You must settle it that God is good.
There is a liar out there that says otherwise. Rarely does he show up in a red suit with a pitchfork. Normally he likes to masquerade as an angel of light, purveying good doctrine or reasonableness.
God wants everyone well. I John 3 says, “Beloved, I would above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” This verse is often quoted about prosperity. Clearly health is part of that prosperity. The Apostle John wished that the church should be well and prosperous because God the Fathers wishes that for His children.
God would like to heal everyone Many places in the Gospels, it says that Jesus healed them all. One time, however, it does say that Jesus could not do many miracles in Nazareth because people didn’t believe. I don’t think Jesus’ power was reduced; I think that people just didn’t receive the gift offered to them.
Well, yes, it is factual that we do not see everyone healed instantaneously. Is that God’s fault? Let’s use salvation (initial justification by faith that most people are familiar with) as an analogy to being healed. We do not see everyone saved, but God is not willing that any should perish. God is good. God wants to save everyone, but he doesn’t push it on them. God would like to see everyone well, but he has set up a system of choice.
This is not a message of condemnation, this is a message of encouragement. Beloved, believe that God wants you well. Trust in God’s healing power. Ask for wisdom in your health practices. Do not listen to lies that tell you otherwise.
There is no situation where this is more true than in the area of “learning disabilities” and “developmental disorders.” There is no situation where this message is more needed than in the areas of “learning disabilities” and “developmental disorders.” God would never choose a child to be tormented! No mother would simply consign her child to the trashbin! How much more God, the perfect parent?! Yet, why does our society do so? Why have you never heard a sermon that mentioned healing for such problems? Besides the fact that few children has such problems before, it is simply the lies of that old liar. God has not changed! God wishes us to prosper and be in health! Suggesting God put such an affliction on a child is not consistent with what we know about God.
Look to God. Look intently to God. Meditate on God’s goodness. Ask for a revelation. Thank God. Thank God for all the goodness you see. Receive the goodness you see in the Word. Thank and praise God for all the goodness you cannot yet conceive. But receive it by faith anyway. -SS
Monday, June 25, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Great Promise of Great Wellbeing
Isa 54
Please let me proclaim to you what I have found in Isaiah Chapter 54. (Isaiah is a book in the Hebrew Scriptures, that Christians call “The Old Testament.” It is a big book about in the middle of the Bible.)
Verse 1
Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child
Break forth in joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed:
For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,” Says the Lord.
God is telling Israel that although they feel like a woman who has had no baby, that instead they would delight in a large family – the highest aim and blessing.. In that day a woman who could not have a child was looked down upon and was sad. Children were the ultimate blessing of the Lord. Posterity was the aim of the people Obviously, a woman with no man around will not have a lot of children. Here is a promise that Israel will find a time of blessing, productivity, fruitfulness, because of the supernatural blessing of God.
Christians, grafted into the olive tree of God’s people, hear in this God’s promise to them individually. Even though they have had dry times, times with lack, times with disappointment, nevertheless, God is saying here he will be their husband. They have know what it is to be without, to be away from God’s path and God’s blessing. Nevertheless, there is blessing close to the Lord. The productivity, the fruitfulness, the blessing will be from him. It will be beyond what is normally expected. It is supernatural.
Through the chapter, the Lord speaks tenderly to his people as he brings them back. He says He is the Maker and the Husband. Then like a husband comforting a tormented wife, he offers gifts -- only this is not just jewelry to make a woman happy. These are jewels that encrust a city. This means that God will make his people a a better, different peole, higher order of being, jewels of character, glorious in the nature of God, like Jesus was.
Slipped in, among the promises about what the people of God will be like, is a precious verse:
Verse 13
And all your sons will be taught of the Lord
And the well-being of your sons will be great.
And on…
14
In righteousness you will be established
You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear;
And from terror, for it will not come near you.
And the chapter goes on about the supernatural strength and protection of the people.
All of your offspring, meaning children and grandchildren, will be taught of God. It could read learned of the Lord. Jesus quotes this verse in John 6 and reads it t
“taught of God.’’ God will Godself teach our children. What a great promise!
And then get a load of this next one: GREAT shall be the Shalom of our offspring.
Shalom is peace, prosperity, and well-being. The well-being, the total wellness, the prosperity, the health and wealth, and the peace on all levels. What does that not include? We want the best for our children What is the best? Is it not SHALOM?
Yes! Some of us hope for careers. Some of us hope for health. Some of us hope for intelligence. Some of us hope for a modicum of peace. Some of hope for missing jail. Some of us hope for high school graduation. Some of us hope for mere survival. NO! God’s promise is more than basic health, more than basic peace of mind, more than just getting by. The promise of God is SHALOM. Well being.
Peace of mind and peace of territory.
