Christian Family Services Ministry

09-30-2013 – Jezebel, hearing of the death of her prophets swears that by the next day Elijah will be dead. Fear overtakes Elijah and he runs for his life some 270 miles to Mount Horeb to escape Jezebel. Hopeless, and helpless he hides in a cave. Other verses in the passage reveals that Elijah is depressed which the Lord deals with by giving Elijah food, water and sleep.

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09-26-2013 – The Lord in a mighty show proves to the people that Elijah is his prophet. Whereupon Elijah has the 850 false prophets slain. Then Elijah calls on the Lord to bring much needed rain. In the midst of the rain storm Elijah races king Ahab who is in a chariot while he is on foot some 18 miles to Jezreel and beats him there!

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09-24-2013 – Elijah’s flight from Jezebel I Kings 19. Despair because of the wicked. Sometimes scripture surprises us with the emotional despair of the most unlikely person. So is the case of Elijah. In the strength of the Lord Elijah has faced Ahab along with 850 of Ahab’s false prophets. 

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09-20-2013 –  But if the Lord is calling us home, and He will not change His mind then we can either accept the decree, get angry at Him and rebel,  sink into helplessness,  or simply submit to the Lords will.

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09-19-2013 – “Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray….Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven. Therefore confess you sins to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.”

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09-17-2013 – The Bible gives us an answer to coping with these situations. The first is crying out to the Lord as indicated by Hezekiah. The second is spelled out in James 5:13ff. Here James reveals one of the tasks of the local church elders.

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09-16-2013 – I am not addressing here what I call illness that is caused genetically. Example ADD, and it is true of manic/depressive illness as well. 2 types of ADD. That which is caused by damage to the brain either by disease or birth defect. This is primary ADD not caused by sin. Secondary ADD is caused by disobedience not brain damage.
When a person is born with either of these two problems (and several others) it is different than when one develops them because of sin.

Jesus speaking to the disciples in John 9 of the man born blind says that his disease was not due to sin rather that the glory of the Lord might be brought about in his life. The blind man suffered the spiteful remarks of those around him for 40 years. However he knew that neither he nor his parents were to blame and therefore did not listen to the remarks of others. 
In sharp contrast we seen in John 5 a man who for 38 years suffered from a disease. His was caused by sin and Jesus warns the man not to return to his sinful ways. 

I am not the first to recognize that sine is behind much mental illness of today. In 1973 Karl Menninger in his book Whatever Became of Sin said over 90% of mental illness can be traced to sin.

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09-14-2013 – We, like Hezekiah, have some options. First we can fall on our face before the Lord and ask if sin has been the occasion of health problem. It is important to understand that most illnesses mental, emotional, and physical can be traced back to sin or irresponsibility.  Sin lowers the bodies immune system allowing disease to creep in. Most of the autoimmune diseases fall into this category. 

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09-12-2013 – Here again we find a situation is scripture which leads us to important information. When a person is ill they best inquire of the Lord the reason why. Usually the reason can be summarized into one of three reasons. The first is that it is a sickness unto death. We are going to die. We need to accept it and put our houses in order. Hezekiah’s illness was of this type until the Lord granted him fifteen extra years. The illness may be caused by sin in the persons life. The other possibility is that the illness is an occasion for the Lord to be glorified in our life.

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09-07-2013 – I thought if this worked for Hezekiah why could it not work in these circumstances? So I prayed and ask the Lord to add 15 years to her life. He said He would. I immediately thought why not ask for more? The answer came quite quickly, no. I never told anyone, not even mother but just kept it in my heart. Seventeen years later she died. Graciously, the Lord allowed her to see me graduate with the doctorate. The Lord was faithful and more.

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