The Word For Today

Christian cardiologist Dr Randolph Byrd had a great interest in knowing if prayer had a 'scientifically measurable' impact on healing. He has said, 'After much prayer, the idea of what to do came to me.' Over a ten-month period, a computer assigned 393 patients in the coronary care unit at San Francisco General Hospital to one of two groups. The first group was prayed for by home prayer groups. The second group was not remembered in prayer. The home prayer groups were from various Christian denominations. They were given only the first names of the patients and brief descriptions of their diagnoses and conditions.

The prayed-for patients differed from those not prayed for in these ways: (1) They were five times less likely to need antibiotics. (2) They were three times less likely to develop fluid in the lungs. (3) None required an artificial airway attached to a ventilator. (4) Fewer died. If the technique being studied had been a new drug or procedure, it would have been heralded as a breakthrough. Even Dr William Nolan, the author of a book denouncing faith healing, said, 'It sounds like this study will stand up to scrutiny...Maybe we doctors ought to be writing on our order sheets, "Pray three times a day."'

In the Old Testament, we read: '"For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds," says the Lord' (Jeremiah 30:17 NKJV). In the New Testament, James wrote: 'The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up...Pray for one another, that you may be healed' (James 5:15-16 NKJV).

It's no secret that the majority of marriages fail because of financial issues. Other relationships can also be threatened when financial expectations are unmet.

The following three strategies will go a long way in mitigating these pitfalls:

(1) Discuss with your spouse the maximum amount each of you may spend without getting the other's permission. Any amount above this limit will be considered 'major' and will require complete agreement. Every couple defines a 'major' purchase differently, so stick to what has been agreed on. This is important. If you do not agree on a transaction, when the deal goes bad, the tendency is to point fingers. (2) Advise your family that personal loans are against your 'house policy'. Should you decide to make an exception to the policy, make sure your spouse is in complete agreement. If you are wise, you will put the terms and the due dates in writing. (3) Don't enable your child, spouse or anyone else to remain irresponsible by bailing him or her out or always being their safety net. Just say no. By not saying no, you interrupt one of God's most effective principles - sowing and reaping the consequences of individual behaviour. Real maturity occurs when this lesson is learned. Love must be tough! If you are an enabler, ask God right now to give you the strength to stop being so. For example, insist on that rent payment from your still stay-at-home adult child who is able to contribute to household funds. This demonstrates character-building love, which is genuine love. If you need to set financial boundaries, do it!

Jesus changed the world. These were the last instructions to his disciples: 'All authority has been given to me in Heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you' (Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV). Jesus' followers took this seriously: 'Daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ' (Acts 5:42 NKJV). They remembered that they followed a man who taught everyone, and who commanded them to teach all peoples. So they did. They began to teach both men and women, both slaves and free.

Some of the world's greatest teaching institutions were founded by followers of Jesus, like Oxford and Cambridge universities. George Marsden noted: 'One of the remarkable facts about American history is that within six years of landing in Massachusetts wilderness, Puritans established what would soon become a reputable college.' These words are from a student handbook: 'Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life (John 17:3), and therefore to lay Christ...as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.' That was Harvard University!

Jesus' words not only inform us; they also transform us.

Here's Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church: 'That...God...may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation' (Ephesians 1:17 NKJV). For the Colossian church, he asked that God would fill them with 'the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding' (Colossians 1:9 NKJV). James wrote: 'If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God...and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting' (James 1:5-6 NKJV).

Godly wisdom also comes to us through reading the Bible. This is why Paul, in his last letter before being beheaded for the gospel, wrote to his successor Timothy and said, 'From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation' (2 Timothy 3:15 NKJV).

How would you know that the wisdom you're walking in comes from God? 'The wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure. Then it is peaceful, gentle, obedient, filled with mercy and good deeds, impartial and sincere' (James 3:17 GWT). As young Solomon took the throne of Israel, God asked him, 'What shall I give you' (1 Kings 3:5 NKJV)? Solomon answered: '"Give to your servant an understanding heart."...The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing' (1 Kings 3:9-10 NKJV). As a result, Solomon became known as one of the wisest men who ever lived, and he wrote three of the books of the Bible. And the God who gave him wisdom will give it to you too. All you have to do is pray for it and open your heart and mind to his word.

The greatest moment in your life is now. Not because it's pleasant or happy or easy, but because it's the only moment you have. Every past moment is irretrievably gone. If you live there, you lose your life. And the future is always out there somewhere. You can spend an eternity waiting for tomorrow or worrying about tomorrow. If you live there, you likewise will lose your life.

This moment is God's irreplaceable gift to you. Most of all, this is the moment that matters because this is the moment where God is. If you are going to be with God at all, you must be with him now - in this moment. That is why the psalmist says: 'This is the day the Lord has made. Let's rejoice and be glad today' (Psalm 118:24 GWT). That is why the prophet Jeremiah said God's mercies never fail because 'they are new every morning' (Lamentations 3:23 NKJV). That is why the apostle Paul said, 'Be careful how you live...Make the most of every opportunity...Understand what the Lord wants you to do' (Ephesians 5:15-17 NLT).

Frederick Buechner wrote, 'Morning, afternoon, evening - the hours of the day, of any day, of your day and my day. The alphabet of grace. If there is a God who speaks anywhere, surely he speaks here: through waking up and working, through going away and coming back again, through people you meet and books you read, through falling asleep in the dark.' All of this means one thing - the greatest moment in your life is now.

Do you remember the ten spies who doubted God's ability to deliver on his promise and dissuaded the Israelites from entering the Promised Land? Their doubt was so offensive to God - he had already revealed his power to them through the exodus from Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea - that God executed judgement on the spot. The very next day, the Israelites did an about-face. They changed their minds, but it was too little, too late. One day's delay cost them forty years! They missed out on the Promised Land because their reaction time was too slow.

Now this does not mean you should live in fear of missing out. After all, God is the God of second chances (see Jonah 3:1). But understand this: inaction is an action, and indecision is a decision. When you're dealing with God, your response time is all important. Paul's ministry began when he had a life-changing encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road. Immediately he fell to his knees and cried: 'Lord, what do you want me to do' (Acts 9:6 NKJV)? In the book of Isaiah, when Heaven opened and God said, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' immediately the prophet Isaiah said, '"Here am I! Send me." And he said, "Go, and tell this people"' (Isaiah 6:8-9 NKJV).

You don't want to get ahead of God, and you don't want to lag behind him. What you want to do is seize the opportunities he gives you as quickly, decisively and boldly as you possibly can. Your response time matters.