Post details: The problem that my great-great-grandfather did NOT have

11/06/07

Permalink 02:59:00 am, Categories: By Trent
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The problem that my great-great-grandfather did NOT have

by Trent (originally posted on 01-29-07)
I never knew my great-great-grandfather, and there is not many stories about him. In fact, I only know what my grandfather told me last summer, about how he was gifted with healing.

In west Texas for a region that included a few counties, he was known as a man that could heal. So my grandfather recalls, as a child, several occasions when the phone would ring. Great-great-grandfather would say something like - "Alright, I'll pray" and then hang up the phone and pray.

Crippling accidents; restored.
Grave illnesses; made well.

... Just like you might imagine from a man that was gifted with healing. I knew what I needed to ask my grandfather after he told me this story. To be honest, I knew exactly how my grandfather would reply, though I intentionally left the question open-ended ...

"So, what would he say, grand-dad" I asked, "when people would thank him and ask him how he could heal this way?"

"Well," without hesitation, nor shock at my question, my grandfather blurted out the answer in a rare moment of spontaneous clarity, "he would insist that he did nothing, and that all was accomplished by God."

I knew it.

Jesus said we would do greater things than He did. So God has no problem with that. It wouldn't be any trouble for God to make any one of us able to restore the ill, and walk on water, and raise the dead ... moving mountains to the sea. The question is not whether or not God could handle it. The question is whether or not we could handle it.

If I had the power to heal the sick, would I be blogging about Jesus, or would you be hearing about my healing crusades? Could I handle that? ... or would I be selling you books about healing and tapes and CD's about healing, and getting my next tour underway?

The problem is that I can't handle that, until I am ready to handle that. Nor can any of us. Safe people for God's glory have no part in robbing God of glory that belongs only to Him.

Revelation 4:4
Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.

That is pretty glorious, no? Thrones! Crowns! Eldership! White garments! Seated next to the Lord!

Can you handle that? How did they handle it, and does that give any insight into why they were given such splendor and favor?

Revelation 4:10-11
the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."

Perhaps a man such as my great-great-grandfather could handle a place of honor, crowns and thrones. From what little I know about him, I think that he is a man that would hold those things with an open hand, and look for the first chance he had to lay it all down before the Lord and God ... giving Him all glory, for it all belongs to Him!

Comments:

Comment from: Pam [Member]
Hey Trent,

I wish I knew your great, great grandfather, I'm tired of being sick!:0)

What has always caught my attention in the healing stories in the Bible is that they were always performed so that someone would believe in Jesus. It does no good to heal the body if we don't also have the eternal Life that is in Jesus only. Even if I never find healing on this side, I know that when I cross that spiritual Jordan, I will on the other side receive my glorified body that will never be sick. I have wanted healing for a long time but God knows best how to grow faith in me and that is by my crucible of illness that draws me ever nearer to Him. For others it takes a miraculous act.

I also believe that God establishes great works through miracles and I have an inkling that we'll be seeing some of those soon as this age ends and we enter the next.

The Great Awakening was a pretty special time in the U.S. (is this the time of your great-great grandfather?) and there were many great preachers and many souls saved. I have an old Billy Sunday song book that belonged to my husband's grandfather and in it he wrote that 6,000 people came to Christ at the crusade that he attended. It was held outdoors and there were no microphones. You know, during those times there was little to no promotion previous to the arrival of those old time preachers but people would hear by word of mouth and leave what ever they were doing to go to the meeting. And no microphones...it had to be the Holy Spirit that enabled them to hear and to turn to Jesus to be saved.

You're right that most of us can't handle it. We take what God gives as a special gift at a special time to serve His purpose and we package it for our own purpose and we kill it. If He keeps us fully focused upon Him, I just wonder what He could do through our lives? May we both decrease so that He might increase. What I long for most in this life, is to see others look and live!

Pam
Permalink 01/29/07 @ 10:44
Comment from: Timothy [Member] · http://www.TrumpetCallofGodOnline.com
Beautiful...
Amen.

Let each be given according to their faith and the will of the Father. And let us use what we have received in accordance with the fruit of the Spirit to the glory of God and His Christ.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, humility, meekness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
~ Galatians 5:22-26
Permalink 01/29/07 @ 17:05
Comment from: Len [Visitor] · http://www.myspace.com/lenbenherehear
ONLY THE REVELATION and true perspective *of who we are WITHOUT and apart from Christ and His redemptive gift,* - ONLY THIS insures we shall never foolishly "desire to glory in ourselves" or "our" gifts, 'achievements,' etc.

Always: TO GOD and to The Lamb be ALL of the glory, praise, and honor. (!)

Permalink 01/30/07 @ 02:03

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