Category: Encouragement
Mightier Than All Our Troubles; Never Measure God’s Unlimited Power by Your Limited Expectations.
Psalm 93 states:
1 The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
2 Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.
3 The seas have lifted up, Lord,
the seas have lifted up their voice;
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea—
the Lord on high is mighty.
5 Your statutes, Lord, stand firm;
holiness adorns your house
for endless days.
Iguazu Falls, (see this link) on the border of Brazil and Argentina, is a spectacular waterfall system of 275 falls along 2.7 km (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. Etched on a wall on the Brazilian side of the Falls are the words of Psalm 93:4, “Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty!” Below it are these words, “God is always greater than all of our troubles.”
The writer of Psalm 93, who penned its words during the time that kings reigned, knew that God is the ultimate King over all. “The Lord reigns,” he wrote. “Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity” (vv. 1–2). No matter how high the floods or waves, the Lord remains greater than them all.
The roar of a waterfall is truly majestic, but it is quite a different matter to be in the water hurtling toward the falls. That may be the situation you are in today. Physical, financial, or relational problems loom ever larger and you feel like you are about to go over the falls. In such situations, the Christian has Someone to turn to. He is the Lord, “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20) for He is greater than all our troubles. You can pray “Lord, I know that You are powerful and greater than any trouble that might come my way. I trust You to carry me through.”
Never measure God’s unlimited power by your limited expectations.
Are there areas in your life that feel out of control? If so, you’re in good company. So many of the psalms were inspired by desperate feelings of fear and confusion. Yet they ended up as songs of hope in the God who has promised to never leave us or forsake us. But who is this God? The author of Psalm 93 identifies Him as the Lord (Yahweh). By contrast to legendary gods of war, fertility, weather, travel, or the hunt, He is the God who created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 2:4).
Consider the implications of such a Creator. Use the measure of modern astronomy. What kind of God speaks into existence billions of galaxies filled with trillions of suns far greater than our own? Yet even the cosmos is not the measure of His greatness. According to the New Testament (John 1:1–3, 14), the God of the Bible is the Lord who, in Jesus, showed that He is greater than our troubles by bearing our sins and diseases. In the weakness of His crucifixion and by the power of His resurrection, He showed that even His love for us is greater than our sin and life’s troubles whatever they may be. For information of how to have a personal relationship with such a Creator, see the following link.
The above was an excerpt from Our Daily Bread Devotional of July 19th, 2017, published by RBC Ministries.
https://odb.org/2017/07/19/mightier-than-all-2/
To Be Delivered From Pressure, Trust in Jesus, Not In Yourself
Photo; BJ Gabrielsen
The great apostle Paul wrote that he and his colleagues were under great pressure, “burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life; indeed we had the sentence of death within ourselves” (as in the case of many cancer patients), “in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9).
“Under great pressure.” Can we identify with that? We all know the feeling when it seems the weight of the world is upon us. We can’t imagine how we’ll ever get through. We may even reach the point of thinking we would rather die and be done with it than have to endure any longer.
“But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God.” Paul’s explanation can be ours too. Of course, we do not know the workings of God’s purposes in allowing suffering in our lives, pain that can even take us to the breaking point. However, we can always know we are to rely on Him and not ourselves while going through circumstances. That is the reason we can accept whatever circumstances we are in: God is with us.
Paul concludes (v.10) God “delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And he will continue to deliver us.” God is our hope and deliverer, not just now in this situation. He was there in the past, and He will continue to be.
If you are unsure of your personal relationship with God, you can know for certain. See the following link.
The above was an excerpt from the Haven Ministries daily devotional, “Anchor” from May 9th, 2017.
The Secret of Being an Overcomer (in spite of any physical issues).
One of my favorite and most applicable Bible passages is from 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. The apostle Paul had a “thorn in the flesh”, a physical problem (like we may have prostate cancer) which God chose not to alleviate at this point. After pleading with God three times to remove the thorn, God told Paul (and us) that “my grace is sufficient for you, for (God’s) power is perfected in (our) weakness”; to which Paul replied “most gladly therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions and difficulties (like prostate cancer) for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Paul learmed the secret of being an overcomer. Maintain God’s perspective on the ups and downs of life and access His power. Paul was firmly convinced that having the person of the Holy Spirit living in him meant that God’s power was available to him. (Note: when a person places their entire faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection for forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life, and submits their will to follow God’s direction, then the Holy Spirit comes to live within that person and a personal relationship with God and Jesus is established and empowered.)
Therefore, we too can learn to be at peace while the storms of life rage around us. The first step is to know and believe that the power of God is within us through the presence of His Spirit. We must then accept that God’s priority for us is our transformation into Christ’s image and not necessarily comfortable circumstances. Diligently seeking to maintain Jesus’ perspective on trials is also important. He said in John 16:33, “these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” Until we settle such matters of faith, true contentment will evade us.
