How teachable are you? Click to watch the message, based on Proverbs 26.

Jan 1st 2023 ‘wise in your own eyes’ message by Rev Dr Ed Hird at All Saints Crescent Beach
Proverbs 26: 1- 12
How many of you have ever lost your wallet? I lost this wallet at the Save-on Foods parking lot during a recent snowstorm. After checking everywhere and cancelling my credit cards, I had a phone call from a Good Samaritan who had almost drove over this wallet. God was teaching me afresh that day that he answers prayer, and also that I need to be more careful with my wallet in snowstorms.
Here is what I am wondering: What has God taught you in 2022? What has he tried to teach you in 2022?
On Jan 1st New Year’s Day, my first question for today is: “How teachable are you in 2023? Secondly and closely related, are you wise in your own eyes?
Bishop Peter often says that the essence of discipleship is being F.A.T. This morning I will focus on being teachable.
How eager are you to learn about God’s wisdom in 2023? How open are you to instruction?
Do any of you have any Methodist heritage in your family system? My dad was a Methodist for a year until he converted to the United Church in 1925. The Methodists in Canada used to be full of the fire of the Holy Spirit. On New Year’s Eve, John Wesley’s disciples, instead of getting drunk, had watch-night services where they dedicated the coming year to the Lord.
I have been sitting under Bishop Peter’s preaching for the last four and a half years, and have gained so much. Let me confidentially tell you the greatest weakness with Bishop Peter’s preaching. It is the issue of our teachability. It is so easy for us to say to Peter ‘fine sermon’ but leave the service unchanged. Have you ever been a hearer of the Word without being a doer of the Word? Have you ever built your house on the sand? Have you ever gone out from your house like the five young virgins did with no oil in your lamp? All this is what Jesus called foolishness.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, bishop Peter spoke about the challenge of obedience, and our reluctance to do things God’s way. Only the teachable become obedient to God’s will. Only the teachable actually surrender their Will to God. Teachability is about flexibility and not always having to having things our way. Far too often, even as Christians, we can be stiffnecked and hard hearted, unwilling to bend, unwilling to let go. This is why Ephesians 5:17 says: Don’t be foolish, but rather understand what the Lord’s Will is. Doing the Lord’s Will is wisdom. Doing our own Will is foolishness.
Today’s passage Proverbs 26:-12 teaches us 11 times in just twelve verses about the dangers of foolishness. The word fool or fools is mentioned 99 times in the book of Proverbs and around 360 times throughout the Old and New Testament. In Greek, the term is mores, from which we get the word ‘moron’.
Foolishness in vs 1 & 8 is connected to the Asian concept of shame, dishonour, and loss of face particularly for one’s family.
We must be slow to point the finger judgementally at other people’s foolishness. Jesus strikingly said in Matthew 5:22 said that anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” It is so much easier to be aware of other people’s foolishness than to be self-aware of our own.
Dan Rockwell suggested 12 ways to spot a fool (which may include ourselves at times):
1. Fools believe they are (always) right.
2. Fools hate accountability; prefer to live in fantasy.
3. They Love the blame game; it!s always someone else’s fault.
4. They are always hedonisticly looking for easy street
5. They always want their own way & their own agenda..
6. Fools reject instruction. Proverbs 1:7 says that fools despise wisdom & instruction.
7. Fools can’t see their foolishness. No self-awareness.
8. Fools go quickly to anger and ranting: Ecclesiastes 7:9 says “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.”
9. Fools love to Gossip and tear down others.
10. They act over-confidently, thinking they’re better than everyone else. Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:10 said “We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ
11. Fools never stop talking. Proverbs 10:8 says that chattering fools lead to ruin. Ecclesiastes 10:2 says that fools multiply words.
12. Fools despise listening. Why listen when you already have all the answers to life?
The opposite of foolishness is wisdom. The term Wisdom (hokmah in Hebrew & Sophia in the Greek) is used 233 times in the Bible. Biblical wisdom literature is primarily found in the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, James, & the Sermon on the Mount. The Bible teaches that the third person of the Trinity is the Spirit of Wisdom. We are also told in Colossians 2:3 that in Christ, the second person of the Godhead, are hidden all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom. The very essence of the Trinity is loving wisdom.
I’ve really been into this sermon, even working on it in my dreams, and remembering my night time sermon preparation about wisdom become flesh. Proverbs 1 and John 1 tell us that in the beginning was wisdom, also called the word, and wisdom was with God, and is God. Through Wisdom, all things were made; without Wisdom, nothing was made that has been made. Jesus is wisdom become flesh. How greatly in this messed up world that we need Jesus’ wisdom. How slow we are to turn to his wisdom, often as a last resort after we have tried everything else.
