Spiritual healing is always
needed because spiritual health is not being experienced. Although
that seems obvious, there is hidden within this simple truth a powerful
principle of life.
In other words, like the darkness of the night that has its existence only
because light has been removed, spiritual illness runs rampant upon the
face of the earth reaping havoc needlessly. As darkness has no power
within itself, spiritual illness also is powerless. What seems to be the
obvious destructive power of spiritual illness is in reality the
manifestation of the removal of spiritual health. It is the absence of
spiritual health, as with light, that is destructive.
For example, Jesus emphasized this truth, when He said, "Are there
not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not,
because he seeth the light of this world. But, if a man walk in the night,
he stumbleth, because there is no light in him" (John 11:9,10). The
power of the night is not the darkness nor the thing that caused the
stumbling.
The problem is the absence of light. Although an object in the night can
cause a man to fall, it does so only if the man does not see it. The
essence of all stumbling is the absence of light. The essence of all
spiritual illnesses is not the illness itself but the absence of spiritual
health.
Likewise, when the glory of the face of God is
removed from man, he will always become beastly (Dan. 5:20,21),
animalistic urges dominate his existence. Once the controlling influences
of the life of God is absent, the beast that lurks in the shadows of every
man comes forth in ever increasing increments of passion and destruction.
As the glory of God fades, the beast become more prominent. The need
for spiritual healing becomes more evident.
As with the darkness of the night, the beast
has no power within itself. What seems to be the destructive power of
fleshly, animalistic desires within man is in reality only the
manifestation of the removal of the face of God from man. It is the
absence of the glory of God that is destructive for man.
Although animalistic desires may cause a man to stumble, they are not the
reason for the fall. The problem is the absence of the glory of God,
dimming the light of Life in which man walks. Stumbling in the night not
only reveals the need for spiritual healing, it also reveals, more
importantly, the absence of spiritual health.
This simple mystery of life can be illustrated
in another way. When man was created by God, he was formed out of the dust
of the earth (Gen. 2:7). Then, into this lifeless body the breath of life
was given. Consequently, man became a living soul, a breathing creature
(literal meaning of the word translated "living soul").
Thus, it can be said that man, when he was
created, consisted of body, soul, and the breath of life. With the breath
of life being the Spirit of God (Isa. 42:5; John 1:4,9; Acts 17:25,28;
Dan. 5:23; and John 5:26,27), man was body, soul, and Spirit.
In other words, when Adam was created, there was not a spirit of man as an
entity unto itself. He was a body of flesh experiencing the Spirit of God
which produced the living soul. Although he processed a body, and a soul,
he had no spirit. He simply experienced the Spirit of God.
However, when man consumed the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:1-7), his eyes were open to
a "separate" identity from God. Consequently, a spirit of man
was born. Again, like darkness and spiritual illness, it is not an entity
in and of itself. It is a way of thinking or perception of the fallen mind
of man "removed" from experiencing the Spirit of God.
Subsequently, when the spirit of man is
awakened, within man, he will begin to perceive that the experiencing of
life is actually the experiences of his mind. He will now attempt to live
by the thrill of his senses (tasting, touching, seeing, hearing, and
smelling).
Although God is still the life-source of his existence for there is no
life but God (John 5:26,27), man, in his mind, will now perceive himself
as the essence of his life. He now thinks that he makes life happen by the
activities of his mind.
The simple fact that man now perceives that he
can control life by the activities of his mind demonstrates the reality of
the free will of man. In other words, if man did not have a free will,
there never would have been a fall. If man did not have a free will, sin
would or could not ever enter into the life of Adam or the regenerated
believer in Christ. The evil that is in the world amply demonstrates the
free will of man.
However, man’s freedom never supplants the
sovereignty of God. His freedom, as most of modern Christianity believes,
is not the freedom of choice. The perceived freedom of choice that man
thinks he possesses is actually the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil (Gen. 2:17; 3:5-7).
After the fall, man will make choices, his eyes were opened, but his
choices can never produce the real essence of life. Although he now thinks
he can and will attempt to make life happen, all he makes is a world of
dreams. He has created a vast matrix of activities and schemes in which he
attempts to experience life that is nothing more than the illusions of his
mind. Although they seems so real, they are the fantasy of his mind.
Moreover, this freshly awakened spirit of man
will always create a belief system that allows him to perceive he can
control the destiny of his life. This perception of control by the mind of
man runs the gamut from pure humanism to pure religion. While humanism
boldly states that there is no God and man is the measure of all things,
religion is much more deceptive.
Religion will declare that there is a God and
that He is the Creator of all things. However, by proclaiming that life,
the life of man, itself is a created entity bestowed upon man, it makes
life, then, an experience which must always be controlled by someone or
something.
When religious man perceives that life is a created entity bestowed upon
him rather than the actual experiencing of God Himself through the Spirit
of God, he will attempt to control his life just as the humanist. He
becomes a prime candidate for the eruption of spiritual illnesses.
Moreover, being religious as opposed to being
what he perceives to be worldly, all of his choices now center upon what
he thinks God wants him to be or to do. Although his intentions seem
noble, the sad reality of his life is he, too, has created a faulty belief
system. For his belief system, also, allows him to perceive that he is in
control of his destiny, the basis for all spiritual illnesses.
