Enjoying God Blog

We’ve looked closely at James 5:13-18 and must now address the question: Why doesn’t God always heal the sick? The reason why many are not healed may be answered in any one of eight ways. Continue reading . . . 

We’ve looked closely at James 5:13-18 and must now address the question: Why doesn’t God always heal the sick? The reason why many are not healed may be answered in any one of eight ways. I’ve written on this more extensively in my book, Tough Topics (Crossway) in case you wish to go into more detail than is found below.

(1) Although we must be careful in giving more weight to the role of faith than does the NT itself, we also must be willing to acknowledge that occasionally healing does not occur because of the absence of that sort of faith that God delights to honor. This does not mean that every time a person isn’t healed it is because of a defective faith or that if only a more robust and doubt-free faith were in exercise that healing would inevitably follow. But it does mean that faith is very important.

(2) As we’ve just seen in James 5, sometimes healing does not occur because of the presence of sin for which there has been no confession or repentance. Again, please do not conclude from this that each time a person isn’t healed it is because he/she has committed some specific sin of which they have refused to repent. But in some cases (not necessarily all) this is undoubtedly true.

(3) Although it sounds odd to many at first hearing, healing may not happen because the sick don’t want it to happen. Jesus asked the paralyzed man in John 5:6, “Do you want to be healed?” What on the surface may appear to be a ridiculous question is seen, on further examination, to be profoundly insightful.

Some people who suffer from a chronic afflict

Many of you who are unfamiliar with Bridgeway Church here in Oklahoma City may not fully understand what I mean when I say we are a church committed to both the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Continue reading . . . 

Many of you who are unfamiliar with Bridgeway Church here in Oklahoma City may not fully understand what I mean when I say we are a church committed to both the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Or, upon hearing that, you may respond by saying: “Big deal. All churches believe in the importance of the Bible, and all churches believe in the existence of the Holy Spirit.” That may be true, but that’s not what we mean here at Bridgeway.

We are not merely “believers” in Word and Spirit. We strive to be practitioners. That means we are devoted to verse-by-verse expository preaching of God’s Word. We are committed to changing our beliefs when the Bible tells us we are wrong. We change our behavior when the Bible tells us we have gone astray. The Bible exercises authority over our lives when it comes to what we believe and how we behave.

But we also strive not merely to affirm the existence of the Holy Spirit, not merely to insist on his vital importance for Christian living. We also strive to experience the power of the Holy Spirit through all the spiritual gifts described in the NT. We believe these gifts continue and are valid in the church today because the Bible tells us they are. Thus we are people of the Spirit precisely because of our commitment to the authority of the Word. And we aim to implement, facilitate, and exercise these gifts in the power of the Spirit for the good of Christians and the glory of God.

One more thing. We refuse to let our emphasis on Scripture quench the presence and power of the Spirit, just as we refuse to let our pursuit and experience o

You have to read it to believe it. This from the blog of Rod Dreher Continue reading . . . 

You have to read it to believe it. This from the blog of Rod Dreher:

This is not tragedy, it’s farce:

“Allah bless us and bless our families and bless our Lord. Lead us on the straight path – the path of all the prophets: Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad,” and so went the prayer offered up by Wajidi Said, from the Portland Muslim Community, as part of the “first order of business” during the opening plenary session of the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Don’t believe it? Here’s the video from the PCUSA. The Islamic prayer begins at 14:04.

It’s a beautiful prayer, but it denies the divinity of Jesus, calling him a “prophet.” This is orthodox Muslim teaching, and quite right for a Muslim to profess in public. But why are Christians, in an explicitly Christian assembly, allowing this?

Well, this is the same church body that embraced same-sex marriage a couple of years ago. This has done nothing to arrest the PCUSA’s collapse. If this bears out, the PCUSA will have gone from 2.5 million members to 1.2 million in just 20 years. That’s over half their people! And it will have gone from 4.3 million in 1965 (it’s high point) to 1.2 million in half a century — a loss of nearly 75 percent of its membership in less than a single lifetime. (See here for figures.)

