05/06/2019
For most of us our belief in God is based primarily on faith. We have never seen God, but we have felt Him; not so much by His outward physical touch, but through an inward touching, and by a spiritual response to His actions and voice in our lives. For His physical touch we depend on the love we have for one another, and in the hands of man being borrowed to do the will of God. Does your faith bridge your body and spirit?
“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
1 John 4:12-15 ESV
Have you ever greeted a brother or sister in Christ and received a hug, a handshake, exchanged an expression such as “The peace of Christ be with you.”, or perhaps even a holy kiss?
“Greet one another with a holy kiss.”
2 Corinthians 13:12 ESV
Have you asked someone for prayer when you were sick and had them anoint you with oil?
“Is anyone 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.”
James 5:14 ESV
Or as they prayed had them place their hands upon you?
“And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.”
Mark 10:16 ESV
Have you prayed for God’s peace to enter someone and embraced them as you did so... becoming a vehicle of that peace?
“Faithful love and truth will join together; righteousness and peace will embrace.”
Psalms 85:10 HCSB
Most often, God becomes physical to us through His love which is exhibited when presented by another believer; our physical interaction with one another. My pastor once made this comment: “Sometimes we need God to have skin on Him.”, and He was right. God created us as both physical and spiritual creatures, and we need to feel His touch and presence in both of our God given forms.
Have you ever been praying, or worshipping, when suddenly you get goosebumps, and every hair on your body stands on end? This is a outward sign that the Holy Spirit is present and strong with you... it is a physical manifestation of a spiritual presence. When this happens it is almost always followed by an increase in the intensity of our spiritual outpouring, fervent and intense prayer, worship, and ushers us into the presence of God. It is our physical body’s embrace of our spirit’s outpouring of worship.
“And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Acts 2:2-4 ESV
How about those times when you have an issue, and someone provides a solution to that need for no apparent reason? I was in church one Sunday morning, and my Senior Pastor’s wife was siting near me in the pews. I was very young, and she was quite a bit older; her presence and position was thus intimidating to me. But all service long I couldn’t stop thinking that I needed to pray for her. I kept pushing back against the pull of the Spirit thinking why me Father, why not one of the older saints? Yet, the feeling was so intense that I scarcely heard a word of the sermon. Finally the service ended, and as if to remove any excuse I might have, everyone around us left the pews except us. So I walked over to her, and despite my nervousness I told her that I had been sent to pray for her about a physical issue that was bothering her. She held out her hands and with tears in her eyes told me that she had an infection in her fingernails that was painful and ongoing. So with a sudden peace coming over me, I took her hands in mine, and prayed for her healing. The next week she passed by me at church and taking my hand whispered... “my nails are healed.”
Sometimes God does want us to be His hands, His voice... the skin that becomes a glove for His spiritual hand. In this way He touches us, and sometimes by unexpected voices He speaks to us.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."”
John 13:34-35 ESV
So have faith, a deep and abiding faith, but also listen and watch for those moments when the things which are unseen to you, are suddenly revealed in a very real way. When the inward emotion of our faith suddenly transforms itself from the spiritual to the very real tears on your cheeks.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the faith I have in you. I thank you for my belief in those things unseen, but I also thank you for those times when my hair stands on end, and you become physically real to me. I thank you for your provision that feeds both my body and my spirit. Holy Father I praise you for the manna in my life that reaffirms your presence, the scent of incense that tells me you are near, and the touch of love that awakens me physically to the fact that you are not only the God of my spirit, but also the creator of my body, and He who walks with me in this world you have created. Help me Father in my unbelief, and help me also in traversing this physical existence as I travel towards you in heavenly glory. Thank you for those along the way who greet me with a holy kiss, hug me in your love to calm my spirit, lay hands on me in prayer, anoint me with oil to heal me, and touch my life in so many other ways. Thank you Merciful Father for taking your Spirit, and putting skin on it from time to time. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who tends to me both spiritually, and bodily. Great are you who can feed me body and soul. All glory is yours Father; both in heaven, and on earth. Raise my hair with your light touch, and pour your spirit into me forevermore.
“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”
1 Peter 3:8-9 ESV
Rich Forbes