Prosperity of heart and prosperity in the pocketbook.
Health in the body and health in the soul and health in the family.
And how much?
Don’t ask for …. But just for
NO!
Oh, just whatever…
NO!
GREAT SHALOM!
RAV Shalom great shalom
You would think that shalom would be enough,. No, God says GREAT shalom.
Praise the Lord.
(If you are not already a Christian, you may be thinking, “Wow, this is too good to be true.” Yeah, it is amazing, isn’t it. But it is true. This is the deal. You repent, stop doing things your way and believe in Jesus, accept him and his way of doing things and you do get all these great promises – great SHALOM. If you are ready for this deal, just tell God by praying: Lord, I accept your deal. I repent from my ways, I accept your ways. I will exchange my life and your life. I receive Jesus as the path to you. I receive your love and your gifts. I will be your child and will let you be that ideal Father I have never yet know. Show me know how to live as your child. AMEN.
This is probably the only invitation you will ever get to join a royal family. Do let me know, so you can get what help you need as a newly born babe in God’s family.)
Concluding prayer for most readers
Father, Papi,
We do believe you. Help our unbelief. Help us hear your word./ Help us to receive your word. Help us to take hold of, claim, and make use of your promises.
We do want the best for our children. W know that you love us more than we love them. We know that you know better than we know. We know that you can envision good way beyond what we can envision. Therefore, we accept your vision.
We accept Shalom for us, for our family, for our children and grandchildren. We receive GREAT Shalom.
Give us a revelation of this promise, that you desire great Shalom. Help us facilitate your teaching our children. We commit to keeping this word before our eyes, in our mouths, and in our hearts.
Thank you for shalom Thank you for Great Shalom. Thank you for your great promise. Thank you for loving us. Thanks for your gifts. Thanks for great Shalom. Thank you very much.
We love you too. Amen.
Monday, June 11, 2007
SETHSA convention report
SETHSA was great fun.
I discovered some innovative pedagogy. Talked with someone with a PhD in Education who agreed with me that the faculty of education was not the place to look for cutting edge thought. He has spent a great deal of time taking physiology courses, learning how the brain worked, but his committee told him to stop. He advised me not to bother seeking a doctorate in Education.
I greatly enjoyed Mrs. Woodard's presentation. She has 18 children, most adopted with multiple disabilities. She shared encouragement and practical tips.
I met an educator affilitated with a group that offers classes to families and a couple of congregations invested in home education. Are there any of those in Austin?
There were all kinds of people, learned and not, moms and dads, vendors bright and not. It was very stimulating. Thanks to the SETHSA.
I discovered some innovative pedagogy. Talked with someone with a PhD in Education who agreed with me that the faculty of education was not the place to look for cutting edge thought. He has spent a great deal of time taking physiology courses, learning how the brain worked, but his committee told him to stop. He advised me not to bother seeking a doctorate in Education.
I greatly enjoyed Mrs. Woodard's presentation. She has 18 children, most adopted with multiple disabilities. She shared encouragement and practical tips.
I met an educator affilitated with a group that offers classes to families and a couple of congregations invested in home education. Are there any of those in Austin?
There were all kinds of people, learned and not, moms and dads, vendors bright and not. It was very stimulating. Thanks to the SETHSA.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Sethsa Today
The South East Texas Homeschoolers Association Convention is today in Houston at the Reliant Center. See you there. SS
Message and mission
I have a message that there is healing and hope for all our children. Jesus went about healing and preaching. There is still healing and truth to be found there, in Him, and in his Word and by The Spirit.
Specifically, I am interested in the flood of learning problems that we are seeing, increasing through the generations. This is reversable and often preventable. "When the enemy comes in like a flood, then the LORD raises a standard." I hope to serve at this point and in this way.
I have a testimony in my own family. My family of origin were interested in education, by the definintions of the 50s and 60s. My sister and I excelled in school. My daughter had problems that we struggled with. I received no real help from any source, although I sought it all her life. Her diagnoses would have been dyslexia and ADD. I was told she would never read - alhtough she was reading at the time. I was told she would never graduate from high school. She was valedictorian. She was discouraged from taking the SAT by here public high school which at that time was a DEA blue ribbon award winner. She now has a degree, with more planned.
Autistic, vegetable and retarded, huh? (Well, as the my daughter's generation used to say :) "NOT!"
Last year I left work and moved to the city to be close to them and home school them. My family questioned me. Why wasn't I at home making money? Look, I told them, I could never earn enough money in a whole lifetime to pay for the therapy they need, but I can give it to them. My pastor asked, "Can you really do this?" "Yes." "Then write a book." Later there were other directives.
