Chapter 4: Doing the Works of Our Father

I’ve been hard at work to get a book out on healing from a Messianic perspective. Unfortunately, I find most of the books I’ve read that teach on healing in the name of Yeshua are either anti-Torah or void of any real theological content. My goal with this book is to bring a solid and complete theological framework for the Messianic/Torah keeping community. I hope this chapter is a blessing to you:

Chapter 4

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” (John 8:44-47)

As hard as it may be to hear, we can administer healing and still completely miss the mark. Yeshua warns us that whoever we obey is our father. If we obey God keep his Commandments then He is our father. If, however, we obey the enemy and practice lawlessness, then we prove the enemy is our father in spite of whatever miracles may have been performed through our hands.

Remember the enemy’s number one tactic is to lie to God’s children about God’s nature and who He really is. It was believing his lies that caused the fall of man and every other sin since.

In the garden of Eden we were told that God commands were bondage that they were there to restrain us and prevent our freedom. We were told that it was only through breaking His commands that we would find the fullness of our being and that we would become most like God.

We believed the lie and rebelled against God seeking freedom and instead finding ourselves in bondage to sin.

Our failure to trust God’s nature, His goodness, was our downfall. It was then and it is today.

The Child of God

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1)

Whether or not you are a child of God goes far beyond a set of doctrine or beliefs. You can say that you believe God is good, you can say you believe that He loves you and cares for you, that He desires the best for you but if your actions don’t line up through your obedience it is nothing more than lip service.

When we say that we believe God is good and do not keep His commands we prove we are no different than Adam and Eve in the Garden. We show, through our actions, that we do not trust God’s character. We show that we do not trust God’s heart and His desire for the best for us. We prove through our actions that we believe we know better than God.

The Apostle Paul taught us “the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Romans 7:12). He then demonstrated his trust in the nature of God through a life of faithfulness to God’s commands (Acts 25:8). He demonstrated through his obedience that he truly was a child of God.

Unfortunately there are many today who claim to be children of God but live like the devil. They live in rebellion against God’s commands and God’s ways. They are deceived believing because they have been used in the miraculous that they have right standing with God not heeding Yeshua’s warning that their disobedience to God’s law proves they are children of the enemy.

God’s Love

The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. (Zephaniah 3:17)

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Every parent warns their child not play in the street. For a kid the street seems like a fun place to play. There is plenty of room to run around, no rocks to trip on and no gopher holes to fall in. What kids don’t understand is that there is a much greater danger than any of these other things because of the cars speeding by. And while you may not get hit every time you going into the road each time you do is another potential for disaster.

This is why we are told time and again to trust God and put our faith in Him. Even when we do not understand why He would command certain things we must have faith in Him and in His heart for us. We must trust that it is for our good. From the very beginning God has wanted us to understand His love for us. He has never wanted anything but the best for us. His Commandments are there to protect us from both the dangers we know are there and the dangers we are not even aware of.

Yeshua Representing God

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

We know that Yeshua was God and at the same time we know that He was still separate from God the Father. While I don’t want to get into the depths of that mystery; one thing we do know for certain is that Yeshua came as a perfect representation of God and perfectly demonstrated God’s heart for His people.

One thing about the Hebrew Scriptures is they give us insight into the actions of God without really explaining to us His heart or intentions. This has caused tremendous confusion for many people about the goodness of God.

Part of Yeshua’s task here on Earth was to properly represent the heart of God to His people. Yeshua showed us that God the Father brings healing and not sickness, restoration not punishment, blessings not curses. Everywhere Yeshua went we find people getting healed, storms being calmed, and lives being restored. This is the perfect representation of God’s heart for us. Anytime you think or believe otherwise, you can be certain the enemy is lying to you.

Yeshua made it clear that all sickness was from the devil and all healing is from God. The only reason this ever changed was to allow people to justify their own powerlessness. What would have happened in Mark 9:14-29 had Yeshua not shown up to cast out the demon the disciples had failed to remove? They would have done the same thing we all do… they would have made theological sounding reasons (excuses) for not being able to cast it out. Fortunately for the boy, and all of us, Yeshua was there and He gave us the real reason they could not cast it out, and the real reason we do not see healing when we pray: unbelief.

He showed us that even when we do not see the healing manifest we cannot say it is not God’s will. We must instead look to our own unbelief as the reason for not seeing the healing. It’s a hard pill to swallow but one we must if we are to ever see healing on the level that the disciples eventually walked in.

You Representing Yeshua Representing God

And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. (Matt 10:7-8)

So Yeshua said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21)

At this point it becomes clear what we are to do. When Yeshua came He did so to represent the Father’s heart. Now that He has returned to the Father it is our responsibility to take up the torch He has left us. We are now the representation of Yeshua to the world. He sent us out into the world to do exactly as He did.

Did Yeshua keep Torah perfectly? As His disciple, so should I.

Did Yeshua Heal the sick? So should I.

Did Yeshua cast out demons? So should I.

Did Yeshua cleanse the leapers? So should I.

In living a life just as our Master did we are truly fulfilling His commission as His disciples, His representatives here on Earth. In the same way that Yeshua was a perfect representation of the Father here on Earth we are called to be perfect representations of Yeshua.

We know His heart is to bring healing and restoration, we know His life is holy and set apart. This is our calling as His disciples. Anything less is to cheapen the Gospel and misrepresent our Master Yeshua.

[reminder preface=”Your Thoughts:”]This is a work in progress and I know there is a lot that must still be covered but if you have any questions or comments please let me know.[/reminder]