Diagnosis
Theme of the Week: Release from Resentment
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
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Key Bible Verse: "Leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come …" (Matthew 5:24). Bonus Reading:Psalm 103:1-12
God always deals with basic causes, not just symptoms. For instance, it's no good to pray for healing from that which is caused by sin if I'm unwilling to deal with the sin. An illustration:
David Seamands, a missionary in India, was suffering serious asthma attacks. He'd been prayed for in the past with no change. Then one day he read that resentment could cause things like asthma. That was interesting, but he was sure that he'd dealt with his sin long ago, and he was certain he wasn't holding on to any resentments.
As he tried to press on with his reading the Lord kept saying, "What about your mother?" In desperation he finally asked his wife if she'd noticed any strained relationship with his mother. She said she had, but it had been too delicate to talk about. So Seamands began working to resolve negative feelings about his mother. As he did, he became aware that he was no longer having asthma attacks.
Healing in this case wasn't a matter of a miracle in response to faith; it was an act of God in response to obedience. Without the obedience, in the form of forgiveness, God wouldn't have answered the prayer for healing.
—Timothy Warner in Spiritual Warfare
My Response: Could a grudge I'm nursing be blocking God's blessing?
Thought to Apply: If there is the tiniest grudge in your mind against anyone, your spiritual penetration into the knowledge of God stops.
—Oswald Chambers
Adapted from Spiritual Warfare (Crossway, 1991) by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
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I'm tired, Lord, of being governed by grievances. Please show me how to break loose from vindictiveness.
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