Preparing the Bride of Christ For His Return By Janet Van Hierdan
A Tale of Two Brides is now available on Amazon.com:
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Another Coffee Break:
Aphiémi Healing, Part 25
April 11, 2014
Just a couple of quick reminders before we get started today:
Folks have been asking about the conference calls for our Sunday gatherings,
and if the messages are being recorded for later playback., Once again, the number to call in for
participation is (559) 726-1300, Access code: 308640#. To listen to the previous Sunday's recording,
change the last digits of the call-in number from 1300 to 1399.
The same applies to our Monday-Wednesday-Friday Healing
Conference calls. That number is (805)
399-1000, Access code: 124763#. To
listen to the previously recorded call, change the 1000 to 1099. In both cases the access codes are the same.
Talking
about Paul's thorn last week, and the crazy doctrine about our having to
"suffer diseases and injuries" in order to make up for some
deficiency in the price that Jesus paid on our behalf brought a number of
questions. I need to address those
before we get too far along in today's discussion.
As
I noted last week, when Paul cried out to the Lord in his frustration, God's
answer to him was simple and to the point: "My grace is sufficient for
you." Don't you get it? The Lord wasn't telling Paul to put up with
it, He was saying to Paul, "Stand up!
Acquit yourself like a son of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ! My grace for you has supplied everything you
need to exercise the needed authority to get rid of the demonic
harassment!"
Paul
didn't lack any needed authority to deal with the harassment of the Enemy, and
he sure didn't need to put up with this "thorn!" Jesus made the very comprehensive statement
prior to His departure to Heaven: "All authority has been
given to me in Heaven and in Earth; go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all
nations..." (See Matthew 28:18-19)
The
commission to go forth -- even as Paul was commissioned as "apostolos": one sent
forth with delegated authority and power -- came with all the authority
"in Heaven and in Earth" to back him up. The fact that Satan had sent a messenger to
"buffet" him (more on that word in a minute) was certainly a nuisance
but not something that Paul wasn't equipped to deal with.
Consider
how Paul dealt with the Word of the Lord to him. (See II Corinthians 12:7-10)
"Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
Are
you seeing it? Paul realized that the
power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ was resident in him, even in the
midst of his infirmities, his attacks from Satan and the buffeting he was
receiving. He didn't need to put up with
these attacks. The grace of God
operating in him included the "grace gifts" -- the charismata -- which more than
enabled him to rebuke the Enemy and cast him off.
He
could say, therefore, with absolute confidence and joy, "I
take pleasure in infirmities (astheneia -- feebleness,
infirmity, weakness), in reproaches (hubris -- insult,
insolence, harm), in necessities (anagké -- constraints,
restrictions, times of distress), in persecutions (diogmos -- being pursued
after to render harm or injury), in distresses (stenochoria -- narrowness of
room, being squeezed tightly; colloq: no
room to move about) for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak [in and of myself], then
am I strong [through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ]."
What
Paul is saying more literally is that when his flesh failed him (whether it was
physical weakness, mental or emotional distresses), then his access to the
authority and power of the Lord Jesus Christ enabled him to make plain to the
world around him that the Glory and God is not dependent on the strength of
human flesh. He could, therefore,
rejoice when he was under attack because it was then that the Lord was going to
show forth praise and Glory.
I
hope I'm making this clear! The Glory of
God is not dependent on either the strength or the weakness of human
flesh. The Glory of God more often
displays through us when we feel the weakest or least capable of accomplishing
that which He has given us to do. I'll
share a personal story about this momentarily.
Let
me emphasize one other thing while we're on this topic. God DOES NOT bring sickness, disease or
infirmity upon us so He can teach us something.
If we allow Him to do so, He will demonstrate His grace, His love, His
Glory AND His authority through us when we are under attack. The apostle Paul describes this situation
perfectly in Romans 8:28. Here's how the
KJV reads:
"And
we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose."
Now,
if you don't mind, here's my amplified translation from the Greek text.
"And we see and know that everything [taking place in our
lives] cooperates [with, and through God] for our benefit, [more specifically]
for those who {absolutely] love God and are the invited, appointed and anointed
according to [and in direct proportion to] His purposes, plans and declared
intentions."
You
get it, don't you? All things most
certainly DO NOT work together for good for everyone! They only work for our good and our benefit
WHEN we love God and walk with Him in an uncompromised and committed
relationship, AND have been called, responded to that calling, then appointed,
prepared by Holy Spirit, and anointed for that to which He has called us.
That's
a mouthful, isn't it? But you can
certainly see the clear difference.
Things don't always work together for good for folks -- even when those
folks have been "saved."
There's a huge difference between being "saved" and walking in
a real love relationship with the Lord!
Getting
back to Paul's "thorn in the flesh," he could respond in joy to the
buffeting of the Enemy because God had given him the grace, and with that
grace, the authority to deal with Satan.
