Jesus Deserves Your Life

I was recently at Casa da Paz again, the Christian substance abuse recovery house that I’ve become involved in. Sometimes I come back and just cry because of God’s love for the guys there. That night, a friend of mine had a battle going on in his mind and ended up taking a bunch of pills that he found. Then he felt sick and told us what was going on.

We prayed and the dizziness left, but he was crying and repeating all the lies that had been tormenting him. He talked about all he had lost, his family that finally left, and all his failures. Many of the guys at the recovery house have lost their families and struggle so much with regret, guilt, and feelings of hopelessness. They need encouragement. They need to hear and see testimonies of other people who have come out of addiction. They need people who will get around them and aggressively speak God’s word and God’s promises into them.

As I was listening to him say “I always fail. I don’t deserve for God to do anything in my life, ” a thought came to me right from heaven and I felt God’s glory on it. I said, “But Jesus paid the highest price for your life, and he deserves what he paid for. It’s not about what you deserve. It’s about what Jesus deserves, and the Holy Spirit isn’t about to give up on bringing to Jesus what he paid for!”

As I spoke, I realized that God’s word like a sword was going right to the heart issue that needed to be dealt with. It was a specific call to repentance for my friend. I realized that the heart issue behind both “I deserve for God to do something in my life” and “I don’t deserve for God to do anything for me” is pride. Both sayings are opposite sides of the same coin, coming from a self-centered perspective. And God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6) It’s not about what you deserve or don’t deserve. It’s not about your merits or your repeated failures. It’s about what Jesus deserves. Isn’t God’s correction wonderful? If we receive his word it comes with the grace to change our lives. God’s correction for my friend gave him the opportunity to humble himself and receive God’s grace by turning from the self-centered perspective and understanding that “No matter how many times I have failed, Jesus still paid the price for my life and he deserves what he paid for.”

Jesus Deserves Your Healing

I was really thinking about this for some time, and I felt like the Holy Spirit was teaching me. I thought of how my perspective and motivation have changed over time as I pray. I have sometimes offered to minister healing to Christian people and they say something like “Oh, I’m all right.” It’s sad how much unbelief compromised, powerless religion breeds. But in that situation, I think “You don’t get it! It’s not all about you! It’s about Jesus being glorified.” Jesus healed the sick because he was moved with compassion. I feel compassion for people too. But there is something bigger than even that which burns in my heart now. I say “Sickness and pain leave this body now so that Jesus is glorified.” Testimonies bring glory to God, and people need to see who he is! We see God’s nature, love, and goodness (glory) manifest through his mighty works!

Isaiah 53:4-5 (Young’s Literal) Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains — he hath carried them, And we — we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted. And he is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace [is] on him, And by his bruise, there is healing to us.

Jesus deserves what He paid for!

“That the Name of Jesus Be Glorified!”

When I join my will to God’s will to see heaven’s intervention in the nations, I pray, “Thank you God for this happening in such a way that your name is glorified.” God has always intervened in spectacular ways in history, and my expectation is that again, we will see such a move of the Holy Spirit in the affairs of men that people will be in awe and say “That could only be God!” In World War Two the world saw such miraculous interventions in response to the prayer of faith in the Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, North Africa, and Salerno, Italy. Right when they were at the point of victory, Nazi forces unexplainably withdrew.

When I thank God for provision, the first thing in my mind isn’t “…because we have a need.” The first thing “Thank you God for your wonderful works in our life that will glorify the name of Jesus and leave people in awe of your goodness!

Hosea 3:5 (NIV) Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.

Jesus deserves the honor, the glory, and the praise!

Why is This a Key to the Miraculous?

The nature of God’s invisible Spirit is never self-centered. His nature is love. To connect in communion with the Holy Spirit, to connect with heaven, we leave behind a self-centered perspective. Self-centeredness is a form of pride, but God gives grace to the humble.

It’s not that you don’t want to see financial miracles, to be healed, or experience God’s move in your life for yourself. But that’s no longer the number one motivation. The first motivation is “Jesus deserves what he paid for.” The first motivation is “May Jesus be glorified! May His name be honored! May people see God’s goodness and stand in awe of the Lord!”

When you have this attitude, it gets your eyes off of yourself so you can look to Jesus! This produces incredible joy and perseverance and leaves no room for self-pity. That is what faith looks like. Faith will continue ministering to others even if you yourself are dealing with a health issue. Faith isn’t disappointed and doesn’t back down. It perseveres.

When I lay hands on a person who needs to be healed, it’s about so much more than just them. They could be unbelievers. They could have done nasty things to other people. There could be a thousand reasons why other people might say that they don’t deserve to receive from God. But it’s about Jesus being glorified. It’s about who Jesus is and his love for people. That is the basis for my faith! And this is one of the attitudes that I’ve seen, again and again, bring the manifestation of God’s invisible nature in our earthly realm in miracles and answered prayer.

I saw several miracles last night, but the one that touched my heart the most was a guy on the street who had pain in one whole side of his body due to a car accident. Most of the pain left quickly, but there was some lingering in his shoulder. We prayed for his shoulder a few more times until the pain was completely gone. He began raising his arm, sitting down and getting up to demonstrate how he could move pain-free now. After a few minutes, he became overwhelmed and began weeping.

Yes, I cared about the man. I wanted him to be healed. But so much more important than just my natural care for the guy was Jesus’ love for him. And he saw Jesus. We saw Jesus when he was healed. The people around us saw Jesus. And Jesus was glorified. He is real. He is the image of the invisible God. He is with us. And He is love.