Have you ever, like 39% of North Americans this year, made a New Year’s resolution, perhaps to eat and drink less, cut out smoking, or start exercising? New Year’s resolutions are notoriously easy to make and hard to keep for more than just a month. The very term ‘resolve’ means to decide firmly.
How many of you would like on this Jan 1st to firmly decide to grow in wisdom for 2023? You might want to consider reading one chapter of Proverbs daily over the thirty days of January? How many of you think that you already got enough wisdom and maybe need to cut back in 2023? You might want to consider cutting back on prayer, fasting, self examination, repentance, and generosity. That would definitely help you reduce your personal wisdom.
Wisdom is ultimately about growing in Christlikeness. Sometimes wisdom comes through experience, if we are teachable: “The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭20‬:‭29‬ ‭NIV‬‬
As Epiphany reminds us, wise men still seek him. Wisdom is about embracing the apparent foolishness of the cross which 1 Corinthians 1:18 says makes no sense to those who are perishing. Wisdom happens as we surrender all of our hopes and agendas, placing them at the foot of the cross.
Would you like to know the open secret to raising the three million dollars for the Oikos Project by April? It is the wisdom of God. Our job as the All Saints community on each step of the Oikos Project journey is to keep prayerfully discovering God’s wisdom and will, and then obeying it. As James 1:8 puts it, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
It is amazing how slow we may be to prayerfully ask God for his wisdom.
Have you noticed how much swearing is religious, almost sounding like a prayer invoking God and Jesus Christ? I believe that swearing needs to be back into genuine “Oh My God” praying. It would also be wise to convert our worries, particularly our financial worries, into prayers, especially prayers of thanksgiving. Thank you God that in your wisdom you have the Oikos Project journey all figured out.
One of the most dangerous forms of foolishness, mentioned in Proverbs 26 vs. 5 & 12 is being wise in our own eyes, thinking that we have everything all figured out. Proverbs 3:7, Isaiah 5:21, & Romans 12:16 also warns us to not be wise in our own eyes.
Have you ever been wise in your own eyes? Have things ever gone in one ear and out the other? Romans 1:22 says that claiming to be wise, they became fools.
So-called Wise guys quickly become unteachable, because they conclude that no one else is qualified to speak into their lives. Fools even end up treating God as an unwelcome intruder. Who does God think he is, suggesting that we might need to modify our lives? The heart of modern atheism is often prideful unteachability.
As you may know, Janice and I have been do a series in our Light Magazine column on Dostoevsky.
All of his books deal with wisdom and foolishness.
In Dostoevsky’s novels, two kinds of fools appear again and again: first-year university students and the highly educated. Both are easily tempted to become know-it-alls. First year students are easily tempted to act like experts. Highly educated people can become jaded and cynical about truth, similar to Pontius Pilate’s comment ‘what is truth?’ As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:1, knowledge puffs up. Even Bible knowledge, if done primarily as information transfer, can make us arrogant and foolishly unteachable. What a delight when you meet a highly educated person who still has childlike humility and teachability, who is not wise in their own eyes. I know such people at All Saints.
Our latest article is on Dostoevsky’s book the Possessed which deals with foolishness 92 times. It memorably states: “Even fools are by genuine sorrow turned into wise men, also only for a short time of course.”
Bishop Peter and I spoke this week about how suffering can potentially make us more teachable and wise. Our addictions are often ways of hiding from our pain. Teachability is about facing our suffering and not wasting it. Where are you and your family suffering as we enter 2023? Where do you need to stop foolishly hiding? Where do you need to change, to more fully surrender to God’s will?
Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:17: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” In the 12th of the 12 steps in AA, prayer, based on Colossians 1, is defined as seeking for the knowledge of his will and the power to carry it out. God’s will is the way of wisdom. God’s Spirit gives us the power to keep our definite decisions for 2023. Wisdom is ultimately all about surrender of our will. Here’s a prayer that I wrote in the 24 hour prayer vigil at the BC Christian Ashram: “Dear Jesus, I surrender all to you. I surrender my very self to you. I surrender my fears, my failings, my disappointments, my hope, my resentments to you, to your Kingdom purposes. Have your own way, Lord. Have your own way. You are the potter. I am the clay. Amen.”
Let us pray: I invite you if you know to say the serenity prayer with me.

1. “Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.
2. Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
3. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!
4. Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.
5. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.
6. Sending a message by the hands of a fool is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison.
7. Like the useless legs of one who is lame is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
8. Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool.
9. Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
10. Like an archer who wounds at random is one who hires a fool or any passer-by.
11. As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.
12. Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭26‬:‭1‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Advent/Christmas letter 2022

We wish you a happy Advent and Merry Christmas, in Jesus’ wonderful name.

It has been an active year of babysitting and writing articles.  With Ed being president of our strata, there are many days when he needs to lend out keys and check things out with different workers.  Sometimes Janice gets to do the job if he is away. 

When things opened up again in the summer, we were happy to go across the border down to Bellingham, WA, to see Anne and her family.  Twice we went down in July so we got to see all her family by the second visit.  She will be coming up here for her birthday.  The first time in 3 years!  Ed and I were both blessed with good health till the fall where we both took turns being ill.  But we are now healthy again, thank the Lord Jesus.

Our grandchildren are now a year older of course. Isaiah just had his third birthday and he celebrated with his father Andrew who also has his birthday in November. We were fortunate as a Strata complex to buy new furniture for the Common Room so we were able to celebrate the two birthdays there on Sunday Nov 13th. Only the immediate family were able to be included as we are still trying to keep people safe from anymore illness. Mark and Janice were able to find the Christmas decorations so we celebrated Advent early! Catherine who is also 3 had a great time running around with Isaiah. Kelsea is 7, and Aaron is now 9. They were a big help with the smaller children at the party.

Catherine, who is James and Alicia’s daughter, is a very happy child who now often says “why” to any statements.  She is a very good athlete and loves to do somersaults and goes to dance lessons.  Her mom and dad are busy with work, so sometimes we get to babysit when they have a night out.  Alicia was able to go to her grandfather’s funeral in the fall.  He was almost 103 years old!  Sometimes James and Catherine drop by for dinner on their way home from her daycare.  They still go to Peace Portal Alliance Church.

We are blessed to have our middle son Mark living in the apartment building behind our building so we get to see him weekly to play games or watch old movies.  He has a lovely apartment with some of his Grandparents’ art on the walls.  He is still working at Safeway with James where he works in the deli department as he loves to cook.  Mark is still active with REC which is a Chinese Anglican Mission church in Richmond. Twice per month, he sings on the worship team.  Their church has just bought a new property which they are renovating.

Andrew (our youngest son) and his wife Ruth love attending Riverside Church in Port Coquitlam. We go over to Coquitlam usually 2 or 3 days a week and babysit the children.  Aaron at age 9 loves to make videos, often with a Christian theme. He is a very good reader, and loves drawing cartoons like his father.  Kelsea, who is age 7, recently started wearing glasses which has helped her reading, as she is far-sighted.  She is also a good artist, and a kind sister.  Isaiah at age 3 loves keeping up with his older siblings, and now goes to preschool. He has a delightful smile, and is full of fun.  All three children are wonderful singers, and like to put on plays for us. Andrew now does some ‘in charge’ management shifts at White Spot, and still loves to draw his special comic character which he shares on-line with his fellow artists.  Ruth is kept busy working part-time at Starbucks and watching her children.  She has some creative talent like her mother and has been making Christmas cards to sell for the last few years at her church fair.   