Having embraced these truths, we can learn to use the divine power of the risen Christ. The key lies in submitting our will to His. Then instead of reacting to life based on our own weaknesses and desires, we will switch to responding on the basis of God’s will and the fact that we belong to Christ. We will be able to consciously surrender ourselves to the Lord and His pattern for our life. Yielding control to the Holy Spirit allows God’s perfect will to be done and enables us to accept it. When we can honestly say “God whatever You chooses to send will be all right with me”, then we will experience the inner peace Jesus promised to us. (“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27).
Divine perspective, surrender and firm faith- these are the ingredients for the victorious, overcoming life.
The preceding was adaped from In Touch Ministries devotionals, April 17th, 2017, by Dr.Charles Stanley.
From Dismay to Hope: Advanced Prostate Cancer, PROVENGE and Prolonging Life.
Christmas for me has always been a joyous occasion but this past December, 2016 it included an element I had always dreaded. My prostate cancer had been kept under control with a combination of intermittent and continuous Lupron® injections for ten (10) years. Every time I had received positive results from my PSA tests, I felt as if God had given me a 4-month reprieve of life. I could forget my cancer for a while and live my life happily and productively until the next test. I knew I wouldn’t be cured but I had hoped above all hopes that the hormone therapy would work long enough for me to die of another, less-painful scenario. In December 2016, I found that the hormone treatments had stopped working and I was now classified with refractory, advanced prostate cancer though thankfully asymptomatic. My Florida urologist had always hoped that this “bad day” would never come but now he told me I could expect 2-3 “good years” of alternative treatments until metastatic disease would overtake me. He shook my hand and referred me to the care of my Florida oncologist. Upon seeing my oncologist, his first words to me were “what do you want to do now?” Though I am a Ph.D. scientist, I am neither an M.D. nor a trained oncologist so I looked at him with a sense of bewilderment and confusion. I later learned that this approach was something called “patient-centered care” wherein I was to be totally involved in my therapy. Information shared below indicates that my first choice of therapy, PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T), way be the right one.
Well, in writing this website I knew something about the few therapeutic agents available to me at this stage, so my oncologist and I listed them including enzalutamide (Xtandi®), taxotere (docetaxel®), abiraterone (Zytiga®) and PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T). In looking over my website listing of drugs currently under development for advanced prostate cancer, I was dismayed to note the significiant number of late clinical stage failures [e.g. custirsen (OGX-011), galeterone (TOK-011), orteronel (TAK-700), ipilimumab (Yervoy)] which reinforced the fact that my options were getting fewer and the prospect of dying of prostate cancer was becoming more of a reality. Since I am asymptomatic at this point, another possibility was to do nothing until symptoms or metastases appeared on various scans. I remembered that I had written a blog dated October 28th, 2014 wherein four prostate cancer experts had recommended the early use of PROVENGE® in treating refractory, asymptomatic disease. Fortunately, PROVENGE® was available for me at my specific treatment site and in April, 2017 I started my treatment which I will describe below.
PROVENGE was studied in Phase 3 clinical trials involving 512 men with metastatic, hormone-resistant prostate cancer in the IMPACT trial. It was found that PROVENGE had a more pronounced treatment effect in men with lower, decreasing baseline PSA. Thus, men with lower cancer burden may benefit most from PROVENGE therapy administered at an early stage of advanced cancer. These men may tend to experience less immunosuppression systemically and in the tumor microenvironment. Immuno-treatment such as PROVENGE also has a delayed onset of action and is capable of generating a sustained response. Therefore treatment earlier in the disease would allow more time for the patient to benefit from the therapy. This data seemed to fit my current status. My oncologist refers to me as “the best of the worst”.
As published in the June 2013 issue of Urology [Schellhamer et al; 81(6),1297-1302] the median overall survival in men whose baseline PSA was lower than 22 ng/mL was 41.3 months as opposed to 28.3 months in the control, untreated group for an overall median survival benefit of 13 months. Estimated 3-year survival for the lowest PSA group receiving PROVENGE was 62.6% for PROVENGE patients versus 41.6% for the control group.
Was God leading me in this choice? Clinical trial data for PROVENGE seems to indicate it is an excellent choice for me at this point. I have a sense of peace especially as God has paved the way for me in the administration of this therapy even to the point of giving me good, useful veins as would be needed (see below). Is it possible that God could extend one’s life even though His Word states that He has our days “numbered?” One day, my daily devotionals included a section from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, often not known for its inspirational themes but a more historical book. In this reading, Deuteronomy 6:2 seemed to leap out at me. It states that I should “fear (respect) the Lord your (my) God, to keep all His statutes and commandments…….all the days of your (my) life, and that your (my) days may be prolonged.” Did God intend to speak to me through this verse? Could He prolong my days? I cannot say for certain. But even though I don’t know how many years I have left, I daily “present my body a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is my spiritual service of worship” according to Romans 12:1. I will trust in God’s wisdom and that of my physicians. I’ll keep writing this website. As I believe Jesus once told me (see video link), I’ll keep doing what He told me to do and He’ll care for my body.
