"Bought with a price" is the term most pastors like to use when they talk about how Christians are no longer free to do what they want to do. We are bought and we are paid for, and the unbelievable price was the precious holy blood of our Savior Jesus. Notice that I didn't say MY Savior? Well, Jesus is MY Savior, but as Christians, we are a collective and we are the BODY and Jesus is the Head of us. He is (was and will be) the eternal Head of our collective Saint Body. So, when ONE of the body parts is ill, when it is sick and not able to praise and perform as it should be, we (the rest of us) are commanded to lift that person up to the Lord and to pray specific prayers regarding that person's need.
I know there are a lot of people who go to church thinking that because they attend regularly, and they give a tithe or offering every week, that the are in fact saved, but that's simply not the case. Without being born again, accepting Jesus as one's personal Savior, the person will not and cannot enter into Almighty God's presence. This is the sole reason Jesus died for us. We simply cannot make it on our own. It wouldn't matter if we prayed all the time, worked in the church ministries, gave gifts, even visiting prisoners and orphans won't do it. Without the acceptance of Jesus in your heart you just won't be going to Heaven. If I had one message to teach it would be that. We all sin, every last one of us, and believe me when I say we're going to continue to sin (every day) after we accept Christ, but the VERY BIG difference is we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside our hearts when we accept Christ, and it is that very Spirit that leads and guides us NOT to do wrong. We don't have to beg forgiveness constantly, the entire price was paid at the cross and through Jesus' resurrection. Without the resurrection we'd still have an amazing example of what unconditional love is, but because HE LIVES, we can face tomorrow. "Because He lives, all fear is gone" Not just some of it, not 94% of it, not everything except that one fear or anxiety-driven thought...ALL FEAR is gone.
When a fellow Christian became upset with me for calling pastors and texting church ministers to ask them to pray for him, I had the moment of silence in my head while I listened to my good friend rant and become angrier and angrier at me. He called me names. He accused me of things. He did everything you'd expect an embarrassed man to do because he felt exposed, opened, and put on display. Nothing could be further from the truth, but he couldn't see past his own ego to realize that what I had done was not only Biblical, it was EXACTLY what the leaders in the Bible had directed us (especially women) to do if a member of the community, a member of the Saint Body was in trouble. I very openly and very honestly wrote to the churches and spoke to the elders and the leaders asking them for specific mindful, heartfelt, and thoughtful prayer and it was accompanied by fasting. Some things are ONLY handled through prayer and fasting.
Because I am a woman and my friend is a man, because he is married to someone and it isn't me, I took my issue and my request first to that man himself to discuss the situation through prayer, but he would not answer me. He told me it was none of my business. REALLY? He went there. He should NOT have gone there, that was exactly where I wanted him to go so that I could pull out the 25+ scriptures that assure me that I not only had the RIGHT to do what I did, but BECAUSE HE IS BOUGHT WITH A PRICE, and so am I, I have the OBLIGATION under my Lord's commands to do what I did. I lifted him up to the elders and I asked for specific prayers because generalized prayers don't help when you need to cast out certain demonic behavior such as anxiety and depression. Many would argue with me and try to say that being depressed or anxious is not Satanic, but it most certainly is. It is NOT relying on Jesus, and it is literally saying that Jesus is NOT ENOUGH; it is quite literally making a stand against our Lord when a person continues in this path without seeking help.
Now, if a man or a woman who is suffering from anxiety and/or depression does seek help and is asking the church and fellow Christians to pray for them, this is wonderful and this is exactly what they should do, but they do not have the right to stop others who love and care for them to do the same. When James 5:16 clearly says "Confess your faults one with another, pray for one another so that you may be healed" there is no number put on that, no limitation or "we're only telling personal friends and family". The reason for that NOT being an excuse is simple; YOU ARE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE, you are no longer your own. You literally belong to the entire body. You are one of us, we are one and you are hurting, it is OUR obligation, each and all of us, to pray and to seek prayer for you. That may be the first time some of you are hearing this. You may think that your personal life if your personal life. It is to a degree, but when you're a public figure and you ask said public to demonstrate their support for you when you're well, happy, selling music, painting, writing books, and doing other marvelously public things, you can't expect people to fade away at your request when suddenly you wish to be private. There are boundaries and they work both ways.
"You overstepped your boundary" he told me. Really? Was that the one he set for me or the one God set for me? I had to ask because apparently he thought he was somehow going to convince me that he had the right to hide and deal with his illness on his own. He does not have that right. Public or private, we are the BODY. Would we allow a broken splinter in our finger to remain there without seeking assistance for it, or maybe working on it ourselves? If we were laying at the bottom of a riverbed with a broken leg and someone came by who had the ability to care and offer aid would we simply shout back "Mind your own business! I'm OK, you have no right to give a damn!" No! Of course we would not do that. We would rush to their aid if we could, and we would allow assistance if we needed it. It's the same way with needing prayer and needing supplication. We may not WANT someone to know what is going on, but we are bought with a price. We are no longer our own. We are not given to being so selfish as to not receive the love of those who genuinely seek to protect and lift us before our God. Notice I said OUR God. I am speaking of course, of another fellow Christian, a member of the same Saint Body I am a member of. The broken bone I see, hear, feel, and know exists needs attention. I asked for help.
My friend hung up the phone with a stern, "Good-bye, Jude". Before he actually hung up he heard me say "Eternity is a very long time. You'll have a minute when you realize I love you, and I have the obligation to petition God in the manner in which He instructed." Two days passed and of course I hit the closet a few times praying for my good friend to relax and understand that I am not his enemy, but perhaps a better friend than even his family (including his wife). He messaged me on Facebook to say "I'm still mad at you, but I do understand. Our preacher talked about that same thing today and I asked him after church if you had contacted him too. I knew you wrote to a 100 churches. I assumed you wrote my pastor. I'm still mad, but I do understand. Thank you for not giving up on me." Well, you know I cried my eyes out, right? I'm such a baby. God is just too wonderful. If I had to do it all over again, and I have done it a few times for others, I will and would do it the same way. I didn't make a fuss. I didn't blog or broadcast it. I wrote to the elders and asked for very specific prayers. Prayers that will cover exactly what needed to be covered. (and then I fasted to show God I was serious)
I sometimes think that because I was so very young when I became a Christian (around age 6) I often assume that everyone who is saved knows that there are methods and means of how to go about asking for prayer when someone who you love and respect won't talk to you, or they won't help you help them in their need. They aren't "allowed" to push you away if they are also Christians, it's not done. Being born again is not an easy road by any means. There are bumps, rocks, sticks, trees in the way, there are pot holes, evil things lurking around just waiting to pounce. The good news is, the very very very good news is, that Jesus died, and then HE GOT UP! He showed Death, He showed Satan, He showed all of us, that HE IS KING. "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of Glory divine." Take that Anxiety! Take that Depression! Shove it as far as you can - - because ALL FEAR is gone.
If you need Jesus, please please seek Him. Ask me ask anyone who knows Jesus, and we will show you how to become a Christian. Here is a link to the blog I wrote revealing the Roman Road of Salvation. EASY PEASY!
https://judestringfellow.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-roman-road-to-salvation.html
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