Healing, Withheld

John Ritenbaugh emphasizes the necessity of work (dressing and keeping our life, our health, our possessions, our calling, etc.). God has called us to a lifetime of productive work. We cannot allow Satan to cause us to resent working or to feel victimized,. . .

Focusing upon the "causeless curse" principle in Proverbs 26:2, John Ritenbaugh suggests that both blessings (health) and curses (disease) are governed by law. The principles governing spiritual well-being are reflected in the physical creation. . . .

Christ expects us to ask for His help, and when He gives it, He does it to glorify His Father. When He thus responds, we should glorify God by praising Him.

A striking aspect of Jesus' ministry is the sheer number and extent of miraculous healings He performed. Though He did not heal all the sick in the land, He healed everyone who sincerely sought His aid. Martin Collins looks at our Savior's healing miracles. . .

Millions lack faith to receive answers to their prayers. To a large extent, this is due to a lack of understanding what faith is.

The Feast of Tabernacles is a wonderful gift God has given us to spend time with each other, really sharing of ourselves. Mark Schindler gives a few examples of how this can be done.

When it looks like things are out of control, God is busily at work behind the scenes. If we replace anxiety with faith, God will grant us divine peace.

Kim Myers, marveling at the abundant physical blessings received by Jacob's offspring, even though, for the most part, they have been spiritually bankrupt, recounts the glory days of David and Solomon. Today, Jacob's offspring still produce the bulk of the. . .

Prayer is not a dictating to a reluctant God, but a demonstration of our attitude of dependence and need. It is a means to get into harmony with God's will.

Nothing and no one can thwart God's purposes. We need to develop the faith to yield and conform to His will as clay in the potter's hands.

Sickness and hardship should not erode our faith in God's ultimately favorable purpose for us. A current trial may serve as a witness for the good of others.

That God is sovereign means that He IS God, the absolute governor of all things. This has profound implications for us: It means He chooses goodness or severity.

John Ritenbaugh distinguishes a temple from a synagogue, indicating that there was but one temple in Jerusalem, a monument to God, having very little preaching, but many synagogues in each town. Jesus taught in their synagogues in services which contained . . .

John Ritenbaugh emphasizes that both Jesus and Abraham rose above their emotional pulls by exercising living faith- a faith built on a foundation of incremental acts of obedience. Living faith can never be separated from works, nor can it ever stand indepe. . .

John Ritenbaugh asserts that when God created Adam, He prepared only a foundation for mankind's eventual spiritual creation undertaken by the Second Adam. Spiritual creation requires much intense pressure and continual testing to determine character. Jesus. . .

The purpose of prayer is not to overcome God's reluctance, but to help in yielding to His will. 'Prayer changes things' is only true if it conforms to God's will.

Martin Collins, reminding us that God's love does not shield the believer from sickness, pain, sorrow, or death, focuses on several scriptural contexts in which Jesus shed tears and expressed grief. Though no wimpy sentimentalist, Jesus chose to experience. . .