Has God gone crazy or have I?

Hello Gang, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. There certainly is a lot to be Thankful for. I myself could go on about all God has done for me this year. Set me free from a career that was holding me back from experiencing him in so many ways. Has continued to provide financially from that time (Mid April) till now. Has given me the road trip of a life time, helped me to grow in understanding and faith by leaps and bounds, Still have more about him to learn than I’ve learned (Life would be boring otherwise right.), Incredible friends, and much much more. Ahh but that is a side point to what I have to chat about today. Today I want to talk about my absolute favorite topic in the whole wide world “ME!” ;-). Ok, I hope that’s not true. But I am going to talk about myself for a moment anyway and hopefully that will lead to what I really hope to say.

As I’ve grown up over the years I have had many different viewpoints of God and the type of relationship one should have with him. I remember as a little kid I was very open to God and what others had to say about him. I would go to church listen to my teacher and go home talking about what I had learned that day. I would have a question about God and I would ask my parents or a teacher at church. They would answer and I would trust that answer. As I grew older I probably like most teenagers began to question. My teachers would say something and if it didn’t make sense to me I would challenge them. They would explain what they were saying and I would continue the challenge. I’m not sure I remember my teachers ever really winning a debate with me. Class would let out and the discussion would end never to be brought up again or one of us would see the other wasn’t going to change and would just end the discussion (Usually it would be me) In college even though my teachers in High school had never convinced me I decided that they were correct and it just took a step of faith to believe them and live that way. God would bless it even if I didn’t understand. I remember watching someone in church one day raise their hands as they were worshiping. Rather than asking her why she did that I looked at my experience and belief in God and decided that the only logical reason she was doing this was to draw attention to herself. I think I was in high school at the time. I never mentioned this thought to anyone. Didn’t even take much time to think about it. I just looked at her and came to an instant judgment. A few years later I go to a church that’s a completely different denomination and I see most everyone lifting their hands not only that but I think I remember seeing people dancing in worship. The church also has a full band leading worship. Suddenly I realize maybe there is more to this God thing than I realized. For the first time since High school I begin to ask questions. I spoke with people about why they worshiped that way and instead of judging I tried it out I found I was able to connect with God easier If I hadn’t judged that person years earlier maybe I would have experienced God in worship sooner. But no I had my God in a box and I was keeping him there. Fast forward a little bit about 5 - 10 years. My view on God has changed a lot. I now believe that my mind has opened to who God is. I still have a bit to learn but have now let my God out of his box. I step into a church for the first time and someone comes up to me and asks “Are ya ready?” That should have been a cue. Worship begins people begin running up and down the aisles, falling on the floor in convulsions, I hear these voices beside me that are not speaking in any form of intelligible language. It is CRAZY! As soon as that service was over I was out of there never to go back. I didn’t give it a chance. I didn’t ask any questions. I was just gone. Since then I have heard the reasons behind quite a bit of what I experienced that day. Some I agree with some I’m not so sure. But I can’t tell you if this was a good church or not because I ran. You see I had given God a bigger box but he was still in a box. In my mind that church was all about emotionalism and not God. Maybe I was right maybe I was wrong but that is between them and God. Many other things have happened over the years some I have embraced others I haven’t. I’ve experienced others praying for healing and dismissed it with a God doesn’t work that way anymore. I’ve heard people say “God told me” and dismissed it with “That’s an easy excuse” or “God doesn’t talk to us like that he uses the bible” box, Box, BOX, Guess what… God talks to me. Ya know what else. I think it was 3 years ago I sat in a church as this young healthy woman STOOD in front of the church and talked about how she was in a wheel chair the day before. In the past week I have sat in a church service and the watched a woman sitting beside me get healed of a Degenerative jaw disorder. How do I know? Simple, she had pain before the prayer and no pain after. I watched as a woman’s leg grew two inches (Really her hips went back into alignment) and I’ve heard numerous testimonies of healings. But Larry these could just be emotional healings are they still healed a week later? I haven’t seen them so I don’t know but my money is on YES! Let me tell you of something else. I was sitting in a prayer room last Saturday someone stood and said “There is someone here that has problems with your left ankle.” As some of you know 10 years ago I fell 17 or 18 feet off of a latter. I shattered the left heel of my foot. Praise God my Ankle bone after it broke was long enough to still use and I didn’t have to have it fused together. But, I have only had about half the normal range of motion and the pad of my foot just under my toes has remained numb. I am not going to complain and have always been thankful that this is all. I can still do everything I could before. My ankle is just very sore after and I limp until the muscles can stretch out. Someone prayed for me two and a half days ago. She prayed and after I moved my Ankle back and forth. As I said before it was only about 50% range of motion. As I move it to point I can’t say it’s 100% but it is at least 90% I can barely tell a difference between the two. She prays again and I can feel a flushing coming through my foot I have feeling on the pad of my foot that I haven’t felt in 10 years. GOD DOES HEAL TODAY!!! (No pun intended) I wish I could say it was 100% but I can say I have continued to have feeling in my foot that I haven’t had before. I believe it is still healing. On Saturday November 28^th God restarted the heeling process that had previously stopped. I believe at some point I will suddenly realize it’s 100% But even if it isn’t. I am happy. I’m better than I was and I didn’t even ask for it. Now you may have a whole bunch of why’s coming to mind. Stop right there! I don’t have the answers and I don’t think we will until the day we are face to face with him (Then we wont care) Rather than asking why not? Lets just praise him for the current miracles. But that’s not my point. Here is my point (If ya haven’t already figured it out). We all have God in a box it’s just a matter of human nature. Granted some boxes are larger than others. Remember my very first experience as a little kid? I asked and I accepted the answer. Remember my next stage (The High school kid) I challenged my teachers. I want to challenge you to take the two stages and combine them. If you see or hear something of God that is just too crazy for you to accept be open to it as a child. But don’t forget that we are warned to “Test the spirits” 1 Thessalonians 5: 19-22 Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast to what is good, abstain from every form of evil. But how do we test the spirit? 1 John 4: 1 – 3 Beloved do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God… So are we supposed to ask every leader their belief and where in scripture they support what they are doing? Why not? Also look at the atmosphere around you. Is God being glorified in what’s happening? Are there examples of this in scripture? If it is in scripture and you are questioning it perhaps your God is in a box. I’ve seen people stumbling as if they were drunk claiming they were drunk in the spirit. Acts 2:13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine” combine that with Ephesians 5:18 and do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the holy spirit. And you have a pretty good argument for it. Just because I haven’t experienced it doesn’t make it wrong. But it sure looks like they are putting on a show plying for attn. Maybe but that is between them and God. Scripture supports it even if it’s not what I picture when I read it. In these cases it’s time to pray. “God I don’t understand this and I don’t know what I think about it but I don’t want to miss out on any aspect of you because of my ignorance. If this is something that will draw me closer to you then BRING IT ON!” God meets you where you are, where you are willing to be, and where you need to be. Lets break those boxes open and see “Who” God really is.

Thanks Gang, Hope you are having a great week and once again “Lets live it upside down.”

Oh yeah, The God I knew a year or two ago would have kept me working my job and not trusting him to provide. He never would have given me this trip as a gift, and since it wasn’t life or death wouldn’t have done a thing with my ankle and foot. Is your God holding you back? Then either he’s too small of a God or your not setting him free to work.