3 March 2015

SPIRITUAL SURGERY

By John Ollis

I mentioned in my last blog, that some Christians may need Laser surgery to remove spiritual cataracts form their eyes so they can see clearly spiritually and receive the revelations the Lord wants to give them.
I mentioned the Holiness stream in a recent blog, a movement that majored on character and becoming more like Jesus, they would often speak of the “crucified life”. Paul said in 1 Cor. 15.31 “I die daily” This of course is the key to the victorious Christian life, of daily dying to”
My will
My plans
My desires
My agenda
This is a painful process which we do not learnt overnight, but have many painful experiences as we learn to live the surrendered life.  Paul speaks in Romans and Corinthians of the “circumcision of the heart. Physically this was and is a one-off  surgery for those who practice it. But in the Christian life this will happen many times as we have to make those important choices.
I love the story of the journey that Elisha took with Elijah and the transition from that initial encounter that Elisha had,to the place where he said I want the “double portion”. Each of the places they went too, are significant, and one of them is Gilgal where Joshua re-instated circumcision. If we want more of the blessing of God on our lives we must come to Gilgal regularly and let the Lord work on our will. The result of passing through those experiences was the double portion, Elisha literally did twice as many miracles as than Elijah did.
We know that in Rom.12.1 Paul says we must (daily) surrender ourselves to the Lord. The old saying is so true, that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it is always wanting to crawl off the altar, that is sure my experience. One of my favourite scriptures from James is “we have not because we ask not”, and I ask the Lord for His help every day.
I find it interesting that the Old Testament animal sacrifices had to be tied down PS. 118:27. Somehow the animals would have a premonition they were going to die so the priests would tie their legs to the 4 horns of the altar. I pray regularly “Jesus tie me down, bind me to the altar with the cords of Calvary love” I believe it works, the level of surrender has increased in my life, it sure isn’t 100%, I need all the help I can get, and Jesus promises to give it to us.
Not only must we repent when we do roll off the altar, but also never have regrets because we have yielded to the purposes of God. We must remind ourselves God is sovereign, He knows what is best for us, that ALL things do work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Having regrets is like a poison that will pollute our spirit and rob us of God’s best fro our lives.
We know the saying “Hindsight is 20/20 vision, and we can all look back and see what the Lord had in mind even though perhaps at the time, we may have thought the whole situation was crazy.
So next time the Lord invites you into His operating theatre, you will not be put to sleep but will experience the pain of the surgery, remember to lay still and quickly the surgery will be over, the alternative isif you fight, God will life His hand, you will roll of the table and go all around the mountain and come back to the operating theatre again. The old saying goes “no pain no gain”.
I hope you do not feel this blog is negative, I trust it will help you when you do experience “the dealings of God” it is all because he wants us to be more like Jesus and more effective in His Kingdom.
I look forward to your comments. Have a wonderful day.