Category: Spiritual Healing

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:10

“These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10, NIV)

Montgomery calls them “the abysmal depths of God.” Knox says, “there is no depth in God’s nature so deep that the Spirit cannot find it out.”

The word “searches” appears only six times in the New Testament. It points to careful, penetrating inquiry, never a casual glance. It pictures someone moving from the surface to the depths, separating truth from appearance until the matter is fully laid bare. And here is something wonderful: Scripture uses the same word both ways. The Spirit searches the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10), and God searches the depths of our hearts (Romans 8:27; Revelation 2:23). He searches the depths of God to show Him to us, and He searches the depths of us to heal what He finds there. Both searches are Love.

God has opened all His intentions to us through the gift of His Holy Spirit. The Spirit probes the deepest parts of God’s mind toward us and reveals them to us. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil” (Jeremiah 29:11). Only the Spirit of God could reveal His inmost intentions. Jesus promised, “he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).

He shows us the true, unvarnished character of God. No paint, no polish, no distortion: only who He really is. And what does the Spirit find in those deepest depths? Amazing Love.

Words fail me when I see my Savior’s Love for me. I can only bear a small part of that realization at present, but that small amount floors me. The God who created this entire universe cares about me personally, and He has stood by me throughout my entire life: the little girl so lost and alone, the teenager confused and abused, the young woman trying to make her way in the world without a mentor or guide. Alone except for God, but what a great exception He is.

I can look back over my life and see Him holding me close when I cried, keeping me from destroying my life as I flared out in pain and anger. Always He was there to help me pick up the pieces. Always His Love surrounded me. Now, as I am older and no longer able to do all the things a younger person can do, I still see His loving presence. He meets me where I am and carries me along as fast as I can go. There were times in my life when the only thing moving us forward was my willingness and His strength to carry me. And yet His healing never stopped flowing into me.

At the age of 57 we began climbing Mount Everest together, and He turned it into a valley we walked across together. I lost all that emotional baggage in about fourteen months, an entire 240 pounds, with no medical intervention, just intermittent fasting. He is still faithful, still showing me each day His Love in so many little ways.

Life goes on, and there are still mountains to climb, but now I look forward to them. I want to know the Lord’s power in my life, so I can honestly say, “Bring it on, Lord, but make sure You are there when ‘it’ arrives!” Together I know we can face anything needed for the healing the Lord is doing in my life.

This is my life, and it is for the Glory of God. The devil tried to destroy me before I ever got to live my life, but the Lord has made it all pure gold. When all the doors are closed, turn around and find the open window, because the Lord has just given you wings to fly!

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:9

“However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NIV; Isaiah 64:4)

We often read this verse as a promise of heaven only, and it is that. But Paul goes right on: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit” (2:10). The Remedy puts it in the past tense: “what God has done for those who love him.” The better things He has prepared are not all waiting for heaven. Many are within reach now.

It’s all good. That has been my signature statement since the beginning of my mature life. It means the pain and the embarrassment are all for my growth, and I am better off facing them head on than pretending they never happened. “It’s all good” means: find your blessing, make way for the healing, get out of the way of the Lord, and learn to rejoice, because the Lord is healing a damaged area in your life.

As Dr. Tim Jennings of Come and Reason Ministries often says, once there is brokenness there are no pain-free options; there is only healing or not healing. Most people understand this on the physical side of life but completely miss the emotional and spiritual equivalent. They go through life trying not to touch any emotional pain or deal with anything spiritual that upsets them, so the brokenness festers and becomes worse. It will not heal until you do the work to clear it. That means you will feel some emotional pain. Deal with it; deal with yourself. The payoff is worth any cost in the moment.

I am not speaking as one who has read books on emotional healing. I had to write the book, Whatever Good May Come, to do my own healing. There is no way to get to the other side without combing through the debris of the broken life you are in now. But the Father will give you the strength, and you will find you are a lot stronger than you ever believed you could be. “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). Like I said, it’s all good!

The Father is standing with us, helping us grow through the hard times. Again and again we pass through the valley of the shadow of death, saying goodbye to yet another deeply embedded habit or comfort we used to console our broken self. But we can know there is something better. We will only find it when we let go of the hurtful thing we are holding onto, in the very place where the new and better belongs.

Open your hands. Be willing to let it all go. The better thing is waiting for a place to live in your heart and mind, and the old must be released before the new can come. Jesus said no one puts new wine into old bottles (Matthew 9:17). “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?” (Isaiah 43:19).

Look for the new. Sometimes it is easy to find. At other times we may need to do a bit of heart searching, to truly turn around and see with new eyes what will be most helpful. Explore all the good the Lord is placing within your reach, and find the best fit for you. We are all different, and our journeys will not all be the same.

Truth will come. Love will grow. You will become more for having passed through the fires.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:8

“None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:8, NIV)

The Remedy says these were leaders who “value the survival-of-the-fittest principle,” the opposite of the self-giving Love of God. TEV puts it starkly: they “nailed the Lord of Glory to a cross.”

Why didn’t they understand? It wasn’t for lack of evidence. They had seen the sick healed and Lazarus raised from the dead, and their answer was to plot His death (John 11:47–53). Understanding truth is as much a choice as stopping a bad habit. We have to choose to know, and grow to love the truth.

Remember, His Glory is His character. When they crucified the Lord of Glory, they nailed Love itself to the Cross and did not recognize it. And Love answered, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

This is where the Glory of Love and Truth repulses those who choose not to know it. It brings them real pain, because the lies they have been hiding behind are burned away when they stand in the presence of the Fires of Truth and Love. Christ was full of this fire. Those longing for truth were drawn to Him, but those who had chosen to refuse the truth had their world rocked by the fire that flowed freely from Him, and it caused them real emotional pain. We see it again in the death of Stephen. His face shone “as it had been the face of an angel,” and they “stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him” (Acts 6:15; 7:57–58). Those who have no power to hurt will seethe with the hate they feel; you can feel it when you are in their presence.

So we must open our thinking, our wanting for something new and better. This is where trials are such a blessing. In painful times we are able to embrace, want, and long for something better. By choosing to praise God while we embrace all the truth and learning a trial brings, we are changing our very hearts and minds to be more in line with the character of Christ. “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:2–3).

Our trials help us to see where we are still in need of healing. They let us know the worst of our case and send us to our knees, asking for healing and Grace to overcome and rise above, if for no other reason than so we never have to go through that trial again! God is faithful, and He will take us over the same ground again and again until we overcome it or it overcomes us. Israel circled the wilderness for forty years so the Lord could “humble thee, and… prove thee, to know what was in thine heart” (Deuteronomy 8:2). We cannot move forward until that issue is decided.

We are choosing to stand in the flow of the Fires of Truth and Love, which can burn away all the sinfulness and selfishness in our hearts. The more we understand the truth about the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the more we are healed, because the power for healing is in the truth of who They are. As we learn the truth, we shed the lies about God from our hearts and minds.

No matter the heartache or pain, it is all a chance to grow. We are being given the opportunity to become more with every trial and every heartache we embrace. “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11).

This is the healing Glory of God.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:7

“No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.” (1 Corinthians 2:7, NIV)

The NEB says God’s secret purpose was “framed from the very beginning to bring us to our full glory.” The Remedy says it was “the wisdom that God determined to restore in us before anything was created.” Before there was a problem, there was a plan to heal it (2 Timothy 1:9).

What is God’s Glory? The word means honor, splendor, radiance, the weight of intrinsic worth. But Scripture defines it more simply. When Moses asked, “Shew me thy glory,” God answered, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee,” and He proclaimed Himself “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 33:18–19; 34:6). His Glory is His character.

The truth about the character of God is the mystery hidden since the lies of Satan blinded Adam and Eve and a third of the angels. This truth is being revealed now, since the revelation Christ made on the Cross showed all creation who God truly is. “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son… I have glorified thee on the earth” (John 17:1, 4). The Fires of Truth and Love flowing from Him into this sick world are the truth of who He is, and this is the power to heal all the damage we were born with.

