28/10/2011 - Obey the command

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And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.

Luke 17:19

As the Gospel of Luke teaches us, ten lepers were healed by Jesus but only one of them came back to give thanks to God. He was so grateful that he fell at the feet of the Lord and if Christ had not told him to arise and go his way because his faith had saved him, he would probably have stayed in that position for a long time. There are many people that need to learn that a Christian must always bow down when the Lord speaks. It is not necessary to be confessing our sins all the time; crying for our past errors or making constant displays of gratitude. What God wants apart from our purity of heart is that we fulfil our mission.

If we are grateful and express it, we can get more from the Lord. Healing might bring salvation along but note that the other nine sick men were also healed and yet only one managed to obtain it. He was undoubtedly much more blessed than the others. Thousands of people have already been healed in my ministry, but unfortunately some of them will be lost forever. Whoever you might be you must fight so as not to be lost forever, you must be thankful to God for all things and, most importantly, you must believe in His Word.

We can cry before the Lord but we must not lose heart (John 16:33). Besides, we must always be thankful to the Most High but always in accordance with what the Word teaches us. Now, once we are saved we must not become religious zealots – for there is no religious observance that pleases God -, that is the reason why we must never imitate those who are religious but, instead, we must put the Word of God into practice.

One of the reasons why the Lord heals us is for us to fulfil our ministry. There are people who once they are converted they become lazy, mean to their family and even gossipers. God needs His children to get back to their calling and they must do that wholeheartedly. Those who change for the worst have to examine themselves because, probably, they have neither found nor understood the meaning of salvation. After all, Jesus paid a high price to set us free from darkness.

When we fulfil our mission with dedication we please our God more than when we spend the whole day lip-servicing Halleluiahs. It is not wrong to praise the Lord – its actually commendable – however, the praise must be heartfelt and not from a heart that is spiritually sick. The kind of praise that pleases the Lord is our consecration to deliver those who are oppressed; it is when we take the Gospel to those who are lost and, as much as depends on us, when we live peacefully with all men (Romans 12:18).

It is also important to point out that we have to live our salvation; we should not behave like slaves (John 15:15). After all we have been delivered in Christ so that the Word of the Lord can be fulfilled in us. To this end, we need to enjoy the abundant life given by Jesus instead of focusing on in religious prohibitions. Nothing created or allowed by God is sinful.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares