The Bible Verse No Guy Enjoys Reading

J. LEE GRADY

 

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Deuteronomy 23:1 is painful—but it shows us that God wants to heal the wounds of the masculine soul.

I’d never heard a sermon on Deuteronomy 23:1 until last month, when my Puerto Rican friend Luis Roig had the courage to read the text out loud to a group of men in Florida. When he did, one guy gasped and fell on the floor. Several others laughed nervously, and we all drew our knees together and groaned.

The Holman translation says it this way: “No man whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may enter the Lord’s assembly.”

Ouch!

Please pardon the graphic language, but older translations just aren’t clear. The King James Version says, “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.” That’s putting it mildly!

How Badly Do You Want It?

Written by Carolyn Savelle  

Have you ever prayed for something over and over and you still didn't get the results you were believing for? Have you prayed the "Prayer of Faith" and every other kind of prayer you knew to pray, and it didn't work? It makes you wonder, "Well, last time it worked." Why isn't it working this time?

It feels like you are praying a hit-and-miss kind of prayer, and you don't really know why sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

Well, I have found the missing element in getting your prayers answered.

Since January of 1999, every prayer I've ever prayed, everything I've desired, everything I've asked God for has been manifest in my life...within moments, days and hours. The struggle of faith has ceased in my life.

God Wants Us Well

Written by Larry Ollison, Ph.D

Did you know God wants us well? He wants us healthy. When the Hebrews went out of Egypt, the Bible says there was not a feeble one among them. Once I heard a radio preacher explain away healing using this story. He said God told Moses to leave the feeble people behind because they would just slow them down as they fled from Egypt. 

Sometimes man will twist the scripture and go to great lengths to prove what he thinks is true rather than accepting God's Word just as it is written. God did not tell Moses to leave the sick ones behind. He healed them all and then sent them out of Egypt. 

All through the scriptures, God has demonstrated that His will is for man to be healthy. He didn't create Adam with a bad leg. He didn't create Eve with asthma or arthritis. He created them whole and that is His perfect will for us. 

Psalm 103:3 says He heals all our diseases. Do you believe that is true? God's Word says it. Either it is true or God's Word is lying. God does not lie. It must be true. 

It's Never Too Late For God

Written by Lisa Comes

I know a young couple who went through a really traumatic marriage tragedy. They were even Christians, active in church and the work of the ministry. But the devil began to attack their marriage. 

The husband became discouraged and drifted into sin. He slipped into worldly practices. One thing led to another. Finally, he got involved in adultery. He left home. In spite of his actions, his wife didn't want a divorce.

But he divorced her anyway. So this wife thought, "Well, I'll just go on with my life. I'll try to be happy. I'll do something for God." She was thinking about going to Bible school, traveling and doing things for the Lord. And God saw her heart.

She thought it was too late - it was all over. The devil told her there was nothing in God's Word that pertained to her situation. She didn't know where there was healing for her marriage - wrecked by divorce.

What It Takes to Struggle with Something Hard

By Rachel Olsen

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37 (NIV)

Beginning in my twenties, I wrestled each day with chronic pain and fatigue. The first few years of it, doctors had no idea why.

Then came the diagnosis: fibromyalgia.

I was told this condition was poorly understood, not very treatable, and also not reversible. In fact, they called it "degenerative," meaning it would worsen as I aged. In short, doctors said I had no chance to conquer this pain.

The pain worsened for a couple years and I couldn't image what my life would be like five, ten or fifty years down the road. I prayed for deliverance.

It's God's Will to Heal You

Written by Mark Brazee

And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. (Mark 1:40-42)

The average Christian is in the same position as this leper was - not knowing whether it is God's will to heal or not. The believer may think, I know God is able to heal. I just don't know whether or not it's His will to heal me.

The leper knew the ability of Jesus. He came to Jesus and said, "Lord, if You will, You can make me clean." I've heard the same thing from people in prayer lines. They stand there praying, "Oh, Lord, I know You're able to heal me."

Healing -- A Forever-Settled Subject

By Kenneth W. Hagin

One of the paramount questions believers ask today is not whether God is able to heal, but whether He is willing to heal. Is it always God’s will to heal? The answer is, “Most assuredly, yes!”

When we want to understand God’s will about a subject, we go to God’s Word, because God’s Word is God’s will. And the Bible tells us that healing is the will of God. The Bible also tells us, “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119: 89) and “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my [Jesus’] words shall not pass away” (Luke 21:33). Healing is a forever-settled subject because God’s Word is forever settled!

Possessing the Promise of Healing

By Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin 

Divine healing is an accomplished fact. It is a gift, like salvation, already paid for at Calvary. Have you accepted God’s gift of healing? Are you experiencing it in your life in full? If not, it’s time for you to possess the promise of healing and enjoy complete health in every area!

“I have prayed and prayed. I have been in healing meetings all over the country and have been prayed for many times, but still I am not healed. Can you help me?”

This plaintive appeal has been heard many times by ministers. They pray for sick persons, but often the sick leave as they came—not healed.

The Christ Cure

By Kenneth W. Hagin

We have the anointing or power of God. And with that power, we can take what God says in His Word, believe it, act on it, and receive it for ourselves.

And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a cer­tain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.

—Acts 9:32–35

This portion of Scripture tells the story of a helpless paralytic named Aeneas, who was healed when Peter told him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ cures you . . .” (Acts 9:34 Weymouth). As the story opens, we see a man named Peter who has been scurrying from town to town, vil­lage to village, synagogue to syn­agogue, and anywhere else he could find to preach.

Enoch, Who Walked with God

Ami Farkas

At synagogue this past Sabbath, our Torah reading covered the first portion of the book of Genesis. We revisited the Garden of Eden, tasted the bitterness and shame of Adam and Eve’s sin, and traversed through ten generations between Adam and Noah. In the midst of all this, my attention was transfixed on the short but meaningful story of Enoch.
I assume that when most people study Genesis, they don’t give much notice to Enoch, whose sole appearance in the Torah is limited to a few verses: Genesis 5:18-25. And considering the lives of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the contributions they made to mankind, Enoch plays a minute role in the grand scheme of things. The story of Enoch might be short, but it has deep lessons we should not ignore.