Truth is healing. Lies will destroy you from the heart and mind out, until the whole being is wretched. But the truth of Love, brought into the heart and mind, heals. The Glory of God moves from God to His saints. As we become more like Christ, and His character of Love shows in us, we reveal more of the Glory of God to the world around us. “We all… are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

Our connection with heaven is lighting up our lives, and lightening them too. There is a light that shines out as that connection grows stronger. Science is just beginning to see how deeply our choices resound in our minds; Dr. Tim Jennings of Come and Reason Ministries brings this out strongly in his Reality of God seminar. But Scripture saw the light long before. It clothed Adam and Eve in Eden. It lit up the face of Moses when he came down from the mountain (Exodus 34:29). It shone from Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, when “his face did shine as the sun” (Matthew 17:2). This is the connection we have with Christ and heaven.

The glow can be seen in the eyes and presence of one who is truly connected with the heart of Christ, who has the mind of Christ in them. Not everyone will be drawn to it. Those who have set their heart and mind against Him may feel a repulsion toward a child of Christ. Jesus said it would be so: “every one that doeth evil hateth the light” (John 3:20). This is to be expected. Let it go. They are only reacting to what they have chosen to become.

And yet we love as Christ loved, willing to give to anyone who shows even a small amount of goodness, which can only come from Christ. Even the lost soul who is hard to look upon may still carry a glimmer of Christ in their countenance. The Jesus in me sees the Jesus in you.

The Love of God shapes our minds, healing us in heart and mind. Truth believed, understood, embraced, and applied has the power of heaven in it. Truth taken in and absorbed into the heart is a power able to transform and re-create the image of God in sin-sick humans.

But we must do more than just hear truth. We must learn to love the truth for it to have its healing effect in our lives. Paul warned of those who “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Love the truth, and let it shine.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:6

“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.” (1 Corinthians 2:6, NIV)

Phillips has a wonderful way of putting the last line: “the powers-that-be, who soon will be only the powers that have been.”

The wisdom we share is the wisdom of truth: to know yourself, and to see the Lord’s hand in your life. All the wisdom in all the fields of the sciences will come to nothing if it does not acknowledge that all truth comes from God. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), and in Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

Who are “the mature”? Beck calls them those who are “ripe for it.” The Remedy says this wisdom is understood by “those whose minds are being healed and transformed.” Maturity here is not age or education.

The mature Christian is one who is aware of their effect on others. They will be kind and understanding even when they are exhausted, knowing their words and actions can strongly affect a hurting young soul. The consistency that comes with maturity is a trait others come to rely on: the one who is always rock solid. This is true only because they have found the solid Rock to stand upon, one that never moves or rocks their world (Matthew 7:24–25). All they are is safe in the hands of Christ, and they can say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).

And that is what genuine Wisdom is: speaking the words needed to the one who needs to hear them, just when they are ready to hear and learn. Isaiah knew this gift: “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary” (Isaiah 50:4). This wisdom can only come from the working of the Holy Spirit in your life.

So don’t let big words and impressive titles intimidate you. The truth you stand on, the wisdom you share, is from the One who created the entire universe, set everything in motion, and sustains it all. You can trust this truth, because He is completely interested in you and your life, and He will heal all the damage in you.

When Christ is done with us, the most simple will be as wise as Solomon (after he repented and got his mind right). “The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7).

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:5

“…so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:5, NIV)

This is why Paul kept his speech simple and came to Corinth trembling. He did not want their faith resting on him. Faith that rests on a clever speaker falls when the speaker fails, or when a cleverer one comes along. Faith that rests on God holds.

The Remedy says their trust should rest “not… on human charisma but on God himself and his character of Love.” I would have kept the word power, as nearly every other translation does. Still, the two belong together: God’s power is the power of His Love. Our faith is grounded in His character, His Love, His power, and His ability to do all He has promised to do in us, “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

We are surrounded constantly by His loving care. His watch care is a hedge of protection we are living behind. All the comfort and goodness we have in this life come as a gift from Him. Our selfish human nature grabs hold of the good with no thought to the Giver, to the One who is keeping us safe. But faith remembers the Giver, and that is what roots it in Him rather than in His gifts.

Our faith can rest safely in Him. His timing is perfect, so we need not be alarmed when our day goes in a new way. Often this is the Father protecting us from what we cannot see. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). He is letting us be a witness to others, and growing our faith in Him and His constant care.