How Provenge works: PROVENGE is a cellular immunotherapy designed to induce an immune response targeted against prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), an enzyme (antigen) produced (expressed) by prostate cells and found in higher amounts in most prostate cancers. PROVENGE consists of a patient’s own white blood cells [T-cells, B-cells, natural killer (NK) and other cells] including antigen-presenting cells (APC), specialized white blood cells that help fight off foreign substances that enter the body. These APC cells send out signals to T-cells (other immune system cells) when an antigen enters the body. In PROVENGE, a person’s APC’s have been activated with a synthetic combination (recombinant) of two human proteins, PAP and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) an immune cell activator. These activated immune cells may be able to recognize and attack certain prostate cancer cells. During the process of generating PROVENGE from a person’s white cells, the resulting mixture remains active outside the body for only a matter of days. Therefore it is imperative that the patient and physicians adhere to a personalized leukapheresis and infusion schedule usually three days apart.
Approximately three days before receiving Provenge®, white blood cells (T-cells, B-cells, etc) are collected by passing whole blood extracted through a small tube (catheter, a large bore needle) placed in a vein in the right arm through a machine which extracts the white cells and the unextracted blood is returned through a smaller needle placed in a vein in the left arm. This process called leukapheresis usually takes about three hours. If the arm veins are insufficient for the blood collection, then a venous catheter will be placed into a vein in the next or upper chest. I was told at the blood bank that a catheter is necessitated in the majority of cases but even though some medical personnel have difficulty drawing my blood, my arm veins were of sufficient quality to be used (a real praise). The collected cells are then sent to a laboratory where PROVENGE is generated. The prepared sipuleucel-T (PROVENGE) solution (which has an expiration time) is then shipped to a local infusion center, where it is injected back within three (3) days after collection. The infusion takes about an hour. The entire collection, cell transformation and re-injection process is very time-dependent and requires strict coordination between blood-drawing centers, laboratory and infusion sites. While there are some side effects possible, I only experienced mild fatigue after the collection and infusion processes. The process is somewhat cumbersome yet very do-able and worthwhile if prescribed for your early stage advanced cancer.
My Presentation With Dr. Jacek Mostwin (Johns Hopkins) at the 5th Conference on Religion and Medicine, March 25th, 2017, Houston, Texas
A few months ago, my long-time Johns Hopkins urology surgeon, Dr. Jacek Mostwin, suggested that we prepare a joint presentation for the meeting cited above. I readily agreed. The annual conference on Religion and Medicine encourages physicians, care-givers and hospital pastoral staff to see their patients as more than data, results and medical information but instead as unique, multi-faceted, spiritual individuals. The effects of spirituality on medical conditions and outcomes is a general theme. The conference is a way to support the religious experience that is often left behind by more secular bioethics in modern medicine. This meeting has also created a growing community of many different types of people who are interested in the human side of medicine. This interfaith forum and growing community includes practitioners who feel the religious dimension of their work is important, and theologians and chaplains who may feel otherwise quite marginalized in secular medical centers – here they find a sympathetic medical collegiality.
The text of our 15-minute talk is as follows.
God and Prostate.net; Illness, Mortality, Faith, Evangelism and the Doctor-Patient Relationship in the Digital Age
Introduction as presented by Dr. Jacek Mostwin, Johns Hopkins. “I am here today with my friend and colleague, Dr. Bjarne Gabrielsen, to talk about his website, Godandprostate.net, and its intertwining, related themes: Illness, Mortality, Faith, Evangelism and the Doctor-Patient Relationship in the Digital Age. In 1995, Dr. Gabrielsen became my surgical patient for treatment of prostate cancer. It quickly became clear that we shared a belief in the role of faith in medical experience. We have remained in close contact over these 22 years. For Dr. Gabrielsen, faith is the heart of life. The website Godandprostate.net is a public extension of his spiritual diary; a personal blog integrating medical and spiritual entries. It is a bold testament of belief in God’s faithfulness and an affirmation that life’s many stages have meaning.”
My presentation. “My name is Bjarne Gabrielsen. I have a Ph.D. in organic chemistry with research interests in medicinal organic chemistry and natural products. My career was spent equally in academia (University of Florida) and government, the last 20 years at the National Cancer Institute (NIH) where I retired as a Senior Advisor in Drug Discovery and Development. I am first generation Norwegian-American, raised in a conservative Lutheran background, and married for the first time in 2000 at the age of 58 (very happily). I am also a prostate cancer survivor since 1995 now classified as having advanced prostate cancer though asymptomatic (thank God). Through the years, I have been blessed with first-class medical support.
