"Why are you banging your mule on the head with that 2 X 4?"

Remember how the farmer replied to the man ASKING THAT QUESTION?

"I was explaining to my mule all the work we have to do today, but I had to get his attention first."

God does something like that. The 2 X 4 He uses to get people's attention is not made of wood, but of such things as marital distress, financial woes and rebellious children. However, His most powerful attention getter is SICKNESS.

    Let pain and crippling strike a man's body and you get his attention right now. Why would God use such an overpowering 2 X 4 as sickness? Because men tend to shrug off His gentler methods and seek to work around them. When they do that, He is forced to use the harsher method. That's when He allows sickness to strike.

IS ALL SICKNESS GOD'S TWO BY FOUR?

No.

 When a Christian gets really sick (not just the flu or the frailties of old age) he should ask God for the wisdom to see what's wrong. Very often it turns out he's been neglecting the WORD—and that's bad. The Word is the only direct way God has of speaking to His children. The only means of communication believers have with God in this world is the Word on the OUTSIDE and the Spirit of God on the INSIDE. Unless that communication is maintained, a Christian can easily drift into the ways of the world.

When that happens, much of what the Christian SAYS and DOES and THINKS is not pleasing to God. Of course the Spirit tries to convict the casual Christian of this neglect, but that "still small voice" of the Spirit is faint. Unless believers are listening for it, they won't hear it. Then, with Satan helping, they easily go their own way with little thought for God's claim on their lives.

That's when God allows things to come into their lives that shake them up; things such as auto accidents, job loss, marital discord, financial pressure and so on. If those things don't get their attention, He'll use His sickness 2 X 4.

Normally the anguished Christian returns to the Word, looking for answers. When he is finally ready to obey and says, "OK Lord, make Your will clear to me and I'll try to do it," God will allow healing to take place. How will it come? There is more than enough power in the human body to heal almost any disease, but it has to be triggered by faith. When a Christian truly commits himself to try to please God in what he DOES and SAYS and THINKS, the Lord will help him rise in faith to the place where the healing power of his body is triggered.

THE BODY'S AWESOME
HEALING POWER

The body's control center is the brain. Certain instructions are already a part of our mental inventory the moment we're born. God sees to that, even as He programs birds to fly, fish to swim and spiders to spin webs. The human brain with its 10 billion cells is a living computer. It never sleeps, but is always on the job with 'round the clock healing power.

The brain presides over a vast healing network of more than 100,000 miles of arteries, veins and capillaries. Via the blood stream and nervous system, it is able to rush red cells and white cells throughout the tissues and organs in fantastic numbers. More than TEN MILLION red cells are produced every second. If there were some way for us to see the trillions of cells constantly being created and passing away, we'd   behold our bodies as DYNAMOS OF CREATION.

If you had DIRECT ACCESS to your subconscious mind, you could command ANY DISEASE to be healed in a flash. That's how much power is at hand for healing. The Lord Jesus had access to this power, as He performed COMMAND healings. That is, He spoke and bodies were instantly healed. But God has purposely put this power beyond our reach. We cannot use it BY COMMAND. Imagine what some TV personalities would do with it if they could produce COMMAND HEALINGS. However, there is a way to reach the command center, but it is an indirect way— it's BY FAITH!

MODERN MEDICINE CONFIRMS WE HAVE THIS POWER

The

Placebo

Effect

Are you familiar with "placebos?" Doctors use them. A placebo is a sugar pill or saline injection that has absolutely no medical value. Its value is fully psychological. Doctors sometimes give these to patients, while at the same time telling them they will make them feel better. And what do you know? The patient takes the pill and the pain leaves. But see this. The relief had nothing to do with the pill. The result is accomplished solely by what the patient believes.

Thus we have discovered a HEALING LAW—

FAITH CAN TRIGGER THE HEALING PROCESS IN THE BODY

The Lord Jesus confirmed this again and again. "Be it unto thee according to thy faith," He would say. Or again, "Go thy way, thy faith has made thee whole" (Mk.10:52; Luke 8:48). Take the case of the woman with the hemorrhage (Mk. 5:25-34). She believed that touching the hem of His garment would make her whole. Touching Jesus' robe was the placebo. Can we be sure? Yes. Jesus made it clear that it was her FAITH that produced the healing. Many others were healed because they believed the same thing.