Learn to be happy in every circumstance: happy because you are growing the strength to hold a fuller cup of blessing, or happy because you have the chance to trust Him when it costs you pain. Paul learned it: “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Philippians 4:11).

He is always near. He will never leave us; it is we who pull away from Him. So relax, and allow life to be what it will, while you do your best to bless and support all the good. The Father is in charge of how it all turns out in the end.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:4

“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:4, NIV)

The Remedy says it with tenderness: Paul’s “preaching was not the preaching of a professional speaker,” but “the Holy Spirit worked through me to make clear the truth about God’s character of Love.”

Our work is to share the truth in love, with kindness, in the language and the best understanding we have. The rest is His. The Holy Spirit is there to draw the listener to the truth. He works through the bond between us, letting the Fires of Light, Love and Truth flow from us and engulf the one we are sharing with.

Without a bond, they will not listen. My rule has always been to never answer questions that are not being asked. The only way to bring someone to ask is for them to believe you really care and want to hear what they have to say. This is the building of a bond between you and the one the Father has brought to you for care. He is trusting you with one of His dear children, and your duty is to reach their heart with the Love He has filled your life with. Peter said the same: “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you” (1 Peter 3:15).

Sometimes the meeting is very short, only a few minutes as you pass on the street. The Jesus in you will reach out to the Jesus in them, that little part of their soul that is able to respond to the Love of Christ. It will see that Love in you, and a bond will form, ever so slight but enough for a question and an answer. It is enough. The Holy Spirit will carry it on from there.

The breath of heaven will accompany the words we say when the Spirit presses them home to the heart. There is no need for fancy words, and no need to convince or convict the listener that what we say is true. Jesus promised that the Spirit Himself would do the convicting (John 16:8). When He attends our words, we are able to lift a soul, spread a healing balm over the raw, hurting places, and leave them knowing the Father was in the words. Their hearts burn with the Love flowing from the throne of God, just as the hearts of the two disciples burned on the road to Emmaus: “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?” (Luke 24:32).

We never know when someone’s time on this earth will end, and we may not know all the heartaches they carry. That is a mercy. To carry everyone’s heartaches would destroy our ability to be present for the next soul the Lord brings to us. So in the short time we have together, we do not dwell on their hurts. We hear what they need to share, and then we point them to the One who holds all the answers.

Love will not let that time be spent only on airing griefs, for two reasons. First, the hurting one needs to hear answers, and the time we have is short. Second, we need to stay free to go on with our day, ready for the next soul the Lord brings, with the vitality the rest of the day still asks of us. Maturity learns how to make the most of the good while keeping itself free to move on. Even Moses had to learn this. Jethro told him, “Thou wilt surely wear away… for this thing is too heavy for thee” (Exodus 18:18).

The Lord knows every heartache, and He will use our kindnesses to show Himself to those He brings to us for blessing. The Holy Spirit’s presence with our words is all the proof we need that what we say is truth.

And the truth of our lives, our consistency of character, speaks louder still. Paul could say, “our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). May the same be said of us.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:3

“I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.” (1 Corinthians 2:3, NIV)

Phillips puts it plainly: “in myself I was feeling far from strong; I was nervous and rather shaky.” The Remedy shows us why: Paul was “so unsure of how to present this life saving truth in a way you would appreciate, that my hands trembled with nervousness.”

This is the love Paul had for those he came to share the truth with. His trembling was not the fear that freezes. It was the trembling of a man who cared deeply about the people in front of him. When we truly care, and want with all our hearts to be a blessing to others, we will not take our task lightly. When our heart is in the work, we will feel as Paul did, afraid that our words and actions will not be enough.

And that is exactly where the blessing begins. The Jerusalem Bible says Paul came “far from relying on any power of my own.” It is when we rely on ourselves that we make a wreck of our work. Knowing you are not capable, in your own wisdom or strength, of the work the Lord has placed on your plate is enough to keep you safe in His hands and keep pride away from your heart.

Many a young minister has been ruined for his life’s work by the flattery of his congregation. He needs our honest encouragement and our prayers, but care is needed, especially with the young and with those who must guard themselves against pride.

