| Proverbs 15:13-14(Amp):
13 A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the
spirit is broken.
14 The mind of him who has understanding, seeks knowledge, inquires
after and craves it, but the mouths of (self-confident) fools feed on
folly.
In these verses
in Proverbs we find a comparison between a merry heart
and a sorrowful heart. Verse 13 tells us that you can
tell the condition of a man's heart by looking at his countenance (his
facial appearance). When people are happy, you can tell by the
sparkle in their eyes, their smile and their cheerful attitude. When
they are older, they will even have what we call "smile wrinkles"
instead of the wrinkles caused by frowning. Indeed, facial
looks reveal a lot about a person.
You can also
read on a person's face when they have sorrow in their heart, especially
when you know a person. We have all experienced someone saying to us,
when we were troubled about something, "What is wrong? Are you worried
about something?" We all have experiences in our lives that cause us to
be broken-hearted about an incident. The scripture tells us that if we
allow this sorrow of heart to continue, it can break our spirits.
How can we get
past heart break over the loss of someone or something? We must give
the person or situation to the Lord and ask Him to remove the sorrow and
grief from our hearts. We can keep the good memories of a lost loved
one, but we must not allow the enemy to torment us with the grief of our
loss. God will replace the emptiness we feel from the loss of a mate, a
child, a friend, or a home, if we ask Him to do this. Jesus died on the
cross, not only to give us eternal life, but He also died to take our
grief and sorrows. Jesus Christ, on the cross bore all of our
iniquities, pain, sickness and sorrow. Since He took them, we do not
have to take these things, but rather receive our salvation, healing,
deliverance and peace by faith.
Isaiah 53:4-6:
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his
own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Proverbs 15:14 tells
us that if we have God's understanding, we can ask Him for the knowledge
to overcome every trial and problem we face. God is bigger than our
grief, sorrow, pain and every problem that any of us could face. We must
never blame Him for our troubles, as the devil is the trouble maker, not
our Lord. God is there for us, to help us overcome anything the enemy
has done, or is trying to do. God is the one that will rescue us and
help us in our hour of need. However, we must not be like the fool who
feeds on his folly. This is a person who is continually mouthing his
troubles and blaming others, including God, for his circumstances. He
feeds on self-pity and rehearses his problems to all who will listen.
We must give our heartaches and troubles to God and keep a cheerful
attitude no matter what is going on in our lives. We need to remember,
"this too, shall pass" as God is eternal and has a good plan for our
future.
As Christians, death is the last enemy
we face, as we have the assurance that we shall see all of our loved
ones who have died in Christ once again. The devil may have snatched
them off this earth, but because they belong to God, He snatches them
from the devil and takes them home with him. We will be reunited with
them. That shall happen when we get to Heaven, or when Christ comes
again to this earth and brings them with Him at the resurrection. We are
not like those who have no hope. In Christ, our future is full of His
promises and we are promised victory over death and the grave!
I Thessalonians 5:23: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and
I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ."
Healed by the Word
God intends for His body to be made whole. His people, being those individual members
of His body, need His wholeness to be able to perform the tasks commissioned to them as
the church. One recent move of the Holy Spirit has been the restoration of the gifts of
the Spirit to the church bringing deliverance and healing. Since Jesus is coming back for
a church without spot or blemish, a glorious church, we can look for her to be cleansed
and healed before that moment. This healing involves the total man: spirit, soul and body.
"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:26-27).
The Hebrew word for heal is rapha, which means to make thoroughly whole. The
Greek word "sozo" has the same connotation. It is used interchangeably
throughout the Greek New Testament to mean to "save" and to "heal". We
need to be free of "...the sin which doth so easily beset us..."
(Hebrews 12:1), the sickness in our bodies, the fears of the soul, and all that
keeps us from being the overcoming sons of God. This is what the Bible calls
sanctification; the process of cleansing that needs to take place within our spirits, our
souls, and our bodies.
Trinity of God and Man
Man is a trichotomy made up of spirit, soul and body. God designed man as a functioning
unit with his reborn spirit to be in charge of the soul (mind, will, and emotions), and
with the body in subjection to the soul and spirit. Man was created in the image of God.
Until we understand this, we cannot begin to understand ourselves.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them" (Genesis 1:26-27).
First let us notice God said, " let us make man in our image".
God is also a triune being. The Godhead is made up of the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the
Holy Spirit. We must have some understanding of this mystery if we are to understand our
own makeup. Jesus spoke in Mark 12:29," ...The first of all the commandments
is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord." John records in I
John 5:7, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." From these Scriptures we can see
that God is not three Gods nor a three headed being, but rather one God with three
distinct and separate personalities. The Word in I John 5:7 is referring
to Jesus since John 1:14 states, "And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
the Father,) full of grace and truth."
Perhaps through an analogy we can understand better how He can be three in one. A
married man with a family is a father, a husband and a son. He is not three different men
but has three different roles. He relates to his children, wife, and parents in a
different way. It's similar with the Lord. He relates to us as the Father, as the Son, and
as the Holy Spirit. God does not change; He is holy, He is spirit, He is eternal. God is
one, but He has three forms even as water can manifest as a solid, liquid, or gas, yet is
still one compound. As ice it takes a definite form and shape; as a liquid it flows
freely, and as steam it becomes vaporous. Even so, the Godhead manifests Himself so He can
be seen as Jesus, felt like rivers of water as the Holy Spirit, and known as the invisible
power of the Father.
(http://www.bible.com/answers/ahealing.html)
|
Asian parents instill the notion of 'you must succeed' (by which
they mean academic success, not social success) so early that by
the time they reach high school, Asian kids are walking zombies
reciting scientific facts like gospel. This problem is only
exacerbated by the Asian trait (so common I swear it must be
genetic) to compare children. Inevitably in any Asian child's
life, they will hear a line similar to "Why aren't
you taking calculus yet? Jim Wong's son is a year younger than
you and he is!", or "You only got a 1550 on the SAT? Sally
Lee's daughter got a 1590!" or "What, you mean you're not
valedictorian!?" Though all Asian kids are driven by their parents
to be geniuses, of course, only a few of them are actually
capable of being geniuses. Those that aren't live constantly
under the vague impression that their parents wish their kids
were better, while those who ARE, of course, live constantly
under the vague impression that their parents believe they COULD
be doing better.