By the way, Pew reckons that there are two to three times more Muslims in the US than members of the PC(USA). So maybe having an imam come pray to Allah at their annual powwow is the liberal Presbyterians’ way of betting on the future.

[If you want to follow the links that Dreher

In this installment of 10 Things You should Know we’ll turn our attention to Romans 13:1-7 (and 1 Peter 2) and the Christian’s responsibility toward human government. Continue reading . . . 

In this installment of 10 Things You should Know we’ll turn our attention to Romans 13:1-7 (and 1 Peter 2) and the Christian’s responsibility toward human government.

(1) All governmental authority comes from God (Romans 13:1,4,6). This applies to Pharaoh in Egypt (Rom. 9:17), as well as the pagan rulers in Babylon (see Daniel 2:19-21, 36-38; 4:24-37), and Pontius Pilate in the days of Jesus (John 19:11-12). Those in authority are therefore rightly called God’s “ministers” (v. 4) and “servants” (v. 6).

When Paul describes those in governmental authority as his “ministers” or “servants” he is not referring to their spiritual condition, as if to suggest they are all born again. Rather, he is describing their function under God’s sovereignty. They “serve” God and his purposes, even if they are oblivious to his influence over their lives.

(2) Because all governmental authority comes from God, all Christians are to live in subjection to it (Romans 13:1,5; 1 Peter 2:13-17). That does not mean we must obey everything that our government commands or requires. There are certain exceptions, as we’ll see below.

(3) Because all governmental authority comes from God, to resist “it” is to resist God (Rom. 13:2). Simply put, a crime against the state is a sin against God. But fear of civil judgment is not the primary motivation for obedience to the law (see Rom. 13:5). We have a responsibility to the will of God regardless of the consequences of our criminal behavior. Our obedience to the law of the land is based first and foremos

Today we continue in our study in James 5 and the relationship between prayer and healing. Our single focus in this article will be on the phrase, “the prayer of faith.” Continue reading . . . 

Today we continue in our study in James 5 and the relationship between prayer and healing. Our single focus in this article will be on the phrase, “the prayer of faith.” Here again is the text:

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit” (James 5:13-18).

What is “the prayer of faith” (v. 15)? “The prayer of faith” isn’t one that we pray whenever we want to. It is a unique prayer, divinely energized only on those occasions when it is God’s sovereign purpose to impart a gift for healing. James was careful to place the definite article (“the”) before both “prayer” and “faith” (hence, “the prayer of the faith”).

One prays this prayer only when prompted by the Spirit-wrought conviction that God intends to heal the one for whom prayer is being offered. This is more than merely believing that God is able to he

We’ve been looking at James 5:13-18 and the subject of prayer and healing. Continue reading . . .

We’ve been looking at James 5:13-18 and the subject of prayer and healing. Let’s look again at the text before we continue:

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit” (James 5:13-18).

(1) Why are the Elders called on to pray for the sick rather than the “Healers” or those with the spiritual gift of healing? People we refer to as cessationists, who don’t believe that miraculous gifts like healing and prophecy still exist today, make much of this. Their argument goes something like this:

“The fact that James calls for the Elders to pray rather than the Healers or those with the spiritual gift of healing proves that this particular supernatural power was already on its way out from the life of the church. It proves that God only intended for divine healers to operate in the life of the early, first-century church. Or if healing does continue today, it happens only rarely and never through a particular person with the spiritual gift of healing.”

My re

James 5:13-18 is an extremely rich and densely packed passage. In the previous article we looked at v. 13. Today we turn our attention to vv. 14-15. Continue reading . . . 

James 5:13-18 is an extremely rich and densely packed passage. In the previous article we looked at v. 13. Today we turn our attention to vv. 14-15. Here is the entire passage:

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit” (James 5:13-18).

