Do You Believe?
by Angela Weir
The man with the epileptic son said to Jesus that if He was willing, He could heal his son. Jesus responded, “Do you believe?” and the man said, “Yes, I believe, help my unbelief”. So often we come to Jesus to ask for His help and He challenges us, “Do you believe?” and that is the point at which we sometimes draw back, because belief in Jesus challenges us in other ways, not just in whether we believe or not that He can heal us.
We want to be healed, but that often means that we have to change other aspects of our life: our pride, our determination to do our own thing in our own way thank-you-very-much, and that, sadly, is often a stumbling block to our healing, and ultimately in our relationship with Him. God wants to bring healing on His terms. We want it to happen on ours. Some people even ask for healing so they can continue in the lifestyle which caused the problems in the first place!
The Lord recently showed me a picture of a fast flowing river – and there have been a lot of those about recently, after all the heavy rain we have experienced. In the midst of the swirling waters there were boulders sticking up determinedly. Some of those were bed rock which would only be removed after years and years of action of the water, others were less fixed, and gradually shifted in the relentless stream.
Our fixed attitudes, putting God in a box and expecting Him to do things in our way, the beliefs we have grown up with – all these things are like the bed rock, hard to remove, possibly because we don’t even recognise them. The things which moved are those where God has softened our hearts and we’re prepared to change and bring our thoughts and attitudes into line with what He thinks and believes about us, according to His Word.
As the world draws us further and further away from God’s truth, we need to draw closer and closer to God. Yes, this will make us different from the world around us, but we’re in the world, but not of the world (John 17: 14). Paul tells us not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12: 2), shaped and guided by the truth of His Word.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You that You are the Lord who heals us. Please help me to be prepared to change where necessary, in order to receive Your healing, and to draw closer to You. in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Angela Weir has been associated with Ellel Ministries from the very beginning, first as an associate member of the ministry team and later as an associate teacher. She trained as an actress before moving to Cumbria, where she taught drama in a girls’ school. She now teaches and ministers at various Ellel Centres.
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