A brief sidestep...

A brief detour away from the topic of healing

One of my fave bands at the moment - Rend Collective Experiment, (whose album is great and worth checking out on the old spotify) have done the quite impressive feat of performing Chris Tomlin's track "How Great is Our God" by simply using iphone instrument applications.. for those who are thinking it's going to be a bit rubbish I hope you are suitably impressed by just how good a sound the band manage to get...



Kingsway released this quote about the video

"Gimmicky? Well, here’s the weird thing: it isn’t. Once you get over the initial smiles that arise from the first shots, you see more clearly what’s going on: this is not about the phones, but it’s all about the worship. Unlocked, unchained and using whatever tools there are at hand to reflect back to God a little of his greatness."

Healing: pt 2 Yahweh Your Healer

Andrew Wilson's book Incomparable is a brilliant book. For anyone who doesn't have a copy... go buy it now... essentially it's lots of different chapters that explore God, his character, his nature and his attributes.


As I'm investigating what it means to call God - Healer, I reread the chapter he's written on it. I'm quoting a fair chunk of the chapter (selected bits) so all copyrights are Andrew Wilson!
The anchoring verse he uses at the start is in Exodus


Exodus 15:26
He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."

"In the verse above, we read that one of God's names is 'Yahweh-your-healer- (Yahweh-rophe). When God reveals His name, as we have seen, we need to take notice, because it is a revelation of His character. Healing is not something God did once and may or may not do now. It is part of who He is."

Wilson later goes on to look at the story of the Israelites and how despite all the miracles they've seen they are once again grumbling and doubting Him. God uses the event to reveal a new name to them, as they did not see God as a healer. 

He ends with this bit

"Of course, we know that God doesn't always heal like this (previous shared a testimony of someone being healed by God), for various reasons. Just one of those reasons, as the opening quotation makes clear, is a lack of obedience in faith. But this is not always the case, and whether or not He chooses to heal at a given moment, He is always Yahweh-your-healer, because it's His name, it's who He is . It was His name when the Israelites came out of Egypt, it still is today, and it always will be."

It's always challenging to read about healing. I've heard of various people being told they aren't being healed by God because they lack faith. Now as Wilson says one reason may be that people lack faith and therefore they aren't healed (Mark 6:1-6) but it is not the only reason and therefore telling people that they aren't being healed because of a lack of faith is the wrong thing to say I feel. I guess in all things if He heals, or if He doesn't, it is His will as Almighty God, we just should never doubt that He is Yahweh-your-healer and this will not change as He never changes.

Relating song: Healer (Hillsong) - a great song, shame about the whole controversy of its writer. The biblical truths of the song remain and it's brilliant to be reminded that "nothing is impossible for You... You hold my world in Your hands" 

Healing: pt 1?

So at Reading Family Church we will soon be having our Front Edge healing meeting (23 May). It's going to be a brilliant Sunday and though I know some people's views on healing differ, I'm a firm believer that Jesus healed, that He heals today and will continue to heal in the future. During our band practice last week, one of the guys shared this passage

Mark 1:40-45

A man with leprosy came to him (Jesus) and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

It's challenging to read passages like this and then think to myself what am I believing or expecting to see on the 23rd May... colds being removed? pain being healed... (this still brings glory to God) or that blind people will see, that crippled people will walk, people being cured of illnesses they have suffered for years from. Jesus clearly healed these sicknesses as recorded in the Bible and none was too big or small for Him, He healed all who came to Him and put their trust in Him. 

I'm trying to read up on various bits to do with healing (e.g. http://www.worshipcentral.org/blog/guest/lex-buckley/healing-in-worship) and thinking of songs that will help stir up faith (on the same website there's an interesting song called "Spirit Break Out" though I'm not too hot on the rap in the middle http://www.worshipcentral.org/song/spirit-break-out). I'm also attempting atm to write a song that I hope might try to get to grips with the topic with the working title of "Jesus You're My Healer" as there are few songs that talk about healing...

Anyways I may share my continued thoughts about it as I try to keep pressing on with it, we'll see how it goes...