God didn't bring that buffeting upon him, but neither did God prevent
it! (I'll talk more about that in a
minute.) What God made clear to Paul was
that he didn't have to put up with it, but he was going to have to exercise the
grace God had given him. God's grace was
more than sufficient to deal with it!
Now,
let's talk about this term, "buffet," for a minute. Paul's complaint to the Lord was that a
messenger of Satan had been sent to "buffet" him. This word is a translation of the Greek, kolaphizo, which comes from
the root word, kolazo. J. H. Thayer tells us that this word means: to
curtail, to restrict, to inflict [torment], to pester and distract by rapping
(with one's knuckles). Nothing in
either the word, kolaphizo, or its root, kolazo, implies sickness
or disease. Paul was NOT being
"graced" with some kind of sickness or disease. He was being pestered by some demonically-driven
individual to distract him and keep him from preaching the Gospel.
We
actually have a picture of such an event taking place with Paul in the city of
Philippi (Acts 16:16-18): "And it came to pass, as we went to
prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which
brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us,
and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show
unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being
grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus
Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."
This
is an exact picture of what Paul contended with. The difference was that -- in this instance
-- the buffeting spirit came in the form of a young woman who was demonized by
a Spirit of Divination. (This is a
spirit which leads many people astray.
It masquerades today in fortune tellers, in astrology, in tarot cards,
and a host of other devices which lead people away from God's destiny in their
lives.)
Paul
certainly didn't need someone with a Spirit of Divination proclaiming he and
the company of brethren with him as the "servants of the Most High
God." Had it continued, that spirit
could have led many of the new converts away from the Lord with false
prophecies and demonically camouflaged guidance. Whatever Paul was experiencing with the
buffeting he was suffering, God had given him the same authority to expel from
his presence that he exercised with the young woman in Philippi.
While
we're on this topic (and it is clear that I'm not going to continue today with
where we left off last week -- that'll have to wait), let's address another
issue that plagues the body of Christ today.
And, by the way, if it seems like I'm really off-track with our
discussion on aphiémi healing, this is germane -- both to
the topic of healing, AND to the concept of aphiémi -- total eradication so that it
never existed in the first place. Follow
this closely.
When
Jesus suffered the 39 stripes to his body -- 39 stripes, incidentally, with a
cat-o-nine tails tipped with lead tips, making the effective stripes to his
body, 351 -- it left him with barely any clear flesh on his body. There was scarcely a square inch of his body
that wasn't ripped open, bruised, bloody and festering. Add to that the crown of two-plus-inch thorns
shoved into his scalp and his skull.
Got
the picture clearly in your mind? Good!
Now,
explain to me just how any sickness, any disease, any suffering you might
endure is necessary ON TOP OF EVERYTHING THAT JESUS ENDURED so that you
"can learn whatever it is God is trying to teach you?" That is a heresy that has pervaded the body
of Christ for centuries, and it is demonic!
But it gets worse!!
There
are folks who actually believe that God does this to them! Really?
If we believe that nonsense, then we are crucifying the Lord Jesus
Christ afresh. We are effectively
putting Him back on the Cross. We are
nullifying the price He paid on our behalf.
Consider
a couple of scriptures.
Isaiah
expressed it like this (See Isaiah
53:5): "But
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed."
Let
me amplify this verse for you out of the Hebrew text: "But He was broken and
profaned for our rebellion, our revolt, our apostasy and our [religious]
quarrel against God; He was crushed, oppressed and smitten, and (emotionally)
broken into pieces for our perversity, our evil, our mischief, sins and faults;
the breaking and ridiculing of our peace, our welfare, our prosperity, our
health and our safety was upon Him; and with His bloodied and blue wounds we
are cured, mended, repaired and made thoroughly whole."
Here's
how Peter put it in his first letter to the body of Christ (I Peter 2:21-24): "For even hereunto were
ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye
should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened
not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own
self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
The first part of
this translation out of the KJV really misses it. It draws a picture that I believe, when added
to several of Paul's statements in his various letters, somehow has caused
folks to come up with a doctrine that we are supposed to endure sickness,
disease, infirmity, etc., because "Jesus did it, and we are supposed to
follow in His footsteps." Nothing
could be further from the truth!
When do you ever
see Jesus sick? When do you ever see
Jesus fighting against disease or infirmity?
If that were the case, then He wouldn't have been able to take all
sickness, disease, infirmity, pain and suffering to the Cross and put it to
death, ONCE AND FOR ALL! Let's not
forget something, folks! Sickness,
disease, infirmity, etc., etc., etc., are all a part of the curse that came
upon the human race when Adam ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil! Sickness, disease and infirmity are
all a part of death and dying -- and Jesus already kept our appointment with
death!
I'll pick up at
this point next week and finish this discussion, showing you the actual picture
drawn in the Greek text.
If you are in need of healing please join
our prayer conference calls on either Monday, Wednesday or Friday of each week
at 7:00 PM Eastern. Once again, the
number to call is (805) 399-1000. Then
enter the access code: 124763#. Let us
minister to your need for healing!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A.
Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP
CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email
Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
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