Research completed at the University of San Francisco under the direction of Dr. Howard Field, has proven the power of the placebo. For example, a person is given a sugar pill and led to believe it is a pain killing drug, consequently the sufferer EXPECTS RELIEF. Dr. Field demonstrated that such expectation unconsciously orders the brain to signal the production of ENDORPHIN, a chemical similar to morphine

AH, BUT EXPECTATION IS FAITH

Let a person have a migraine headache. If that person has faith in God's healing power in our bodies, that faith can trigger the endorphin producing mechanism. Dr. Field experimented with patients suffering not only from severe pain, but from numerous diseases as well. He found that giving placebos and telling his patients they could expect relief and healing, caused many to get well. See—the MIND really packs powerful medicine which can be triggered by faith.

BUT CHRISTIANS FEAR WHAT THEY DONT UNDERSTAND

Does the average Christian have any idea how his mind affects his body? Very few do. And do you know what people do when they don't understand something? They fear it and brand it as evil. Ignorance always breeds fear and superstition, even in staunch Christians. You know how some great scientists of the past have suffered. Men like Pasteur were accused of being in league with the devil.

If you were to open a copy of Dr. S. I. McMillen's book, None of these Diseases, you'd learn that 80% (perhaps more) of all illness is caused by our own minds. You should see the list of disorders this dear brother says issue from emotional stress. Here are some of them:

High blood pressure
Arteriosclerosis
Coronary thrombosis
Hay fever
Eye and skin diseases
Headaches
Epilepsy
Diabetes
All kinds of infections
Backaches and muscle pain
     ...others add cancer to the list

THE POWER WORKS ACCORDING TO FIXED LAWS

If our minds can make us sick, they can also make us well. If emotions such as anger, jealousy, resentment and bitterness can damage us physically, because we violate God s healing laws, then cooperating with those same laws can make us well. Is it so hard to believe that God has healing laws that operate by faith?

I'm sure you know that everything in the universe is governed by laws; whether laws of gravity, electricity or physics. Ships locate their position at sea because the stars are bound to be in a certain place at a certain time. There are mental laws, psychological laws, laws of all kinds for the regulation of mankind and animals. Since everything God does is BY LAW, what kind of thinking suggests that God doesn't have laws for the healing of our bodies? Well, the truth is—He does have such laws.

THE MIND A SUBSTATION FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT

If your mind is open to the Holy Spirit, you'll find this approach to healing quite exciting. Surely you wouldn't allow superstition to keep you from something God has provided. Therefore don't be alarmed when I tell you your mind is actually a substation for the power of the Holy Spirit. And that God's healing power is available to you via your mind.

HEY! THAT SOUNDS LIKE MIND SCIENCE

It's true the cults have discovered certain of God s healing laws and use them to lure people into their webs. They KNOW the laws are valid. When unsuspecting victims are healed through the use of the laws, they are then deceived into joining the cult. Once they are healed, they figure the cult must have the truth. With the victim unable to explain his healing, he is forced to conclude the false teachers are correct and he joins their movement.

Should born-again believers forego healing simply because certain cults have discovered these laws and use them for their own evil purposes? That's like throwing out the baby with the bath water. It s ridiculous to say...I can t use these laws, because the Science of the Mind people use them!  What Christian ever says... I won't use electricity, because the Jehovah's Witnesses use it? One notion makes no more sense than the other.

What we're discussing is wholly by faith and has
nothing to do with the cults.

THE HEALING LAWS ARE AVAILABLE

The Holy Spirit has allowed me to uncover 10 of Gods healing laws and make them available to His people. Undoubtedly there are more, but these are now at hand. In my book, JESUS WANTS YOU WELL. I set forth these 10 healing laws and explain how to use them. They are quite adequate for healing the ailments brought on by our emotions. Be reminded—that is most of them. This book is for believers, showing them how to use the laws—with the Lord.

May I ask: Do you have an illness that is not yielding to medication? Do you have friends or relatives that are sick and the sickness is laying waste to their lives? Do you know afflicted ones that just can't get relief?

Then God is using His 2 X 4. If the Spirit is bearing witness to my words, He is now pressing you to consider how urgent it is to get into His Word and SUBMIT to it, otherwise He has no choice but to continue using...   — SICKNESS as HIS 2 X 4!

GO TO MONTHLY ARTICLES MENU

This article is Copyright 2001 by Dr. C. S. Lovett and is found on www.cslovettbooks.com