(1) “Is anyone among you sick?” (v. 14a). The fact that James singles out the “sick” here in v. 14 assumes that he has something in mind different from the “suffering” he just mentioned in v. 13. This person is extremely ill, most likely bed-ridden. We see this in three things.

First, he/she must “call for the elders” to come to him/her. This person is evidently unable to go to the elders himself and is thus most likely in extremely bad shape.

There is a second reason we are right in thinking so. It’s found in the phrase, “let them pray over him” (v. 14b). This is unusual. We don’t typically read in the NT about prayin

So, let’s be honest with each other today about why we don’t pray as much as we know we should. Continue reading . . . 

So, let’s be honest with each other today about why we don’t pray as much as we know we should. When I talk with Christians of all ages and both genders, I hear comments like these:

“Come on, Sam, we live in a digital world where religious rituals from medieval times, like prayer, simply don’t fit in. Enlightened and educated people might grudgingly concede that there is a supernatural world, but it plays no meaningful or practical role in daily living.”

“Children pray, and it’s cute. But to think that God actually involves himself in our lives in response to our requests is far-fetched, to say the least.”

“Honestly, I would pray if I thought it might do some good. But nowadays it’s a lot easier to just do it yourself without depending on God and whether he’s in the mood to help.”

I assume most of you read Huckleberry Finn when you were younger. Today, it is on the politically incorrect list of banned books in many sectors of our society. But Huck Finn’s experience with prayer rings all too true among Christians in the local church. Listen to him:

“Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, but nothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warn’t so. I tried it. Once I got a fish-line, but no hooks. It warn’t any good to me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldn’t make it work. By and by, one day, I asked Miss Watson to try for me, but she said I was a fool. She never told me why, and I couldn’t make it out no way. I set down one time back in the woods, and had a

In our continuing series on 10 things every Christian should know, we turn our attention to the Roman Catholic Church and its beliefs about the Virgin Mary. Continue reading . . . 

In our continuing series on 10 things every Christian should know, we turn our attention to the Roman Catholic Church and its beliefs about the Virgin Mary.

(1) Rome believes that when Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother she was preserved and protected from the taint of original sin. This is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. This dogma was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX on Dec. 8, 1854. We read this in the Catholic Catechism:

“Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, ‘full of grace’ through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854 – ‘The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin” (CC, 491).

(2) The RCC also teaches that "in consequence of a Special Privilege of Grace from God, Mary was free from every personal sin during her whole life" (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p. 203; this view was endorsed by Augustine). Again, the Catechism declares that “By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long” (CC, 493).

(3) Rome also believes in the perpetual virginity of Mary. The dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary was proclaimed by the Council of Trent in 1545-63. The Catechism affirms the following:

“The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confes

We’ve been looking at biblical texts that are often cited as proof of trichotomy. None are so frequently mentioned as Hebrews 4:12 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Continue reading . . . 

We’ve been looking at biblical texts that are often cited as proof of trichotomy. None are so frequently mentioned as Hebrews 4:12 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Hebrews 4:12

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

A key to interpreting this passage is the word translated “division” (ESV). It is used only one other time in the NT and that is in Hebrews 2:4. There it refers to God’s “distribution” to his people of spiritual gifts. Whereas the verb form can have the meaning “to divide,” nowhere is this division between two distinct entities. Nowhere is it a separation of one entity from another. Rather the idea is that of a singular entity being sundered apart or divided up, as in a kingdom or an inheritance. Thus when we read Hebrews 4:12 we are to understand that the Word has the power to penetrate our inner being and divide or rend asunder the soul and it has the power also to penetrate and divide or rend asunder the spirit. The author does not say that the Word divides the soul from the spirit or that it divides between the soul and the spirit. Thus when we read this text in the light of other descriptions of our inmost being we can envision the author also saying that the Word penetrates and renders asunder the mind and penetrates and renders asunder the heart, etc.

The reference to “joints and marrow” likely has in view the physical body, in particular, the most inaccessible parts of our