Power Portals

Last week we talked about how God wants to heal us and make us whole. I can’t help but think that there are people out there thinking, “Well I have done all I know to do. I have prayed and I have asked God to heal me, and nothing has changed.” God is a healer, but He does not always work or heal in the way that we expect Him to or when we expect Him to. I am reminded of Moses.

When God called Moses to go deliver the people of Israel, Moses said this in Exodus 4:10-12, “But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.””

There are many interpretations as to what Moses meant when he said he gets tongue tied, with some saying he had some sort of speech impediment. But regardless what the actual impediment was, God was not phased by it. He didn’t say, “Oh no way, hadn’t realised, let me fix that up right now.” Sometimes what we see as a limitation is a way for God to be able to be glorified. God didn’t pick Moses because he was a renowned speech giver, God picked Moses because He knew He could trust Moses to partner with Him in what needed to be done. Sometimes we are stuck thinking God cannot use me because of this one thing, I need Him to fix it and then I will be all good to do what God needs me to do. But what if that thing is the very thing God wants to use to minister to people and draw people to Him through you?

Another example is in the New Testament where  the Apostle Paul who wrote much of the New Testament revealed he had a thorn in his flesh. There is speculation on what that thorn was; an illness or a weakness, but the Bible does not tell us what it is. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 says this:

“The extraordinary level of the revelations I’ve received is no reason for anyone to exalt me.  For this is why a thorn in my flesh was given to me, the Adversary’s messenger sent to harass me,  keeping me from becoming arrogant. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to relieve me of this. But he answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you,  and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me.  So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power.”

Does God heal? Yes. Does He deliver? Yes. Sometimes though, we do not see the answers we are looking for because what we see as a limitation, God sees as a power portal. An access point for God’s power to be revealed. Does it make sense to us? No. But we don’t give up or shake our fist at God. We trust Him. Either way, healing is coming and deliverance is coming, it’s a matter of timing.

Sometimes He does it instantly. I have had migraines that I prayed over and was healed immediately. I have had others that have lasted all week. I have things I have been praying for for years and I am still seeing doctors for it because they remain unresolved. Why? I don’t know. Do I blame God for it? No, but I sure am grateful for the times when the relief was immediate, and I trust Him when it is not.

Sometimes we pray for our loved ones and either through miracles or a combination of doctors and miracles we see the impossible happen and their health restored. Other times, they do not make it and they go to heaven. It’s the same God. Whether they are healed here on earth on in heaven, they are getting healed either way (assuming of course that they knew Jesus and are in heaven).

As we finish off our series, taking up our cross daily means we get to carry the things we understand with the same grace that we carry the things we don’t understand. We put crosses to mark graves where loved ones are buried. Taking up our cross is dying to ourselves, not once when we accept Jesus, but daily. A part of that is living with unanswered questions. God is much bigger than we can ever imagine and He sees things in a way we could never see them. So if we expect to know and understand everything God does, it means we want to believe in a God small enough for us to control. God is big. We are in His hands not the other way round. Life will have a level of mystery to it but God promised that through it all, He will never leave nor forsake us. The cross made way for eternal relationship between us and God. What a sacrifice and what a blessing!

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.