Peace

Have you ever noticed that some people cannot live without a problem? If they don't have a problem they will create one? Our society and our tendency to gossip and our tendency to take up other people's hurts can keep us in a constant state of turmoil. It becomes such a habit that you end up never knowing any peace, so that if there is no problem handy you will create one.
I would think that many TV shows make this tendency worse. People who have to have a constant problem love the TV shows that emphasize a bunch of people having a big problem and go about solving it in ineffective ways.
So what is the solution? Know God. God doesn't want us to go around living in a constant state of turmoil. Doing so says that we want to be in charge instead of Him.
Here is the thinking (or lack of it): "God, you aren't big enough to handle my problem. I have to continually carry it around and get everyone I can involved in it. Poor me! You just don't understand this and I can't trust You to handle it." Doesn't that sound ridiculous? Yet that is what we do. Why can't we understand that a God that could create the heavens and the earth and me and then give me a means to peace through Jesus Christ can do ANYTHING. He does understand our problems and He can carry them IF we let Him. Our problem is weak faith and failing to think through Who God IS. We don't allow God to be God.
God can do anything. That is why we can pray. Anything is possible with God because that is part of the definition of God. That is who God claims to be. We have not because we ask not and we also have not because when we do ask we ask selfishly. God is God. He knows what He is doing but we can move His hands with a prayer of faith. We are told to "pray in the spirit". You can't go wrong praying in the spirit and in doing so you will say things from the spirit that you would not have thought of. The problem is to get beyond my selfish praying to "praying in the spirit." God overrules our selfish praying and speaks to us through "praying in the spirit." Lord, teach me to pray in the spirit.
If you stop and ask yourself this about your problem: In three weeks, will this still be a problem? You may just find that in a time perspective of three weeks it will no longer exist. If it does persist ask yourself what you did to cause it and take ownership of it. If it is the second or third time you have seen this problem you need to ask the Lord what He is trying to teach you. God will recycle your lessons until you learn what He is trying to teach you. He will not give you more than you can handle and you may receive some temporary relief from it but it will return until you learn what He wants you to know and do.
We are warned about gossip in The Word. Proverbs says that when gossip goes away so does strife. Refuse to be embroiled in other people's supposed hurts. It is one thing to empathize with someone and something completely different to take up their banner and go try to solve "their" problems by including a whole bunch of people that have nothing to do with the solution. Go only to the person that can help solve the problem.
Many times we jump to conclusions because we haven't heard the other side of the story. When the other side of the story is told we usually find understanding. I have had many students sit in my office and tell me how they were so badly mistreated by a teacher. When I have taken the child to the teacher and asked the teacher what happened I got the other side of the story and usually ended up with a student hanging his/her head because the truth came out. To listen to the student only would have been a mistake. I had a boss that would listen to others and not check out their stories. He would believe the person and then jump on the other person who usually never had a clue. He would start things rolling based on rumor and untruth. You can't trust someone who does that and eventually he had everyone mad at him because sooner or later everyone got on his bad side. I usually figured that the truth would win out. Truth stands the test of time and God will bring out the truth eventually. God did that many times where I was concerned.
Do you lie to God? Do you say to Him that you have no sin? What would His side of the story sound like? Do you have peace? Can you live without having to have a problem? Check yourself out and start pursuing the path of peace that God promises. There is a peace that passes understanding. Search for it.

Healing

I recently underwent open heart surgery which was a complete surprise and shock. I had signed up for a counseling class (missed the first session) and for part of that class we are to study the healings of Jesus. In looking them up and reading them I have noticed several things. One of the pre-requisites in some healings was faith but in some healings it was the faith of a parent or friends. In more than one case there was humility displayed and in the case of demons the demon was told to go without any response required on the part of the possessed person. There was also one case of Jesus healing a woman's daughter who was not a Jew because of her faith and her persistence, with humility.
So what are the lessons to be learned from the healings of Jesus? The biggest thing I see is faith. Jesus cautioned Jairus, the father of a soon to be healed girl, to just believe. The woman touching Jesus' robe was told "go in peace, your faith has healed you." The Centurion asked for his servant to be healed and didn't even require Jesus to go there (because he understood the Jewish culture) but more importantly he understood authority and humility. He said to Jesus that all he had to do was command the servant to be healed and it would be done. Jesus told the others that nowhere in Israel (who should know the power of God) had he seen such faith.
The next lesson is that we should be holding up our friends to healing because in several instances a person came on behalf of someone else so we have power to bring about the healing of others by going to Jesus for them. I am the recipient of this act by others. I was having shortness of breath, thinking it was asthma. I couldn't walk fifty yards at my normal pace without running out of air. I went to a pulmonary specialist (a Christian, I found out later). She said that to listen to me describe the symptoms it sounded like asthma but her tests did not completely confirm it. She insisted that I do heart testing. She even called my doctor and expedited the process. She saved my life. In the stress testing my cardiologist just happened (hoho) to be in his office across the hall and he came in and saw me run out of breath. He then recommended a cardiac catheterization test and in that test they found four 70-90% blockages. I never left the hospital. BUT - the overriding factor of the success of the operation (6 hours and five bypasses) was that I was on at least 4 Prayer Chains in at least 4 different churches and my recovery has been above average. I was sent home in four days. I cannot thank enough the hundreds of Christians who went to Jesus for me in prayer. It made my day and my life. I went from a walking time bomb to great hope for a full recovery and a better life than I was facing before. I personally had been praying for healing all along and my prayers have been answered, also. I take seriously the prayer requests from the prayer chains and I hope you do, too. Your prayers of faith carry a lot of weight.