Mystery

John 4:23
But the hour (or time) IS coming, and now IS, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.....

Interesting statement made by Jesus to the Samaritan woman.
A time or hour is coming....
It isn't here yet...
It is on the way....
but then He turns around and says...."Yet the time or hour is here..is now.It is here. It is now. 
This little statement changed my view of God and how He moves in our time and space.
We live in a time between the times. On the chart above, we are living in the time of the "Mysteries of the kingdom". Between Jesus' first appearance here on earth when he came as man, and his return at some point in the future.
We live in this "present evil age".

Now more than just our existence between these two events is the idea of a time that is coming as opposed to that time being here...being now. Of course, Jesus is speaking of the Kingdom of God. Here now, but not complete. Not operating in the fullness that we read about in Revelation. 

We pray for people to be healed. Some are...some aren't.
I know some folks who, when confronted by this dilemma of some being healed and some not, fall back on the idea that those who aren't healed is because of their lack of faith. Really? I'm not saying that faith doesn't play a part...many times Jesus said, "Your faith has made you well." But what about the paralytic that his friends brought him to Jesus? It wasn't his faith, but evidently theirs. Does that mean we can have faith and see someone healed even when they don't. I think maybe that plays a part also. But to me the real heart of healing is found in this Kingdom dynamic of "here" but not "yet". We are privy to the fullness of God's rule and reign. If I read Revelation, I see where there is no more death...no sickness...no more crying, as God wipes away the tears. The place from which Revelation was written is the kingdom complete. The kingdom fulfilled. We're not there yet. We're headed that way, but we haven't arrived. So from where we are today...June 10th...we live in a time between the times. Also, we come to understand that God is sovereign and just because we don't understand the why and the wherefore of His actions, does not negate His ability. Does this mean that He doesn't answer prayer? Or that He doesn't heal when we ask? No! But what it does mean is that there is a reality to this Kingdom. We live in an imperfect, fallen world where God is moving and changing things, saving people, healing people....but not all receive. 

Some time back, I got the opportunity to pray for a man who was struggling with diabetes. There were several of us and he had come for prayer that he might be healed. We prayed....and God did heal him. It was a wonderful thing to watch as this man was extremely grateful. To this day, he has had no problem like he had experienced in the past. But I have diabetes. I have been prayed for hundreds of times, and I will continue to receive prayer for healing. But I haven't been healed. I still have to watch what I eat. I have to walk and exercise to keep my blood sugar under control. Why wasn't I healed? Was my faith so small that God could not heal me? I don't think so. It is a part of the "NOW" and "Not Yet" of the Kingdom of God that we read about.

I know that we all want neat answers to these complicated questions that we like to pose. Why do good people suffer and bad people prosper? In such times, I have to rely on the one thing I do know. God is in control and just because I don't understand the "Why" doesn't mean He is obligated to come and give me his "TOP 10" reasons for His actions. I do know this. He has called us to move and operate from certain behaviors. One is that we pray for people. We listen for God's voice and then breathe back to him what we have heard (this is real prayer). We cooperate with God in what He is doing at that moment in the life of the one we are praying for. Above it all, we love. We love Him...we love the one we are praying for...and we learn to love ourselves.

Everyone doesn't get healed when we pray.
But no one gets healed if we don't pray.
God on you.....
mb