Last Christmas at the last moment, Janice was fortunate to get to sing at Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the Sunday after Christmas as Jenny Klenner was sick. Janice was happy to sing but it was a bit hectic. Then Ed also got to preach. He has preached a few times this year at our church All Saints. In fact,he recently preaching at a healing service there. Every week at All Saints, there are healing teams for those needing prayer.Janice has been helping out with the Sunday school when the main person Elaine is unavailable. She will be helping again in December. Ed preached and led the healing communion service at Holy Cross on Sunday December 4th in Abbotsford. We lived in Abbotsford from 1982 to 1987 and have good friends there. The book that we published last November, God’s Fire-starters has been received very well. You can order it through Amazon. We are working on some new books, one of which is on Ed’s hero E Stanley Jones called Fire in the Fireplace. The second book is being co-written with David Kitz who is the National Chair of The Word Guild in Canada called the Elisha Code. Every month as columnists we send in 2 articles to the Christian Light Magazine.

While in Oklahoma City for the United Christian Ashram International Board in September, Ed was installed as one of the Group of 4, who give spiritual mentorship for the movement.  This year once again we did our BC Christian Ashram on-line.  It was well-received even though some of the on-line people had trouble with Rogers Internet which went off-line all across Canada on the Friday evening, including for Janice.  We enjoyed having 10 people from Africa join us at the retreat.  The registrants from India did not manage to make it on-line but we had people from the Eastern states of USA join us as well.   Mark, James and Janice Hird were blessed to lead the worship on line and we had a talent show which was also on-line but some people did in-person on the Zoom platform.  The speakers, Pastors Giulio & Lina Gabeli, were very enjoyable and the prayer time was well-received.  You can view the talks online. On Friday July 7th to Saturday 8th 2023 we will go back to in-person at TWU but as a hybrid with on-line access.

As one of the elders at the church, Ed keeps active; we are soon going to go ahead with the renovations for All Saints Community Church.  Any donations to assist with this would be appreciated.  We continue to welcome new people weekly to our church.  It is right down in Crescent Beach so it is very visible to tourists and new people.

May Jesus the Word made flesh shine in your lives this Advent and Christmas. 

Ed & Janice Hird

Church @ Church at All Saints
The Second Sunday of Advent
4th December 2022.

This Sunday was the second Sunday of Advent. In anticipation of the coming of the Christ, we lighted our Advent candles. This week, I continued my series on “Spiritual Friendship” based on the book by Aelred of Rievaulx. I’m also excited to welcome Leanne Anthony to the All Saints team. Leanne has taken over from David Wiens, who has served us for many years by sending out these emails and keeping our Contact List updated. We welcomed Leanne as the new “Keeper Of The List.”
This Sunday we’re had our All Saints Community Lunch and Christmas Party after the service.
In case you missed it, you can find the service from last week by clicking HERE.
Important Dates:
If you have any further questions, or need help in any way, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Thank you Church.
Stay vigilant and prayerful.
Love each other deeply and keep Jesus at the very centre of everything you do.
Blessings on all you do.
The peace of our Lord,
Peter Klenner
Bishop and Pastor
All Saints Community Church
Crescent Beach
604.209.5570

Christ the King Healing service at All Saints Church Crescent Beach with Rev Dr. Ed Hird:

Do you have any blind spots? I do. Are there any areas where you are not self-aware? We can easily come to church with blind spots that we are not aware of. Blind spots can bring a business-as-usual attitude. Did you come with great expectations today for our healing service? Our expectations often shape what we receive. Pregnant mothers are often called expectant mothers. Why is that? People often say “don’t get your hopes up. You might be disappointed”. I want to challenge you today to get your hopes up. Hope is about expectation. Expectation in Latin is exspectare ‘look out for’, from ex- ‘out’.

Do you have expectant eyes today?

Alyosha the protagonist in Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, had ‘expectant eyes’. This initially annoyed his older worldly brother Ivan, but then he grew fond of Alyosha’s expectant eyes.

What expectations did you bring this morning? (Pause for the congregation who shared their expectations.)

Let me ask you a trick question. Is the Anglican Church Catholic or Protestant? The answer is yes. We are reformed catholics. All Saints Church as part of the Anglican Mission is a three-stream church, catholic, evangelical and charismatic. This means that we focus in Christ on sacrament, word, and Spirit. You may have heard that the word without the Spirit, you dry up. The Spirit without the Word you blow up. The Word, Spirit and Sacrament together, you grow up.

How many of you have a Bible that you read? How many of you have an Anglican Prayer Book? (Probably a lot less.) The good news is that today it is all online. I was raised in soft Anglocatholicism where very few of us had bibles at home. While being confirmed, I was taught about the Prayer Book catechism, but nothing about the Bible. Fortunately the Prayer book is 80% portions of the Bible. No one told me when I was young that the Anglican book of Common Prayer on p. 587 has a very powerful 11-page healing service with laying on of hands, healing prayers, reading of healing scriptures like James 5:14-16, confession and absolution, anointing with oil, and holy communion. It is the full deal approach to serious healing, yet sadly forgotten by most Anglican churches. Here is a sample prayer from the Anglican healing service: “Our Lord and Heavenly Father, who relieves those who suffer in soul and body: stretch forth thine hand, we beseech thee, to heal thy servant and to ease his pain; that by thy mercy he may be restored to health of body and mind, and show forth his thankfulness in love to thee and service to his fellow men and women; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” One of the Anglican healing prayers specifically spoke about “preserving thee in all goodness”? How many of you in today’s healing service want to be preserved in all goodness? The Holy Spirit is God’s great healing preservative. Preservative, like the word conservative, both mean to keep safe from harm. That is what today’s healing service is all about. God today wants to conserve you and preserve you in body, mind and spirit. Healing is not just physical but involves the whole person.

How many of you know the medieval term for anointing with oil? Unction which is Latin for anointing. Sadly many people lost sight of its healing potential and just relegated it to be used as last rites in what became known as The sacrament of extreme unction. I have been amazed the number of times when I anoint people during last rites that they get better, instead of dying.

Unctuosus in Latin literally meant ‘greasy or oily’. Today at our three prayer stations, you can ask to be anointed with oil for healing.

I will never forget the healing mission that I went to with a blind Anglican healing evangelist who joking called himself Mr Magoo. Many were healed that weekend as he spoke movingly about the healing power of the Eucharist, of receiving Holy Communion. While I valued the Lord’s supper, I had never before fully appreciated it’s connection to the healing ministry. Yet the Anglican catechism that I had studied said clearly that the benefits of receiving communion are “the strengthening and refreshing of our souls and bodies unto eternal life by the Body and Blood of Christ.” How many of you want strengthening and refreshing today both physically and spiritually?

In the first Anglican Prayer book written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1549, people were given communion while saying these words “The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for you, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life.” Many grumbled that this was too Catholic, so in the next Book of Common Prayer written by Archbishop Cranmer in 1552, it was dropped and replaced with the words “Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.” Sadly King Edward the sixth died, Bloody Mary kicked out the prayer book, and burnt 300 people at the stake including Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. He was so badly psychologically tortured that he signed a document renouncing the very prayer book that he had written. As he was being burnt alive, he took his right hand and stuck it in the flames, saying “with my right hand, I renounce my renunciation.” He died a martyr for the faith.

After Bloody Mary died from influenza in 1558, her half sister Queen Elizabeth took over, restoring the prayer book. This time, she used both phrases at communion, preserving both the Catholic objective side of communion and the Protestant subjective side of communion. Yes, it is the body of Christ spiritually. Yes, Jesus is really present in the Eucharist spiritually, but it must be received in your hearts by faith. Without a lively faith, as the 39 articles puts it, you are merely chewing on bread, as Saint Augustine put it ‘carnally and visibly press with their teeth’.

When you receive communion by faith, it is medicine to our body and soul.