The book is written and has been waiting at a publisher for a year. The website it up. A radio show is planned. In the meantime, I see that other much more famous people than I am have "entered the lists." Jordan Rubin is making a name for himself saying with more education and power exactly what I have said all my life. Benny Hinn now has on his site articles on wellness. Many others, both doctors and ministers, have recognized the need to begin to talk about healthy lifestyle. Great!
It is so very important. For decades now families have each thought that they were alone, with just a isolated tragic instance of a problem in a child to two, but actually we have a widespread problem. Twenty-five years ago when my daughter was in elementary school conservative estimattes were than 30 percent of the child had some sort of learning disability. When you consider that the definition was a statistically significant discrepancy between IQ and measured acheivement, then you realize that learning problems in general were widespread. Just think that only children who were brighter than average could get the label "LD." Didn't children who had average of less than average IQ also have the same sort of learning problems? The prevalence of ADD/ADHD and auditory processing problems has certainly increased. Now consider the prevalence of autism. In the 1950's 2 or 3 children of 10,000 were autistic, and now 1 in every 166. Even considering the change in diagnosis, admittedly we have seen a rapid and marked increase.
The problem is severe and sticking our heads in the sands does not help. Professionals coming up with reasons they don't have to address the situation does not help. Parents giving up and spending their thought process on spending on themselves does not help. It is grim pciture of the future of America.
The good news is that there is hope! There is healing ! There is wellness! Indeed, there is a promise of great Shalom. I've taken hold of this in my own family. I wish to share it with yours -- or with you in your educational practise -- or with your school.
I am an educator. I have done (social) scientific research. I am called as a minister of the gospel. In my own life, I've discovered that the rooting in the Gospel, my own spiritual development and lifestyle deduced from that, presupposed what science is only now discovering and which capitalism and scientism often opposes. Please let me share with you, from my heart, and not without some intellectual training, that I know and have found worked for my offspring.
SS
Specifically, I am interested in the flood of learning problems that we are seeing, increasing through the generations. This is reversable and often preventable. "When the enemy comes in like a flood, then the LORD raises a standard." I hope to serve at this point and in this way.
I have a testimony in my own family. My family of origin were interested in education, by the definintions of the 50s and 60s. My sister and I excelled in school. My daughter had problems that we struggled with. I received no real help from any source, although I sought it all her life. Her diagnoses would have been dyslexia and ADD. I was told she would never read - alhtough she was reading at the time. I was told she would never graduate from high school. She was valedictorian. She was discouraged from taking the SAT by here public high school which at that time was a DEA blue ribbon award winner. She now has a degree, with more planned.
Autistic, vegetable and retarded, huh? (Well, as the my daughter's generation used to say :) "NOT!"
Last year I left work and moved to the city to be close to them and home school them. My family questioned me. Why wasn't I at home making money? Look, I told them, I could never earn enough money in a whole lifetime to pay for the therapy they need, but I can give it to them. My pastor asked, "Can you really do this?" "Yes." "Then write a book." Later there were other directives.
The book is written and has been waiting at a publisher for a year. The website it up. A radio show is planned. In the meantime, I see that other much more famous people than I am have "entered the lists." Jordan Rubin is making a name for himself saying with more education and power exactly what I have said all my life. Benny Hinn now has on his site articles on wellness. Many others, both doctors and ministers, have recognized the need to begin to talk about healthy lifestyle. Great!
It is so very important. For decades now families have each thought that they were alone, with just a isolated tragic instance of a problem in a child to two, but actually we have a widespread problem. Twenty-five years ago when my daughter was in elementary school conservative estimattes were than 30 percent of the child had some sort of learning disability. When you consider that the definition was a statistically significant discrepancy between IQ and measured acheivement, then you realize that learning problems in general were widespread. Just think that only children who were brighter than average could get the label "LD." Didn't children who had average of less than average IQ also have the same sort of learning problems? The prevalence of ADD/ADHD and auditory processing problems has certainly increased. Now consider the prevalence of autism. In the 1950's 2 or 3 children of 10,000 were autistic, and now 1 in every 166. Even considering the change in diagnosis, admittedly we have seen a rapid and marked increase.
The problem is severe and sticking our heads in the sands does not help. Professionals coming up with reasons they don't have to address the situation does not help. Parents giving up and spending their thought process on spending on themselves does not help. It is grim pciture of the future of America.
The good news is that there is hope! There is healing ! There is wellness! Indeed, there is a promise of great Shalom. I've taken hold of this in my own family. I wish to share it with yours -- or with you in your educational practise -- or with your school.
I am an educator. I have done (social) scientific research. I am called as a minister of the gospel. In my own life, I've discovered that the rooting in the Gospel, my own spiritual development and lifestyle deduced from that, presupposed what science is only now discovering and which capitalism and scientism often opposes. Please let me share with you, from my heart, and not without some intellectual training, that I know and have found worked for my offspring.
SS
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