17; Luke 22: 50-51: Luke 9:42: Mark 3:10; Matt. 12: 22; Matt. 9:23-26; Prov. 17:22; Psalm 29:11; Psalm 30:2; Acts 4:10; Luke 18:41-42; 1 John 5:14-15; Luke 4:33-37; Acts 14:8-10; Matt. 7:11; Luke 4: 18-19; Mark 2: 11-12; Matt. 11:4-5, 8:14-17; Prov. 12:18; John 11:43-44; Luke 14:2-4; Luke 7:6-10; Mark 16:20; Mark 1:40-42; Matt. 10:7-8; 2 Chron. 30:20; Prov. 9:11; 1 Chron. 29:28; Heb. 12:12-13; Matt. 12:15, 9:20-22; Acts 3:1-10; Luke 17:14-15; Acts 9:33-34; John 10:10; Luke 13:16; Luke 6:17-19; Mark 16: 15-18; Mark 1:30-34; Matt. 10-1: Psalm 107:20; Prov. 4:20-22; 2 Kings 5:14; Matt.9:35; Heb. 4:15-16)
…. and Jesus is still the same, yesterday, today and forever.
Contact Brenda Groves at: bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
