When Disability Becomes Your God

One of my favorite things to see is the look on a person face right after Jesus has healed them. It’s so beautiful and I fall in love with Jesus all over again.  Jesus is a great healer and nothing is too hard for Him. From a simple headache to an incurable disease; it’s all underneath His feet! So when people ask for prayer I’m ready to lay hands on them and watch my Jesus heal again.

But there are a lot of people that won’t ask for healing…they will ask for disability. Now I know I’m wadding deep into water here… but before you get all offensive hear me out.

Here is sample a conversation that I have had with a lot of people:

“Hi Ann! Is there anything I can pray about for you today?”
“Hi Janell! Oh yes! I need prayer! I really need my disability to come through. Please pray that God will give me disability.”
“Oh, ok. Lord I pray that your will would be done in Ann’s life.”

These types of conversations really bug me. Because I know that my God heals and he has been in that business for a very long time. He has never seen anything that worries Him or that can stump Him. So when people ask me to pray that they get put on disability (worse when they say they want God to put them on disability) my heart hurts for them. I would rather pray that they are totally whole in their bodies and never have to think about being disabled.

Over the past few years I have seen a lot of people make disability their God. They rely on disability to take care of them, to pay the bills and so on. Did you know that every month 14 million Americans get a disability check in the mail from the government. (Just to put it out there I think God can take care of you way better than our government can…just saying).  That is a crazy number! I get it, some people are hurt and really can’t work a job and have been deemed medically disable. But it’s when they would rather rely on their disability to care for them rather than God.

 I know these people. I’ve even had one person tell me that they didn’t want God to heal them. They would rather get the check. Wow…These are Bible believing Christians. That makes me so so sad. They really let their disability rule their life. They can’t live the life they were created for because they are severing their disability check (or the lack thereof and live off other people). They actually live in fear because if that check doesn’t come they are doomed. Their whole life is dependent on a check from the government….If we put our dependence in anything but God we will eventually be doomed and disappointed.

So when I someone asks for me to pray for disability, I pray God’s will.  I’m actually praying that Gods will would be done in their lives, that they would be whole in every part of their lives with nothing lacking (if you don’t know what that it is you need to look it up, especially all the people who use “if it’s Gods will” to pray for everything. Like “Lord if it’s your will heal this person”. Um of course it is! Sorry, yeah go look in your bible what the will of god is).

Here in America…the home of the free and the proud….we are all sick, in pain and depressed…the list is too embarrassing and depressing to go on.  I see nothing free or something to be proud of there.

I ask that you take an honest look at your life (remember God sees it all anyway) and see if you have made disability your provider, your caretaker, your god.

I so want people to be free. Really free! That is why I’m breaking the silence. I was afraid of telling people this. But I love you, and so if that means I lose friends over this, ok. My love for you won’t stop if you get upset with me or think that I have no place to talk because I’m not in your shoes. Love is and has always been more powerful than fear.

Maybe you aren’t on disability, but there is something controlling your live and has made itself king over you. You can be free. Invite King Jesus to sit on the place of Lordship. He will break down the walls and let freedom, displace fear and let the light of truth in.

So in closing, do you need healing in your body? Are there things in your life that keep you from really living life? I would so love to pray for you and see you set free. Comment below and I’ll pray with you (God loves working through the Internet!).

With love, as always,

Whatsoever Think.

Reference: www.apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/

Never Ending Fire

Camping in the mountains was something Roxanne had always wanted to do and now her dream was coming true. Life had seemed to be going great, but little by little, it began to fall apart. She started distancing herself from her family, going off on her own. Now Roxanne was aimlessly walking through a thick wood. The sounds of the night began and an uneasy feeling crept over her. Hearing the sounds move closer made her heart race. Walking a little faster, but unsure of where to go, the sounds became more intense. It was close...too close. Running, Roxanne searched for a way out of the woods. Coming to a halt she noticed the sound had stopped, she listened. Nothing. Just the sound of her heavy breathing. Maybe it was gone. She turned, straining her eyes and then she saw it, a mountain lion. Fear gripped her heart. This was it. She was going to die.

Feeling panic rise in her, the lion lowered ready to strike. She heard a cracking sound. The lion heard it too. Their attention was drawn to the right. She stood only a few feet away from a clearing and past that was someone’s camp site! She had to make a move if she was going to live. Roxanne ran with everything she had. The lion jerked its head back, seeing her take off and followed. Screaming for help, Roxanne saw a man by a fire.

~~~

Caden grabbed a long log out of the fire and ran toward the girl. Where did she come from? The lion closed in, ready to take its prey. It clawed at the runner, teasing her, but hitting its mark. The girl cried out in pain, but kept running.  Caden was just a few feet from them. The lion clawed again, this time sending her to the ground. Yelling at the lion, Caden waved the fire in the big cat’s direction. The animal had been so focused it didn’t see the man and stopped sensing danger. Caden stepped in-between the girl and the mountain lion still waving the flame. The lion looked at the girl on the ground then back at the fire. Knowing loss, it retreated back into the dark wood.

~~~

Life can be a weird thing. We can feel on top of the world one day and then underneath it the next. I find this exceptionally frustrating whenever it happens in my spiritual life. Imagine you have just gotten back from camp, missions trip, or conference and you are on top of the world! You tell everyone around you that you are “on fire”. This “on fire” thing can last a few days or a few weeks but in the end it seems like we “lost our fire” or “the fire went out”. Then we wait for the next camp, mission trip, or conference to get back “on fire”. 

I have said this before…many times really. In our culture, it’s almost expected! This happened to me this last week. I had really been “on fire” for a good 3 weeks. It was awesome! But then life knocked and I answered. And then little by little my fire was going out. Or so I thought…

But what does the above story have to do with anything?

I was talking with God the other day “I was so on fire, seeing people get healed and everything! What happened?! It seems my fire has gone out! Did I need to put more “wood” on it?”

And you know what? He gave me the answer! We walk around taking credit for the fire when really, God is the fire. The bible says He is an all consuming fire. His eyes burn like fire. God said that He was the fire. Then he showed me some things through pictures, almost like a movie:

I’m sitting at a camp fire with Jesus, He was wearing jeans, there is a guitar leaning against the log bench and all the fixings for s’mores were on a table behind him. I looked around and saw we were in a beautiful clearing and I see the woods far off, looking dark and mysterious…

God is the fire, He never goes out. When we feel that feeling of “my fire feels like it’s going out” what has happened is that we have taken a step away from the fire. When you are camping, at night you want to be near the fire. It provides warmth, light and protection. But if we step away the warmth, light, and the protection, we feel less of what we did when we were standing right in front of it. But so many times we let things distracted us and we step away just a little bit. And if we wonder far enough, we will end up in the woods, alone where predators have the upper hand.

How silly of us to think that the fire of God could go out? He is unchanging, He isn't fickle like man. He is always burning! It is up to us to stay by the fire, stay close to God. In Him is everything we could ever need, want and desire. But we have to choose to stay in His warmth…His presence. Every day we have to choose. Roxanne (a Christian) was with her family (the body of Christ), but decided to wander in the woods (the world) which lead her to a dangerous place. But in the end when she called out to the man (Jesus) for help he was there to save her and bring her back to safety...near the fire (His presence). To maintain a powerful Christian life we have to stay in His presence. Cause if we don’t we will lose the warmth, not because it has gone out but because we walked away.

Photo credit: crossfitfire.com