Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

In case you have not realized, words have extraordinary effect. You have the power to bring life (words of encouragement, a genuine compliment, a single word with a smile, etc.) or death (insults, taunts, jeers, sneers, etc.). In this case, the type of object of the preposition, what verb tense you use, and what form of pronouns you employ in your everyday vocabulary also have repercussions. Let me illustrate my point: many preachers or fellow believers (or annoying, hypocritical Christians, for example) tell you about what Jesus has done. "Oh, He died for you" and "He took your sins on the cross so you won't be condemned to eternal damnation" are popular phrases in respect to Christ's achievements. Then, however, come more maudlin responses such as, "He loves you more than life itself"; "The fact that He died for you displays His amazing love and that the King of all kings was willing to die for you, a mere human who bore no significance until His death"; and "He finds you more precious and of more worth than all the precious gems and jewels found on this earth combined". Afterward, some people feel inclined to mention that Christ is the Healer. Now, I have to stop, pause, and expand on this last point. To those who say Jesus is the Healer, you never hear people say Jesus could be the Healer or can be the Healer; they say He is the Healer. (Whether or not they live in this promise--that Christ bore sickness, disease, and infirmities--is not the point; however, if they believe it and live it brings more truth and power to their personal testimonies, but this is the point of this discussion.) So, the second part of their phrase or declaration is "you can be healed" or "you could be healed." That is an extensive grammar mistake, one that could potentially lead a person to believe that they no longer need to live with their disease and thereby casts out the sickness out or daunts in the fact that there is a possibility, a chance that they might get healed. You say that Christ is the Healer yet you can or could be healed? First of all, grammatically speaking, you have to be consistent with your articles (can, could, is, etc.); you cannot say is in the first part of your clause and then switch and say a conditional article in the latter course of your clause. It is not only confusing but it is incorrect. Second, words have effect on people, more than you know, so choosing words wisely would be prudent and recommended. If you say that you can or could be healed, say Jesus can be the Healer or could be the Healer, because that is what you stating from your conditional article in your speech. May I say that in the Bible, it is written that Christ is the Healer and By His Stripes, we are healed. Not can be healed or could be healed, are healed, as in it just happened, thus telling us Christians that we don't need to live with our infirmities since Christ has already delivered us. This is where another common yet heavily scrutinized grammar mistake occurs as well. In churches today, that Scripture--Isaiah 53:5--is read in context, yet when the preacher dissects its meaning, they often say, "By His Stripes you can" or "could be healed", when it is written there for all to see that you are healed, past active tense. You don't need to wonder if maybe Jesus will heal you or perhaps God can decide to heal you. NO! Jesus already took it on the Cross so you don't have to live with it. Inexplicably, many Christians don't like that. So what are you going to do now? Alter the Bible since you don't like what it said? Change the words a bit so it fits to your liking? If you don't believe that part of Scripture, what part can you believe, the parts that tell you that you can sit on your lazy, passive butts and let God do everything? The reason why many Christians like hearing the conditional form of the verb is is because that means they don't have to do anything, they are waiting for God to rain down with whatever healing they need, and sigh, relax, and do nothing while God puts all the effort and they nothing. When they read it that they are healed, it means work. You have to confess that Scripture daily, you have to disregard the negative and taunting thoughts of the enemy and you have to command the bad parts--the diseased part of your body--to get out by faith, which also requires work. Rather than taking at it like a pro, dedicating daily to work your faith, you would rather believe that God is so sovereign that He chooses who He heals, as if He is poking fun at us, deciding maniacally which one to heal and which one He will leave broken, empty, and sick. Not only is that wrong, wrong, wrong since it is clear what Christ has done for you, but you are deliberately deciding that God is what you envision in your mind He is--i.e. not the Healer, that He sits on His throne like a spoiled king choosing at random which undeserving subject will adhere to His mercy, which you know is not true at all. (If that's what your church teaches--that God is so sovereign that He gets to choose who He heals, as if we must have a reason that outshines, thereby allowing to be healed, when it is clear that the Blood of Jesus Christ is what gives us access to healing--then you may want to start looking elsewhere.) So instead of whining why God isn't healing, why nothing seems to be working, and why you see no results, make a decision: whether you want to work the Word, standing on the Word of God for every circumstance, thickening and deepening your faith, standing your ground, refused to be moved by what the world says and offers, and fall in love with Christ. Rather than have Jesus but not employ anything He has given us through His Blood, believing wrongful "truths" (taught in church, people), and spend your whole life toiling, choose to believe what His Word say. We are after all Christians, imitators of Christ who live up our character with His character. Jesus never wondered what do to do or asked His Father, "Abba Father, should I heal this man?" No, He certainly did not. That is because He knows the promises in the Word and acted up on it. Don't try to understand the Word with your fleshly and cognitive intellect (which will result in unbelief since our minds are not designed to understand God's supernatural work; it is through the Holy Spirit that allows us to comprehend Him and His Word). Instead, choose to believe. Simple as that. Choose to stand on the Word regardless of the sways and movements of the world; choose to believe that Jesus is your Healer, that His Blood is in your blood, thus rendering you spotless, clean, and whole (soul, mind, emotions, body); choose to believe Jesus more than your doctor(s) for your physical need(s); choose to believe God for finances rather than what some fleshly, untrustworthy, and sly financial advisor says who, by the way, is only after your money; choose to believe Christ instead of the world. Just as it is a decision to accept Christ, it is also a decision to believe Christ for healing (in every arena of life), finances (whose kingdom does not rely on the world's economic status), restoration, and spiritual life. There are no doctors, banks, or television talk show hosts in Heaven to tell us what we need, what we have, and how we need to structure our budget; it's only God and the darling of Heaven--Christ. You need to decide. It is only then that you will realize how everything changes. Once you choose and decide to believe the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, not doubting a single word, paragraph, comma, or apostrophe, you will realize that the words in Romans 8:1-13 are true:

THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.

For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],

So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].

For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.

Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].

[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot.

So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.

But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].

But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].

And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.

So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.

For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.

Making the decision to believe will alter your mindset. Rather than have a fragment of doubt, you will empowered to have the confidence that you know that you know that you know what the Word says about this or that situation but it is your choice: do you want to be well, to be prosperous, to be whole, to be spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically alive? You have to decide and then act on it.