Apostle Paul

Guillain Barre Syndrome was the thorn that brought me to Jesus

Every person who came in contact with Jesus Christ has a story to tell. The apostle Paul had his experience (then Saul) while on his way to Damascus to persecute the Church. I had mine in the St. Francis Hospital, in Hartford, Connecticut.”And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus; and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul why persecutes thou me? And he said, “who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, “I am Jesus, who thou persecutes; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” And Paul trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou has me to do? And the Lord said unto him, “Arise! Go into the city, and someone will thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:3-6).

Many of us grew up in Christian homes, where the gospel was taught very early in our lives. Still, some of us grew up in homes where the gospel was never mentioned at all.

I grew up in what I would call; a semi-Christian home. My mom was a praying woman, and Dad was a dreamer. I never saw my dad in church, but that did not stop Mom from indoctrinating me and my brother with the gospel of Jesus Christ. She made sure we knew all the popular church songs and Bible stories. Each week she would drill the Sunday School Golden Text into our heads, and when called upon, the Golden text was to be recited without error.

Mom was truly fired up for Jesus, but she never allowed her children to know Jesus Christ for themselves. She completely ignored the simple fact about Christianity: To be a follower of Christ, everyone has to have an awakening and a personal contact with Christ. Each of us must have our own Damascus road experience. Without that experience, you are doomed to fail because the moment you decided to follow Christ your enemies increased a 100 fold.

I never had a personal contact with Jesus as a young child. I was merely following Mom’s orders. It was not until I was stricken with a very dangerous autoimmune disease called Guillain Barre Syndrome. (That’s what the doctors told me, but years later I discovered that I was poisoned). I thought I was going to die. The enemy had me cornered, and the doctors who were attending to me had never treated anyone for this disease before. I had no place to turn to, so I called upon the Church and Jesus Christ–Jehovah Rapha.

The church came and prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and prayed for my deliverance. Today I am rejoicing in the Lord, completely healed and delivered from Guillain Barre Syndrome:

I can truthfully confess that prayer works. My God is ever faithful. Whatever he says, he will do.”Oh Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me” (“Psalms 30:2). I am now a new person and a true follower of Jesus Christ.

What do you struggle with most in your Christian life?

Let’s be realistic, everybody struggles with something. Heavenly religious or earthly secular, personal weaknesses are real. Furthermore, you cannot be a follower of Jesus Christ and not struggle with demons. The Apostle Paul calls his, a “thorn in the flesh.” And while Simon Peter never admits this publicly, he hated the Gentile.

Here is how Paul describes his personal weakness: “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. . .”  (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).

Jesus knew that personal weaknesses or borne out of self-indulgence and there are no shortcuts around them. Perhaps that’s the reason He declared: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).

God does not want you to carry anything that He has not asked you to carry. Everything that He has asked you to carry, He will give you the grace to carry.

If you try to carry something that God wants someone else to carry, they will be given the grace to carry it, but you will not. If God has not asked you to carry something, do not pick it up.

Although taking up your cross involves denying yourself, the main focus is about following Christ. The cross you carry has to do with the choices you make with your will, the responses you have in your actions, and the attitude you have in your heart.

God has called you to carry your own cross. His cross for you is something that you can take up daily, because grace will be in your hands to lift the cross, grace will be on your shoulders to carry the cross, and grace will be in your heart to live out the cross in your daily life. It is grace that makes bearing your cross possible.

Your cross means that you are putting to death every decision, every response, and every attitude in your life that is not consistent with the love of Jesus Christ.

Does Jesus’ Death Set Us free from the bondage of Sin?

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman” (Galatians 4:28).

In his letter to the Church in Galatia, the Apostle Paul compared the old Jewish customs and tradition (Moses law) to a yoke of bondage. He contended that the law was so rigid and burdensome, no man could keep it. According to Paul’s reasoning, (and he would know because he was an enforcer of the law) it was useless to even attempt to keep the law.

“Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.  And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.  You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.  For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:2-6)

What is a Yoke?

A Yoke is a bar of wood, so constructed as to unite two animals (usually oxen), enabling them to work in the fields, drawing loads, pulling instruments used for farming. The purpose of the yoke is primarily to control the animals. No wonder the Apostle Paul compared the law to a yoke of bondage.

But God is a bondage breaker. He does not want you to be under any law that is outside the law of love. Christ came to set you free from anything that is not in His will or plan for you.

Bondage is any weight that tries to slow you down, pull you down, or keep you down as you seek to walk upon God’s pathway for your life. In Christ, you are no longer a slave to any sin, and fear, or any lie of the enemy. You are a

Oxen Team: getting yoked and prepped for work.

Oxen Team: getting yoked and prepped for work. (Photo credit: Laskaris)

free citizen of God’s Kingdom and you have a rightful claim to all its blessings, freedoms, and privileges. As someone who is free in Christ, there is nothing to prevent you from fully processing and enjoying the life He has given you.

What’s the benefit for enduring hardship for Christ?

Holy Spirit Stained Glass

“If we endure hardship in His name, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us” (2 Timothy 2:12)

There are many blessings that belong to those who endure hardship while carrying out the work of Jesus Christ. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:11). Some of those blessings are for now and others are for later. The grace and joy that are yours in the Holy Spirit are an important part of your present blessings. As wonderful and precious as these blessings are, the future blessings are quite astonishing.

So, as you press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, brace yourself to suffer affliction from those who oppose Christ. Affliction is a very real part of every believer’s journey here on earth. Affliction includes anything that brings difficulty, tribulation, persecution, or trouble because of your love for Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that the early believers celebrated when they were persecuted for their faith. That response is possible because there is an amazing grace that God gives you when you walk through affliction of any kind.

It is a grace that provides you with an inner joy even during the hardest of times. This joy is produced by the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who puts within you everything you need to endure. The apostle Paul say best in 1 Thessalonians 1:6: “And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit:

Beloved, as you continue to faithfully serve, irrespective of your circumstance, the One who reigns over all, you will one day join Him and reign with Him when He returns to establish His kingdom here on earth. Think of it, you will actually reign with the One who now reigns over you.

What a glorious future is ahead of you. No wonder the Bible declares, “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later” (Romans 8:18).

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Doing good — regardless of your situation

English: Saint paul arrested

Image via Wikipedia

“For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:17).

Doing the will of God is not always the easiest thing to do, but it is always the right thing to do–the highest thing to do, and the best thing to do. Doing God’s will may bring discomfort, difficulty, persecution, rejection, suffering, or hardship. But God doesn’t want us to stop doing His will. He expects us to hold on to His unchanging hand, even in great sorrow, rejection and persecution. He wants us to forge ahead and do good –regardless of our situation.

Jesus told us that we would suffer because of Him, but be of good courage,  He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Even though there were those who despised and rejected Him, He never stopped doing the will of His father. He never stopped helping the helpless, loving the unlovely, and doing good to all. He wants us to follow in His footsteps and Love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which spitefully use us, and persecute us;

The apostle Paul is a perfect example of one who has suffered severely for Christ. Yet, he never wavered–he held on to God’s unchanging hand right to the end. In 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 he testifies about his many sufferings: “. . . I have been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

Believers let us keep our eyes on the prize, like the apostle,  and do good regardless of our circumstances. God bless you.

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