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NASB | Romans 8:28 ¶ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 8:28 ¶ And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. |
Subject: Is God's will prosperity/healing always? |
Bible Note: Greetings, Graceful; WRT to healing, it's also worthwhile to ask why Jesus healed the people he did. Was it to relieve their discomfort? Or was it to establish his identity and set an example of compassion and service? This is not the same as asking for "signs and wonders". In John 9, for example, when Jesus healed the man blind since birth. The man didn't even ask for healing; Jesus healed him anyway. Jesus' explanation - '"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."' - says very clearly that his being born blind was God's will. Subsequent events make it even clearer that the purpose of the healing was to teach, not to make the man feel better (though I'm sure he did). The end result was a teaching about spiritual blindness that got the man thrown out of the temple! And was God's "failure" to relieve Paul of his thorn a cold refusal to heal him? Or was it, as Paul said, the means to show that God's grace is sufficient - not necessarily to heal, but to overcome? And why are there no examples of people coming to Jesus and asking for worldly wealth? Surely there was no shortage of greedy people; surely somebody would have taken a chance. Instead, Jesus preached freedom from the bondage of desiring worldly things. The problem with "name it and claim it" is that it is we who do the naming. It is we who decide what we want and what's best for us. This is not submitting our will to God's, it is turning God into a cosmic vending machine - one that doesn't even require a coin! It's not sufficient to claim that our will aligns with God's. To do so is to assert a perfection that humans cannot attain in this life. God's thoughts are not our thoughts; how shall we claim to think his thoughts after him? Job is great example. He was "blameless" in God's eyes, yet he suffered terribly. Yes, he was restored to health and wealth, but his first ten children remained dead. In fact, one of the clear messages of Job is that prosperity theology is wrong. Job's friends preached it to him and God was angry with them for doing so. We live in fallen bodies in a fallen world. Christians should understand that better than anybody. Acquiring health and wealth are cheap victories. Overcoming sickness and poverty and living a life pleasing to God in spite of them - this is the victory for which Jesus equips us. Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |