DIG for Friday the 27th of February…..let the Word of God be your anchor……Acts 17 v 11

The Lord has put in place teachers and preachers that are there for us to listen to and learn from (Ephesians 4 v 11).

These people however should not be the final arbiter of truth.

That accolade should go to the Word of God.

In this verse we are told about people who were ready and willing to listen to teaching, but then went the extra mile in terms of learning (Acts 17 v 11).

They would study or search the Scriptures every day in order to know that what they were being told was the truth.

And this should be what we do today.

We have a proliferation of teachers with masses of material to listen to; we see many programs on Christian TV for example.

I hope that you know that not everything on Christian TV is truth!

Everything we see, read or hear should be checked against Scripture to ensure that it is true.

Everything you read in DIG should be checked against Scripture and everything you hear me speak about in a message should be checked against Scripture.

I would encourage you to be a “diligent” instead of “lazy” Christian in terns of how you deal with what you read, hear and see.

It is your responsibility to check what is and what is not truth, and using the Word of God as a yardstick can only do this.

Speak this out today….”Thank you Lord for your Word, and thank you that this is my anchor in my understanding of truth”.

Acts 17 v 11…..These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so

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DIG for Thursday the 26th of February……. There’s no such thing as spiritual healing…..Matthew 8 v 16 and 17

Thanks to Nunsy for writing the DIG today……

When Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and a multitude of other sick people the Word reveals that He was fulfilling the scripture spoken in Isaiah 53:4, that He Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

That is clearly talking about physical sickness and disease.

Some years ago I had a discussion with a Christian man who was sick. I told him that Jesus had provided healing for all our illnesses, including his, and I quoted Isaiah 53:4. His response was ‘I don’t believe that!’ His traditional teaching was that the healing that Isaiah was referring to was ‘spiritual healing’.

For a long time I have disliked that phrase – ‘spiritual healing’.

Don’t misunderstand me; I believe that all healing is spiritual, in that it comes from the spiritual realm.

But there is no such thing as having our ‘spirit healed’.

Our spirit is not ‘healed’. Paul says that when we are in Christ (born-again) old things are passed away, and all things are become new. He says that we have been re-created brand new (2 Corinthians 5:17). He says that he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). He also says that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13, 2 Corinthians 1:22).

Our old spirit has not been healed; it has been replaced with a born-again, re-created spirit that does not need spiritual healing!

I love how Paul expresses this in Romans 2:29;

‘But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.’

Our old spirit has not been healed; it has been cut out, circumcised off, and replaced with a brand new, perfect one!

Our spirit is one with Jesus…does Jesus’ spirit need to be healed? Absolutely not, and neither does ours.

The healing that Jesus performed on that day was the healing of physical bodies; the Word says so.

Speak this our today…..”Thank you, Lord, that because of Jesus’ finished work I have received a brand new, perfect spirit, and because of Jesus’ finished work I can see healing in my physical body”.

Matthew 8 v 16 and 17…..When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses