Prayer & fasting
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FOOD FASTING
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The brain is not only an
information storer (knowledge and
belief).
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The brain is also an
information processor (thinking).
Knowledge =
a structure.
Belief =
a structure.
Thinking =
a process, a change of structure.
Hence, as:
all carbohydrates are slowly
converted
to become sugar in the blood
and as:
that sugar is what the body
uses for fuel
, , Though it’s kept
at a low, but cleverly constant, level.
therefore:
food-fasting
does not stop you knowing or believing,
but food-fasting does stop
you thinking.
Hence, when you need a miracle:
If you’ve renewed only parts of your mind:
So that some of
your knowledge:
is
still unbelief,
is
still miracle-stopping medical facts,
then food-fasting stops you
thinking, processing,
stops your mind using any of those
miracle-stopping medical
facts.
, , Perhaps see earlier section: UNBELIEF
, and its subsections.
If you’ve not renewed any of your mind
so it’s got loads of
miracle-stopping medical facts,
then you may not even believe the Gospel
(though you may think you
do):
In which case
food-fasting won’t help.
It would just be
an empty, ‘religious’, exercise.
, , ,, , Perhaps see second cell (starting
Andrew has read)
, , , , of earlier section: ABOUT ANDREW WOMMACK.
If you’ve renewed all of your
mind:
such that none of your knowledge
is
miracle-stopping facts,
then you:
won’t need to food-fast to do miracles.
,, ,, ,, ,, ‘Do’ is the verb used in the KJV. (Though see Acts c3 v12 & v16.) ,,
, Perhaps see
earlier section: WHAT
IS A RENEWED MIND? , , , ,
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The heart/spirit, on the other hand, does not
process.
Hence the heart/spirit is not affected
by sugar deprivation, i.e. by fasting.
The
mind:
is both static and dynamic,
both knows and thinks.
But
the heart/spirit is only static,
contains no processes:
It: ‘knows’ what it
‘knows’
& that’s the
end of it.
Or rather:
believes what it believes
& that’s the
end of it.
So, relative to the mind,
the heart/spirit gets a boost
when you’re fasting.
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As a fuel supply – the body oxidizes (low-temperature burning)
a low, and even, supply of sugar.
The sugar is delivered, in the blood,
at a constant level of concentration.
Normally the digestive system slowly converts
all the carbohydrates, in each meal, into sugar.
But, when food-fasting, the body, even
more slowly,
converts body fat into sugar
and uses that instead.
On about the third day of fasting
the digestive system shuts down completely.
Hence the hunger pains stop.
If you body is telling you that it needs salt
then salt is not a nutrient.
Thinking about it, best check with your doctor
if you intend to fast for more than a few days.
,, ,, Notice that
fat-to-sugar conversion
,, ,, provides a much
lower flow of sugar than normal.
,, ,, So, depending on
your age, fat reserves, build, metabolic rate, fitness, etc,
,, ,, avoid work, just
do sufficient exercise.
,, ,, Thinking may not
work well either.
,, ,, Instead, just
believe, and express yourself,
,, ,, i.e. let your
heart/spirit express itself
(e.g. in tongues).
,, ,, Earthly focus
won’t work well.
,, ,, So, go easy on
driving. Perhaps no driving at all.
,, ,, Drink only
water. Other drinks, indeed any
nutrients, however small,
will keep activating your
digestive system and so cause hunger pains.
When
you’ve finished praying & fasting:
spend the same number of days coming
off fasting
as the number of days you spent
fasting.
I.E. Build up your food intake gradually:
,, ,, If you’ve
fasted for a week, – start breaking the fast
,, ,, with a little
juice the first day,
,, ,, tiny amounts
of easily digested foods the next day,
,, ,, & so on,
,, ,, building up
gradually.
This is so you slowly increase the
load on your digestive system.
Eating normally, immediately after weeks of praying & fasting,
can, and has, killed.
,, ,, Even before
the end of a 40 day fast, even without moving about much,
,, ,, fat reserves will
have gone so that muscles will be being consumed.
,, ,, And that’s for
fit adults.
,, ,, Some people have
died of fasting long before 40 days.
,, ,, Don’t fast at
all if you’re a child or pregnant or diabetic or weak in any way.
,, ,, It’s prayer and fasting.
,, ,, God’s self-sacrifice is what you should be
focussing on while you’re fasting.
,, ,, Not the fact
that you are fasting.
,, ,, The longest I’ve
fasted for is only three days (my job is very active).
,, ,, Hence some of
this cell is in brown text
,, ,, (i.e. gleaned
from Andrew Wommack’s teachings)
,, ,, and the rest is
not from personal experience.
,, ,, So, take note.
,, ,, Having said
that, I personally reckon that renewing your mind
,, ,, is better than
fasting (see rest of this webpage).
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Whether it’s fasting, or some other kind of
effort:
Your fasting does not cause the miracle.
Your fasting only holds you back:
Stops you
stopping the miracle.
Stops hindrances within
you (i.e. unbelief)
stopping the
miracle.
Only your belief in the
self-sacrifice of:
the loving Son
(loving – at that time*) of a
woman & God,
to:
his just Father (just – at that
time*),
causes the miracle.
, , *See earlier
section:
, , IT’S BECAUSE OF US
THAT GOD IS THREE PERSONS
, , and its subsection.
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Your effort is – you doing something.
The cross is – God having done something:
something safely locked in
the past,
something you merely have to
believe,
indeed believe in, want.
, Perhaps see earlier section:
, WHAT IS A BELIEVER? WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? , , , ,
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FASTING GENERALLY
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To cause a miracle:
o We don’t
need our power.
o We need only God’s power.
However, we Christians
already have God’s power
inasmuch as we have God’s
Spirit.
Hence prayer & fasting are not about power.
They are about authority.
See earlier section: GOD THE SPIRIT, , , ,
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We can fast, not only in food, but also in sex:
1 Cor c7 v2-6:
There’s much sexual immorality around.
So you believers should be
married,
and refrain from sex only so
as to pray
and only for a short while
so that you won’t stray. my abbreviation
If a married couple fast from sex
then it should be:
Not because married sex
is not holy. It is holy.
But because it makes
you feel content, like eating, etc,
ready to rest,
which is not the right
feeling to go with praying.
Also because it focuses
on the earthly.
Indeed, because it
focuses on yourself,
or rather your material
self, your material needs & wants.
Whereas you need to be
ready to
spiritually stand up
& act.
Get stuck into others’
needs & wants
as well as your own.
Focus on people who
perhaps you’d
never otherwise focus
on.
Envision the
supernatural, the miraculous,
instead of earthly
activities.
For the above reasons
you might want to avoid food, and sex,
and other, distracting,
earthly, activities
for a short while, in order
to pray.
The above also applies to
masturbation.
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Fasting from married
sex
and other, distracting,
earthly, activities
does not have the biological
mechanism
of food fasting. See previous section.
Instead it’s the real you,
your heart/spirit,
exercising authority over
all else,
i.e. over your soul &
body.
(soul =
mind + emotions + cultures).
, , Perhaps see the earlier webpage:
, , The spirit & the soul.,,,,,
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THE NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXT
OF FASTING
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God’s Spirit went into Jesus
then immediately led him into the wilderness
where he stayed for forty days:
Matt c3 v13 – c4 v11 Mark c1 v9-13 Luke c3 v21-23 & c4 v1-13
While there, God’s Spirit prompted him to:
o Fast (eat no food, drink only water).
, Jesus was fully God, but also fully
human.
, That’s why he needed to fast for so long.
o Be tempted by Satan
so that he could say
“No” to Satan.
o And, I reckon, pray to God his Father,
both talking and
hearing.
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Or, to put it another way:
I reckon Jesus prayed & fasted for forty days
to finish
off renewing his mind:
o End the
earthliness of his life
with
its earthly priorities:
His
beliefs:
ever
copied, by his heart/spirit,
from
his heart/spirit,
to his mind,
now
overriding earthly expectations.
o Be alone, away from the world:
So that he
could hear, clearly,
not only
Satan, but also his Father.
o Be alone,
away from the world:
So that Satan could not speak to him
through family & friends.
, Like Satan later spoke to him
, through Peter. Matt c16 v16-23 Mark c8 v33 .
o Etc.
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Jesus is one with, and is the image of,
his Father. John c10 v30 Heb c1 v3
So Jesus had always had:
a telepathic connection with his
Father,
and a nearly renewed mind. Luke c2 v39-52
Hence, any Old Testament scripture
Jesus hadn’t read,
the Father, via the Spirit,
would’ve told him about.
And, any OT scripture the Father
thought needed perfecting,
the Father, via the Spirit,
would’ve also told him about:
, E.G. Old Testament, , , , New Testament
, Deut c24 v1-4 Gen c2 v19-25, , Matt c19 v3-12 Mark c10 v2-12
So, unlike our minds, Jesus’ mind was nearly renewed
even before he had the Spirit.
In this, Jesus had a head start over us.
Perhaps
follow RENEW MIND links
in first cell of later section:
CHANGES
A BELIEVER MAKES IN THEMSELVES
(this link does not open a new tab).
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Satan tempted Jesus for the whole forty days Luke c4 v2a,,,,,
(though, presumably, in an intermittent way).
Near the end of fasting
& praying,
when Jesus was starving,
Satan tempted him with:
Matt c4 v1-11 Luke c4 v1-13:
“Create some food. Do good to yourself.
You don’t need the Father
(decrease your relationship with him).
Act from only the flesh,
not from the heart/spirit.” my
abbreviation
Implying that the Father is mean spirited, not
loving.
(when
in fact, afterwards,
the Father sent angels, with
food, to Jesus).
Other than this fast, Jesus practiced the opposite of fasting.
E.G. He ate just before his trials in the garden of Gethsemane.
Matt c26 Mark c14,,,,,
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Once our minds are renewed
they no longer need to be stilled
by fasting:
When all of your mind
is as Jesus’ mind:
o Full
of belief.
o Containing
no unbelief (doubts) about:
God’s
unconditional love for us
and
his great knowledge, wisdom, & power,
o Grateful
to, and allied to, God.
then
your mind is completely renewed
and prolonged fasting becomes
unnecessary,
indeed, the mind has become
an asset, not a liability.
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Prolonged fasting
became unnecessary as follows:
During Jesus’ ministry
the disciples pretty much
just watched & learned.
For they had God’s Spirit
(even though only temporarily).
Hence fasting was
unnecessary.
Matt c9 v14-15a Mark c2 v18-19 Luke c5 v33-34
Then, during the nine lonely
days, after Jesus had gone,
but before God’s Spirit had permanently come:
Matt c9 v15b Mark c2 v20 Luke c5 v35:
The disciples felt, desperately,
the need to fast. my abbreviation
Then, after the disciples had
permanently received God’s
Spirit,
, Having already renewed their minds.
, See first cell of earlier section:
, HOW TO RENEW YOUR
MIND: SOME DETAILS.
such
a carnal tool as fasting:
the
physical – trying to correct – the spiritual,
the body – trying
to correct – the mind,
was shown to be unnecessary
compared to having God’s
Spirit & a renewed mind.
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Jesus
said:
Matt c9 v10-17 Mark c2 v1 – c3 v6 Luke c5 v27 – c6 v11:
A
new unshrunk patch
cannot be sown onto an old
shrunk garment.
New wine cannot ferment
in used,
stretched, brittle, wineskins. my abbreviation
The above text is in Matt Mark Luke
but not in John.
Whereas Jesus’ new commandment is
in John (John c13 v34-35)
but not in Matt Mark Luke.
Hence I extend the above Matt Mark Luke links
I give
beyond the text I give
so as to reveal
that the overall subject is:
Jesus’ new commandment is
better than
the old commandments
indeed, that the entire New
Covenant
is better than
the entire Old Covenant:
Universal personal Forgiveness,
God’s Spirit, a
renewed mind,
blessings,
miracles, etc,
are better than:
Jewish
laws,
Jewish sacrifices
& punishments,
blessings (no
miracles), etc.
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, Perhaps see earlier section:
, CONCLUSION: HOW IT
ALL WORKS
, and its subsection:
, THE NEW REPLACES THE
OLD, ,
, , .
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PRAYING & FASTING
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A
good prayer would not be:
the Lord’s Prayer
, Perhaps see earlier
section:
, THE LORD’S PRAYER.
A good prayer would, for example, be:
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, etc,”
because it gets your mind off the problem
and onto the answer:
Twice, in ch3, of his
book Ever Increasing Faith,
Smith Wigglesworth tells of
successful healings
where those praying turned
their focus
from the problem to the
answer
by simply whispering (ever
louder) the name ‘Jesus’.
,, ,, Perhaps
see, 5m
50s to: 12m 6s,
of:
,, ,, YouTube: – old Coast Highlights OUTPOURING of the Holy Spirit,
,, ,, joy, deliverance, miracles, healing, power. ,,,
Prayer is not so much what you say
as where you are:
You are either on one side
of the fence:
with your agenda
and your needs,
talking through
the fence, to God,
listening hard to
hear him.
Or you are on the other side
of the fence:
with God’s agenda
and no needs,
God hearing your
every thought,
you hearing his every whisper.
,, ,, Perhaps
also see fifth & sixth cells
,, ,, (starting 2) The second reason the Father )
,, ,, of earlier
section: WHAT’S WRONG WITH A VISIBLE SOLUTION?.
Perhaps also listen to Dan Mohler’s audio teaching:
New Covenant NEW CREATION New Life
Dan Mohler - Older teachings - Mix. ,,,,,
Intimacy With God - 3-2008 (Part 2 of
2).
To play the file:
click
anywhere on the bar.
To download the file:
click
on the black ♪ symbol at the end of the bar.
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The book of Acts shows that, in the early
church:
The whole church prayed generally.
Individual Christians prayed
generally.
However, as well as praying generally,
individual Christians sometimes prayed briefly
just before they commanded a miracle.
Acts c9 v36-43 Acts c28 v7-8.
, See five cells
(starting Jesus
explains)
, in earlier section: WHY GOD’S WORDS HAVE POWER.
, and the links within
them.
, (This link does not
open a new tab.)
Before Acts, back in Mark’s gospel,
Jesus said that Christians would find
that, just before doing a miracle,
praying briefly is necessary.
‘Do’ is the verb used
in the KJV. (Though see Acts c3 v12 & v16.) ,,
Mark c9 v28-29 (full account Mark c9 v14-29.):
And
when he was come into the house,
his disciples asked him
privately,
Why could not we cast
him out?
And he said to them,
This kind can come
forth by nothing,
but by prayer and fasting. KJV
, The last two words are, I reckon, forged,
, so I’ve made them very pale grey.
, Perhaps see earlier section:
, BIBLE VERSES THAT I OMIT., ,
I reckon that, in the above scripture, by: ‘this kind’,
Jesus did not mean: ‘this kind of demon’,
but: ‘this kind of situation’.
Situations where:
the patient is
visually & audibly possessed
the cancer is
visible & large
the limb is
missing
the face is
ruined
the behaviour is
insane & vigorous
etc
or where you are sick
and the pain is
sensorially distracting.
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Same account, different gospel:
Matt
c17 v18-21 (full account Matt c17 v14-20):
And Jesus rebuked
the devil;
and he departed out of him:
and the child
was cured from that very hour.
Then came the
disciples to Jesus apart, and said,
Why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus
said unto them,
Because of your unbelief:
for verily I say unto you,
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard
seed,
ye shall say unto this mountain,
Remove hence to yonder place;
and it shall remove;
and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out
but by prayer and
fasting. KJV
, , I reckon verse 21 is forged – so I’ve greyed it out.
, , Perhaps see earlier section: BIBLE VERSES THAT I OMIT, , , ,
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Having God’s Spirit and a completely renewed
mind
means you don’t need to fast.
See sixth cell (starting Prolonged fasting
became unnecessary)
of earlier section: THE NEW TESTAMENT
CONTEXT OF FASTING.
That the early church fasted,
Acts c10 v30-31 Acts c13 v2-4 Acts c14 v23 1 Cor c7 v5,, ,,
merely shows that they were as imperfect as we are
and/or were praying about some important issues.
Bear in mind that it’s praying and
fasting:
The fasting ‘merely’ helps
the praying.
It’s the praying that’s
primary.
Logically, fasting takes time:
So it’s praying and fasting.
Not commanding and fasting.
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As praying can take time, especially if you’re
also fasting,
pray (and fast) before a need or
want arises.
Likewise complete the big task of renewing your mind
before needs or wants arise:
Perhaps
follow RENEW MIND links
in first cell of later section:
CHANGES
A BELIEVER MAKES IN THEMSELVES
(this link does not open a new tab).
Jesus mind was completely renewed
so he had no unbelief.
So he never needed to
‘suddenly fast’ to do a miracle.
Mind
you, he did need to go ‘AWOL’ to pray quite often,
and he didn’t take food with
him.
So I suspect that, after his
initial 40 day fast,
he fasted for those,
relatively short, periods of time
to keep his mind
disconnected from the world
and focussed on what he
wanted to do.
If so, I suspect that the
apostles, later, in Acts,
lived a similar lifestyle.
People came to them out of
the blue for healing
so they had no time to fast.
They still needed to heal
people
even if they’d just had
breakfast.
There’s no record of them
postponing or prolonging
a healing. They commanded the healing, in Jesus’ name,
and the person was healed.
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So I
conclude that:
A completely renewed mind
needs to maintain itself
by praying, perhaps with
short fasting,
to counteract
living in the world the rest
of the time.
As the average Christian
cannot help but be
regularly influenced by the world,
likewise he/she must also
regularly retreat from the world
to be alone with God.
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If God tells you (& even more
so if he doesn’t)
to do something so
antisocial, so unintuitive,
as to yank a disabled person
up, out of their wheelchair,
declaring that they are
healed,
as your act of faith, Acts c3 v7,
then you too will need to
have been alone with God.
, Perhaps see earlier section: ACTS
OF FAITH, ,
, ,
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This is how Smith
Wigglesworth lived:
He was initially a stutterer, a quiet inhibited man.
But I reckon that his
Yorkshire get-to-the-point-ness,
combined with his relentless
pursuit of God
and resulting spiritual
growth,
led him to a lifestyle
where:
o He rarely went more than half an hour
without praying
or reading the Bible.
o He
preached such as to inspire faith in people.
See: YouTube: –
Kenneth Copeland retells
, , , Smith Wigglesworth raising a man
from the dead.
, , ,,,,I don’t approve of Kenneth Copeland
himself because he loves money.
Smith
Wigglesworth walked silently past
the other mourners.
Then he commanded,
loudly, three times,
for the corpse to rise.
Antisocial? No, logical.
Smith knew he would get
only sadness
and resolve that the
dead stay dead
from the other
mourners.
It wouldn’t have been
on their minds that it would rise,
let alone at the
forefront of their minds
where it would’ve
needed to have been
if Smith relied on
their faith.
, Perhaps see earlier section: UNBELIEF
, and its subsections.
See: YouTube: –
God's Generals Series - Smith Wigglesworth,
13m 15s to:
17m 20s:
Smith swung his fist, fast
& hard,
into the patient’s
stomach, – killing him.
He then ignored the
doctor’s legal threats
(a doctor who’d seen others, in the prayer line,
also healed).
Thuggish? No, logical.
Believers who are
medical professionals
have had a training
that is
entirely natural, none
of it miraculous.
So they often have
a huge amount of unbelief.
, See
Andrew Wommack’s
, God
wants you well: Why isn’t everyone healed?
, from
47mins to 49mins.