In the old days, you could not receive communion in an Anglican Church without being confirmed. I got confirmed to make my mother happy. After being confirmed, I had great expectations for my first communion, but never realized that it was medicine. I was greatly disappointed. There was nothing wrong with the body and blood. But I didn’t receive it in my heart with thanksgiving. I believed in Jesus in my head, but had never received Jesus in my heart by faith with thanksgiving. After I received Jesus in 1972 during the Jesus movement, I went back to my local Anglican Church, and noticed that communion had improved. I added subjective faith to the objective sacrament. Seven years later, I received the gift of tongues, and remarkably communion improved again. I have noticed since that every time I forgive others, every time I apologize to my wife, every time I choose to be generous, every time I surrender my will, communion improves. The problem is not with the sacrament. The problem is my hard heart. How’s your heart today? Does it need to soften at all? Would you like communion to improve for you today?

In Vs 22 & 23, we are told that “They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village”

Jesus will sometimes use privacy to protect us from other’s manipulation and negativity.

Vs 23b tells us that Jesus spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him.

Spitting is very incarnational. In other places, he used mud with spit. Jesus like matter. It is not a coincidence that he called communion his flesh and blood. The sacraments are the material and spiritual integrated in a holy mystery, as the Eastern Orthodox call the sacraments. You may have noticed that Bishop Peter likes to be sensitive to people’s preferences, like grape juice or wine, gluten or gluten free wafers. Today he has decided that we will offer three healing stations: one with spit, one with mud, one with anointing oil. 😉

In Vs 23c, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

Jesus asked many amazing diagnostic questions in his healing ministry, such as “Do you want to be well?” We might want to do that as well when we pray for healing for others. His three-fold ministry which Jesus passed on to us is preaching, teaching, and healing the sick. The good news is that he is still present to heal today. (The power of God was present to heal the sick. Luke 5:16-26) He is still both willing and able to bring wholeness to us. ( “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” ³ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” Matthew 8:2-3) Healing is God’s will; sometimes a fuller healing is delayed. We sometimes grumble about that. You may have noticed that all of us die, entering in God’s full healing.

In vs 24, we are told that the blind man looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

This partial healing of sight is often true in our lives, not only physically but also spiritually.

E Stanley Jones from the first Christian Ashram retreat in 1930 held a healing service and a communion service. Communion as I have said is healing. Jones who recorded hundreds of healings in his 28 books, believed oblique or indirect healing. More physical healings take place when spiritual and emotional healing comes first. I ask some of you today: who do you need to forgive? Who are you no longer talking to in your family? Could bitterness be holding back a physical breakthrough?

After losing my voice in 1980, I became passionate about the healing ministry, becoming an Order of St Luke the Physician Chaplain. On May 25th 1982, I had throat surgery at Vancouver General Hospital which restored my voice, though initially leaving it breathy, very quiet and raspy. Don’t give up when you only see people like trees. Thank God for that partial healing. Sometimes you need to soak for a while in God’s healing presence as more breakthrough comes.

Vs 25 tells us that “Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”

Would you ‘see’ more clearly in your life? Do you ever treat people as trees, as less than human? All genocides and war crimes come from our seeing people as trees. In Rwanda, Tutus were called cockroaches as they were being slaughtered.

In vs 26, we are told that “Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

Sometimes to keep your healing, you have to be careful who you share your healing with.

It is very easy to be impatient as we seek healing for ourselves and others. One of my biggest temptation is impatience. I seldom have car accidents. The few I have had have been connected to my impatience.

Nicky Gumbel recently tweeted: “Abraham waited for 25 years. Joseph waited 25 years. Moses waited 25 years. Jesus waited 25 years. If God makes you wait, you are in good company.”

Have you ever thanked God for unanswered prayers, how God protects us from our naivety and foolishness?

Our impatience can tempt us to try to twist God’s arm. Healing is not about getting our own way in our own timing. Healing is about the surrender of our will, about aligning our will with God’s healing will.

Let us pray that God will strengthen our patience as we minister healing to others in Jesus’ name. Never give up.