The wise understand the personalities of those they speak with. A study of personality is a very good investment for anyone who wants to be a blessing in the work of the Lord. The more timid need building up, while the stronger sanguine and choleric may need a firmer word to be heard. Paul knew this: “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Understand who you are speaking with, so you do not harm with words you intended as a blessing.

God answered Paul’s trembling right there in Corinth. One night the Lord spoke to him in a vision: “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee” (Acts 18:9–10). The Father is with us too. He will give us our words and guide our willing tongues to say what is true. Our part is to care enough to tremble, and to trust Him enough to speak anyway.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:1–2

“And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:1–2, NIV)

The Remedy says Paul did not add to their confusion with theological jargon, “but instead, I presented the truth in simple language, so even the children could understand.” Paul was one of the most learned men of his day. He could have impressed them. He chose not to.

Keep your speech simple. Simple words leave room to listen, and they allow the listener to better share what is on their heart. Using big words can cause the timid soul to draw back or shut down for fear of making a fool of themselves. Listening is how we hear the heart of the one in front of us: who they are, and what events have shaped them into the person they have become. Everyone has a back story; it is what makes us who we are. Most of us learned to deal with pain and disappointment in our early years, at a time when we had no power over what came into our lives.

So our work is not to impress but to empower. We make people strong to grow and become more by showing them the One who has all the strength and wisdom, the One with all the answers. This was Christ’s own way: “The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 143)

And what was the simple truth Paul would not move away from? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Remedy calls it “the simple truth about God’s character of Love as revealed in Jesus Christ and his self-sacrificing death on the Cross.” Everything else Paul taught flows out of that one picture of who God is: Love that gives itself.

The simple truth lived out is our best witness. Words can be argued with, but a life whose selfishness His truth is healing cannot. When we let Him do that work in our hearts and minds, people see the true Savior, and there is no more powerful witness for the truth.

Lord, show us more of You. Flow through us and out to this sin-sick world. We need healing, and we need Your strength to be a blessing to each one who crosses our path today.

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 11:16

“If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.” (1 Corinthians 11:16, NIV)

“Please don’t waste time arguing about this; this is the only healthy way to live, and that’s how all the churches of God understand it.” (The Remedy)

Paul closes the matter simply: if anyone wants to argue, we have no other practice.

The strongest point to understand is that new truth needs to be accepted in your own heart and mind. You cannot accept it for someone else. Settle it between yourself and God, and allow those you have influence over to see the example you set, but also to settle it for themselves.

Choosing the best way to live, for the happiest life here and eternal life to come, only makes sense. There are always those who will resist new knowledge, anything that changes or affects the way they have always done things. It is good to shake up your routine every so often; change is a good thing. You have an opportunity to create new habits which protect and grow your mind. You will have the chance to learn something new, dig into the reasons for the change, and discover even more about the Love of God and His natural laws. There are really no downsides to learning something new and embracing new things.

Wisdom must always be your guide. If you spend time with the Lord daily and plan your life around blessing others, then the new knowledge will easily fall into place in your life. You are already living with the angels, eating the food of heaven, the spiritual food the Lord provides each day; this is only a normal part of your life.

People new to the faith will still be learning how to live a life of faith centered on caring for others, ensuring you care well for yourself and your family, and unlearning old, useless habits that are no longer needed. All those things we did to protect ourselves or try to hide ourselves from God are outdated ways of coping that we no longer need.

The coverings we make for ourselves are often temporary and useless for the long haul. Adam and Eve, making their clothing out of fig leaves, were only temporarily covering themselves (Genesis 3:7). God gave them lasting clothes (Genesis 3:21) and the understanding of how to clothe themselves for the rest of their lives. His fix was one that worked indefinitely, as long as it needed to be done. Often what we do for ourselves is a temporary fix to stop the pain or embarrassment of the moment, not a long-term fix to heal the underlying cause or completely eradicate the need.

The life lived with Christ at its center is open, ready to be of service, but at the same time wise to know what service is best for each person in your life. The life of faith does not make you a powder puff, but a loving, kind, but wise and prudent person, a well-rounded personality who can be relied on.

There is no need to argue a point of truth with anyone. Settle it in your heart between yourself and God, then live your life, happy and content. Life is good—you are in His care.