The Word For Today

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, a physician named Ivan Pavlov won a Nobel Prize for his experiments with dogs. All the dogs had one thing in common - they salivated around food. But Pavlov wanted to find out if salivation could be caused by another stimulus, so he conditioned the dogs by ringing a bell before feeding them. Eventually the dinner bell caused salivation, even if the food wasn't served. Pavlov referred to this learned relationship as a conditioned reflex.

We've all been consciously or subconsciously conditioned our entire lives. Much of our behaviour was dictated by those conditioned reflexes. Some conditioned reflexes are as normal and natural as a blush. Others are as destructive as drinking to drown our sorrows. But conscious or subconscious, harmless or harmful, one thing is certain: we are far more conditioned than we realise.

One dimension of our spiritual growth is being reconditioned by the grace of God. Jesus said, 'You have heard that it was said...But I say to you' (Matthew 5:21-22 NKJV). Jesus uses this couplet repeatedly. What was he doing? He was uninstalling Old Testament applications and reinstalling New Testament truths. It was no longer 'An eye for an eye.' Jesus upgraded it to 'Turn to them the other cheek,' which required reconditioned reflexes (see Matthew 5:38-39 NIV). Sometimes it's much easier to act like a Christian than to react like one. How does this change in our reactions take place? By the Holy Spirit. 'We are being changed to be like him [Jesus]. This change...comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit' (2 Corinthians 3:18 NCV).

Do you find yourself wondering if Jesus is willing to heal you? Let's look at the ministry of Jesus, whom the Bible says is 'the same yesterday, today, and forever' (Hebrews 13:8 NKJV). That means if he did it before, he will do it again. If you regularly read about the many healings and miracles Jesus performed, it will cause your faith to grow and your expectation to rise. 'Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God' (Romans 10:17 NKJV). Throughout the gospels, people with various sicknesses went to Jesus for healing. Some were near death, and some were actually dead. There were people with strong faith, and others who struggled to believe. All the people Jesus healed were unsaved, as Jesus had not yet purchased salvation on the cross.

The keys to these miracles are: (1) Those who were sick made sure they were in the presence of Jesus; (2) They willingly received his word and acted on it. Read about some of the miracles Jesus performed: (1) Simon's mother-in-law healed of a fever (see Matthew 8:14-15); (2) The resurrection of Jairus' daughter (see Mark 5:21-24, 35-43); (3) Healing of the woman with the issue of blood (see Mark 5:25-34); (4) A deaf man healed (see Mark 7:32-37); (5) A severed ear restored (see Luke 22:47-51); (6) A blind man healed (see John 9:1-41).

Jesus never said no to a cry for help and healing: 'Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all' (Matthew 12:15 NKJV). And what he did for them, he can do for you if you pray and believe his word.

A farmer once caught a young eagle in the forest, brought it home and raised it among his chickens and turkeys. Five years later, a naturalist came to visit him and saw the bird. 'That's an eagle, not a chicken!' he said. 'Yes,' said the farmer, 'but I've raised it to be a chicken.' The naturalist said, 'It has a wingspan of fifteen feet. It's an eagle!' The farmer said, 'But it will never fly.' The naturalist disagreed, and they decided to put their argument to the test. First, the naturalist picked up the eagle and said, 'Thou art an eagle; thou dost belong in the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.' The eagle saw the chickens and jumped down. The next day, the naturalist took the eagle to the top of the house, said the same thing, and let the eagle go. Again, it spotted the chickens below and fluttered down to join them in feeding. 'One more try,' said the naturalist. He took the eagle up a mountain. The trembling bird looked around, and then the naturalist made it look into the sun. As he spoke its true identity once more, suddenly the eagle stretched out its wings, gave a mighty screech, and flew away, never to return.

You must know who God created and called you to be. And that takes place in the right environment, the right company and with the right input - God's input! 'He has created us anew in Christ Jesus...[to] do the good things he planned for us' (Ephesians 2:10 NLT).

Consider these examples of resistance to inventions that we now consider commonplace and enjoy every day. In Germany, 'experts' said that if trains went as fast as twenty-four to thirty kilometres an hour - considered a frightful speed - blood would spurt from the travellers' noses and passengers would suffocate when going through tunnels. In America, experts said the introduction of the railway would require the building of many asylums, since people would be driven mad with terror at the sight of the locomotives. When the idea of iron ships was first proposed, experts insisted that they would not float, it would be difficult to preserve the iron bottom from rust, and that iron would play havoc with compass readings. In 1797, when the first cast-iron plough was invented, farmers in New Jersey rejected it, saying the cast iron would poison the ground and stimulate the growth of weeds. When the YMCA in New York welcomed the invention of the typewriter and announced typing lessons for women, protests erupted on the grounds that the female constitution would break down under the strain.

Now consider these statements, each of which is a product of a negative mindset: (1) 'Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible' (Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, 1895). (2) 'Man will never tap the power of the atom' (Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize winner in physics, 1923). (3) 'Everything that can be invented has been invented' (Charles H. Duell, U.S. Patent Office Director, 1899).

If you want to accomplish great things and be used by God, become an 'I can' person.

Marian wanted to become a concert singer, a challenge that was doubly difficult because of the colour of her skin. Her mother, however, had a patient trust in God. Marian later said, 'Mother's religion made her believe she could receive what was right for her if she was conscientious in her faith. If it did not come, it was because God had not considered it right for her. We grew up in this atmosphere of faith that she created...We believed as she did, because we wanted the same kind of haven in the time of storm.' When Marian was denied admission to a famous music conservatory on account of her race, her mother said, 'Someone would be raised up' to help her accomplish what she hoped to do at the conservatory. That someone arrived a few weeks later. One of Philadelphia's outstanding voice teachers, Giuseppe Boghetti, made room for her to become one of his students. And Marian Anderson was on her way to becoming one of the most popular singers of the twentieth century. On Easter Sunday in 1939, she sang to seventy-five thousand people at the Lincoln Memorial and gave a performance never to be forgotten by those present.

Solomon said this about God's guidance: (1) 'The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way' (Proverbs 20:24 NLT)? (2) 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take' (Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT).

The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom beyond our knowledge, power beyond our strength and gifting beyond our ability. With his help, we become better than our best effort and better than our best thought. We become the best version of ourselves possible. Of course, this takes a lifetime. Hence, Paul wrote: 'Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up' (Galatians 6:9 NIV).

It's hard to imagine a farmer planting a crop of beans and then being surprised that it didn't produce corn. Why? Because you reap what you sow. Yet some of us seem shocked when the seeds of sin yield their crop. So, what are you planting? Love or hate? Joy or ingratitude? Patience or impatience? Self-control or self-indulgence? You cannot break the law of sowing and reaping, but it can break you or make you - if you keep sowing the right seeds. Want a bumper crop? Then you need more of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit can't fill you if you're full of yourself. So, a prerequisite to having more of the Holy Spirit is being honest, humble and hungry.

Galatians 5:22-23 lists the nine fruits the Holy Spirit produces in our lives. So, if you want more of the Holy Spirit, it means you literally want more love, more joy, more peace, more forbearance, more kindness, more goodness, more faithfulness, more gentleness and more self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23). The good news is, you can have as much of the Holy Spirit as you want.