This is where the healing begins

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28

Hey guys,  It has been a while since my last discussion.  Things have really picked up and they haven't settled down for the last few months.  I am happy with the way God is working my life together.  I get to wake up everyday and do what God has put me on this Earth to do....Preach healing to those that are "sick".

I remember a passage from God's word where the Pharisee saw Jesus eating with Tax Collectors and sinners.  They said to Jesus and His disciples, "why does He eat with these tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus responded by saying, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.".  You know, the thing about that is that we are all "sick"...sick with the disease of sin.  The only ones that do not need healing from the Great Physician are those that refuse to believe they need to be healed. 

God has given me such a great task, but a task that I take with the most humility.  I have always been what some would call a little "full of myself".  I would tend to disagree.  If I am being completely honest (and as a preacher I try to be) then I would have to say that I pretend a lot and joke around a lot, but the truth is, I know that ANYTHING good from me, is of Jesus living within me.  I get to teach people with this mission from above that God is there to provide rest and healing for the broken and "sick". 

Life sure has a way of getting to people.  You see it all the time in the news.  People are "sick" these days.  We live in a society that is filled with degenerates and depraved individuals.  There are those who suffer because of another's sicknesses.  Maybe they have actual sicknesses, as in physical afflictions.  Maybe, like most, they have spiritual ailments.  Which ever it might be, and usually it is both that we suffer from, Jesus is our response to those issues. 

I mean think about it.  If we were a people who did what God teaches...even if we would just simply do our best to do what God teaches in His word we would be better off as a people and as a nation and as a race.  Jesus said, "COME TO ME".  That is more than simply saying, "walk up to me".  It is saying, "trust in me"....it is as if to say, "I will be your refuge, I am your place of hiding, I am here to give you rest." 

Once I was "sick".  Literally and spiritually and in every sense of the word.  I had many physical issues and I was lost and enslaved to sin.  I didnt' know how sick I really was, until the day Jesus healed me and I found rest in Him.

Not everyone's story is the same as mine...but I am convinced that God heals everyone that would ask.  The Bible says, "if you seek...you will find......if you knock then the door will be opened"  Jesus says that if you ask anything in His name, the Father will give it to you.  On October 31, 2004 I asked God to give me rest, I asked God to forgive me of my sins, I asked God to enter into my life and void my heart of filth and sin and the burdens that I carried and I asked it, in Jesus' name.  And you want to know something?  I found rest!!  I was forgiven, I was set free of my sickness.  I have come to Jesus and found rest in Him.  I make it a point to return to Jesus everyday so that I can find true rest in the arms of my Savior.  A day without the peace of God is a day that is not worth living.

Jesus has restored to me the things that He wanted me to have all along, but in my sin, I allowed Satan to steal my joy, my peace, my hope and my rest.

This very moment as you read this, you may be struggling with these same issues.  Maybe you lack peace in your life.  Maybe you find that you feel burdened all the time and have no idea where to turn.  The pressures of this life won't seem to ease up.  Here is what you do:  Turn to the cross of Jesus Christ, put your trust in Him and allow your thoughts, your desires, your worries to melt into His.  You see the mystery of the Bible is that in order to live.....we must die.  Die to ourselves, let our wants, our sins, our worries...let who we are simply die.  Stop feeding them with bitterness, envy, strife and the lusts of the flesh.  When you starve something it dies.  So die to self and live in Christ.  That is what must be done in order to truly live....you must take what you have and cast it at the feet of Jesus and live for Him.  There really is no better way to live. 

I think we all need to be reminded of that sometimes.  No matter the circumstance, no matter who has wronged you...come, all you who are heavy with burdens.....come to Jesus, and He will give you rest.

The Bible says so....and that is as Dold sees it.

Be blessed,
GJD