In other words, the driving force of the
religious man is not God. It is his service to God. The now active spirit
of man has created a religious zealot. Although dedicated and committed in
his service, it is, nevertheless, his service. He has joined hands with
the humanist, thinking he controls the direction of his life.
Consequently, the spirit of man will become as
a god (Gen. 3:22). It now believes it not only has creative power but it
also has sustaining power as well. It believes it is
self-sufficient. Again, this belief is the basis for all spiritual
illnesses.
Its perceived self-sufficiency begins with the
creation of a belief system. In creating a belief system, a way of life,
it has actually created a life. It has created life in the sense that,
when all life is reduced to its fundamental essence, its existence is
simply the way it exists. The way of one’s life is his life. The
idolatrous spirit of man believes he has created his own existence with
the creation of his own way of life.
When man partook of the fruit of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, his eyes were opened. This new found
perception not only created a new way of life, it also convinces man that
this new way can be trusted. The now awakened mind of man sets about to
produce its own faith. For it is with the mind that man attempts to
believe in his new found way of life.
The awakened beast has completed the full
cycle of its existence. It has not only created its own existence, it now
sustains itself as well by its own believing. It has become as God,
creating and sustaining life.
With the fading of the influence of the glory of God, the beast is given
the privilege, by the mind itself, to exert power over its captive,
although it has no power within itself. Spiritual illness has no power
within itself yet it now dominates the soul of man.
Moreover, the influence of the beast (the
manifestation of spiritual illness) continually changes its appearance as
the glory of God fades away. Like the night that becomes darker and darker
as the light is removed, the beast becomes stronger and stronger as the
Life of God is rejected as the essence of existence. The beast changes
drastically as the degradation of man sinks lower and lower. Spiritual
illness becomes more and more destructive.
No man would ever experience this tale of
sorrow, where he to experience the end of the road at the beginning. The
beast that lurks in the shadow of man’s existence never reveals its
destruction until it is too late (Prov. 7). It spins a tale of temptation
that begins for the flesh of man with such promised hope and glory only to
end in despair and shame.
Although Jesus emphasized that man should soar
through life as the wings of an eagle ride the currents of the wind (Luke
17:33,37), man seems to find his eagle feathers are constantly being
plucked. Consequently, when an individual loses the source of his flight,
the grace of God, he will stand upright within himself to find a new
essence of his existence. The beast has raised his head to begin its
mastery (Dan. 7:4).
As destructive as the manifestation of this
beast is, it is unfortunately only the beginning. Although it is the same
beast, it will now alter its image as it becomes a slave to its own
passions. Its entire existence will now center upon feeding its belly. It
is now primarily concerned with only one thing, its survival. It
constantly hunts that it may devour more and more flesh, now the means of
its existence (Dan. 7:5).
However, the beast will be forced to alter its
image again. The very things to which it turned to find life now take
dominion over it. As if the beast has four different heads, it feeds upon
fleshly intellectualism, the pure excitement of emotional pleasure, the
devotion to strenuous acts of the will, or the commitment to a self life
that continually feeds itself with its intellect, its emotions, and its
will.
Whichever of the four raises its head, it now has dominion over its
captive. It controls the life of the person by consuming his time and
energy in attempting to fulfill the tasks of the particular head that now
rules it (Dan. 7:6). Spiritual illness now dominates.
In the end, however, the creature cannot
produce life no matter the effort. What began with such excitement of
anticipated glory now ends in the shame of total degradation. The beast
has finally reached the end to which it can only come. Mental stress,
emotional burnout, physical weakness, or hopeless rituals of the self life
will eventually overwhelm the captive of the beast. His soul is sick.
The beast has once again changed his image. He
now becomes the monster chewing up the person, spitting him out of his
mouth, and stomping the remnant into the ground. Tragically, in the end,
every person will be chewed up, spat out, and stomped on by the beast
within when the glory of God is removed from man (Dan. 7:7). The
spiritual sickness is bringing the throes of death.
The only cure for man from this hell of his
life is the coming of the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13) . The consuming fire of
the Holy Spirit must overwhelm the beast. God Himself must restore His
glory in man. God must bring spiritual healing
This restoration of man is always mysterious.
It is mystery, especially in the light of the thought processes of the
Western world, because man’s deliverance is less a decision he makes
than it is God actually dragging man back to His Creator.
Since the beast, the spirit of man, lives only in the perception of the
mind of man, the fallen mind is not going to make a decision to end its
existence. It will gladly give up anything and everything except its
control.
In other words, with the fallen mind being the problem, the solution then
is not going to come by a decision of the mind. God will literally save
man in spite of man. Man will have to be conquered by Jesus to experience
his salvation.
God will use the circumstances of life to bring the emphasis of
life back to
Him. When trouble comes, it forces man to come to the end of himself. It
is only in man's complete helplessness that spiritual healing can occur.
There are no 12 steps to spiritual healing, although God may heal in spite
of any attempt by man to save himself. The answer is not found in
man. Man's attempts to produce spiritual healing actually place more
obstacles in his path to spiritual healing.
The good news is God will heal man in spite of himself. A simple
cry of "Jesus, save me," coming out of the desperation and
failure to produce his own life, will enable man to experience the
beginning of his spiritual healing.
The Spirit of God that
dwells within man will once again become the essence of life, bringing the
healing power of the life of God. Jesus, save me! |
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