, , , Scientific knowledge (e.g. medical
knowledge):
, , , , , in the mind, next to
the mind’s belief,
, , , , , given significance alongside the mind’s belief,
, , , , , so that it counteracts the mind’s belief,
, , , constitutes:
, , , , , unbelief,
, , , and unbelief hinders
the miraculous.
, , , Perhaps see earlier section: UNBELIEF
, and its subsections.
In Andrew Wommack’s: Hardness of Heart: The Cure,
from: 16m 20s
to: 44m 15s,
Smith ignored the ladies’ concerns
and the congregation’s rebukes.
Arrogant? No, logical.
In his own, apparently unloving,
way
Smith did
what Jesus told all of us to do:
Be concerned about what God thinks of you
never about what people think of you.
, , , , , Matt c6 v16-18 Luke c18 v9-14
To conclude:
To rest:
to rely only on God to do the miracles
and to not stress &
strain,
and:
to never think about
what people think of you,
only what God thinks of you,
is, at least partly, a result of:
you being alone with
God.
Or, perhaps more probably:
Wanting God
causes:
Relying on
God to do the miracles.
Not
thinking about what people think of you
only what
God thinks of you.
Needing to
be alone with peaceful loving God
instead of
the world.
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Unlike
Peter, who, in his human nature,
was a forceful person,
Perhaps
see later section:
GOD’S
KIND OF LOVE – AGAPE LOVE,
AND MERE NATURAL HUMAN LOVE
and the section after it.
Smith, in his
human nature,
was not.
Up until age forty-eight
approx:
o Smith stuttered and was shy.
o The
only Christian ministry he could manage
was to give
children pony rides to meetings.
o He
retreated at the mere idea of preaching.
It wasn’t until after:
persistently
seeking God
and being
baptised in the Holy Spirit,
that Smith became forceful.
Though only spiritually
forceful.
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While a man’s forcefulness is usually earthly,
Smith’s forcefulness was a product of agape love:
from his own changed
self 1 Cor c13 NIV
and from God’s Spirit within
him.
When someone asked
Smith
why he hit people when he healed them,
he replied that
he hit:
The illness.
Or
the demon behind the illness:
The
demon that was
encouraging the illness.
And/or
discouraging the patient from
believing
that God would heal them.
And/or encouraging the patient
to
actually accept the illness.
The
person just got in the way.
, , , See last three cells (starting: So, there are
occasions)
, , , of earlier section: HOW DEMONS ARE ABLE TO DO THINGS.
Virtually none of Smith’s patients complained.
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Jesus & the apostles
did not hit people when they healed them.
But that does not mean that
such methods are demonic.
They may be part of a
passing phase that the church is in,
an inferior, passing, phase.
, Perhaps see earlier
section: GOD’S METHODS. ,,,,,
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Jesus & the apostles
did not hit people when they healed
them.
But I’m sure they were still
angry inside
(not a taxing anger, for they
knew they were going to win).
An anger towards:
absence
of the Gospel,
absence
of belief of the Gospel,
wrong
doctrine,
people’s
sinful ways that kept them trapped,
sickness,
lack, demonic oppression,
etc.
An anger that is
a symptom of:
agape
love towards everyone
and a
renewed mind.
An anger that is
not deterred
by persecution or
martyrdom.
Not the usual,
selfish, anger.
, All blue text copied
from several parts of earlier section: ANGER
& HATRED. ,,,,,
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This site is called ‘How Christianity Works’.
So the principles in it aren’t necessarily ones you apply.
They are principles God’s Spirit applies:
It usually takes too long,
and is unnecessary,
for you to compute a
situation
so as to know what to do.
It’s quicker, simpler, and
more reliable,
to listen to, and to obey,
God’s Spirit.
Just believe, and renew your
mind.
, See first cell of earlier section:
, WHAT
IS A BELIEVER? WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? , , , , , ,
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If you want practical guidance on praying
then I highly recommend Andrew Wommack’s book: A better way to pray.
See earlier section: INTRODUCTION, , , ,
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Home page
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Next webpage:
Worship & Praise.
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