My personal story starts in 1995 when I received the dreaded phone call from Johns Hopkins that my biopsy had revealed prostate cancer. It didn’t take long for God to intervene and make His presence known. Sharing the news with a close friend later that morning, I noticed a sparrow walking unafraid at my feet. Immediately, the word came to me from Luke 12:6-7, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Shortly thereafter, God gave me Dr. Mostwin who performed successful surgery at Hopkins in late 1995. The night of my surgery, I was reading my Bible when Dr. Mostwin visited me. We had a brief but meaningful conversation about how one can believe and trust the words written in the Bible. Looking back on this incident, the theme of the truth and relevance of God’s Word would dominate my future years. My cancer, though treated at a very early stage, recurred biochemically in 2002, which devastated me at the time. Additional radiation therapy did not eradicate it completely. Looking back now, I see that God allowed this in my life so I could create my website among other reasons. God always has a long-range purpose for us even in what we perceive at the moment to be devastating developments.
I had started a personal spiritual diary in 1995 expanding it from 2002-2010. During these years, Dr. Mostwin asked me to examine a book written by a prostate cancer survivor to comment on its value for others. I read it and concluded the author provided limited encouragement even though he had been anointed with oil by his church leaders as described in James 5:14-15, and performed in many Christian denominations. Such anointing with oil would play a huge role in my own life in 2004. Dr. Mostwin then seriously suggested I write my own book. I decided on a website instead since books have endings and websites go on. Godandprostate.net now comprises over 250 separate posts and has over 820,000 hits. There are medical posts from journals and periodicals and spiritual ones from various devotional books in a 2:1 ratio. A Medical Resources section includes information from the National Cancer Institute, Prostate Cancer Foundation, Prostate Cancer Research Institute, Johns Hopkins etc. Medical topics are updated regularly such as; finding the right physicians, resources for newly diagnosed men, prostate cancer for beginners, scans and imaging, pathology, approved treatments and side effects, immunotherapies, clinical trials, life style, diet, nutraceuticals and vitamins like D3. Spiritual sections include: a) “Scriptural Medicines” (Biblical verses and promises of encouragement); b) “God Still Heals Cancer” (two personally known examples of healing from brain and breast tumors); c) “How to Enter a Personal Relationship with God” (a general and personal testimony) and lastly, d) “Lessons Learned” (or being learned on a personal level).
Can there be a major purpose of disease? Isaiah 40:1 says “comfort, comfort my people says your God.” Isaiah’s mission was to comfort the hurting people of Israel. Likewise today there are countless hurting people who need God’s comfort. Illness of any kind can be a training ground to prepare us to share comfort with another. I may be asked to endure the same afflictions that are plaguing others before I can truly be of comfort and help.
Now I will present nine lessons learned or being learned:
1) God has a specific goal for all aspects of our lives. Jeremiah 29:11-12 states “for I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” But can those God-ordained plans include prostate cancer? Our abstract states that “diseases of one kind or another and eventual death are things we will all experience. We all want every aspect of our lives to have significance, be of value to others, be meaningful and fulfilling including our education, career, family, friends, specific interests and talents. But what about sickness, disease and eventual death? Can these fit the “meaningful” category? My answer is “yes”, hence my website written to empower and encourage men. Many people desire that a higher power be involved in many aspects of their lives. Why shouldn’t God be involved in diseases and eventual death? We don’t cease to exist if a disease such as prostate cancer takes our lives. God has a purpose for everything even prostate cancer. Jesus and His disciples once encountered a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked Jesus why the man had been born blind to which Jesus answered that “it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). And so it can be with prostate cancer. God’s ideal plan consists of two main goals; a) to glorify Himself and His Son Jesus through all aspects of our lives including sickness and disease; and, b) to experience that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.” (Romans 8:28). God uses sicknesses to glorify Himself, to increase our faith, to allow others to see God and Jesus in us, and, to make us more sensitive to people around us and their specific conditions.
2) God speaks to us about our conditions predominantly from His Word, the Bible. God may speak through prayer, circumstances, our experiences or interactions with others but these are always coupled with a specific scriptural promise or reference. We can even question God about our conditions. But we should reject the tendency to focus on our circumstances, negative emotions and fears, but instead trust on God’s promises in His Word. His Word is filled with scriptural anchors (see scriptural medicines section) to keep us steady in the faith.
3) We have the assurance that through our relationship with God through faith in Jesus, we will live forever, in a new heaven and a new earth with a new, perfect body. Life is a series of “anticipations.” When we were 12, we looked forward to being a teen, then graduating, then a successful career, then marriage and family, then retirement, but then what??? We should always have a goal to which we aspire and live each day intentionally. We all will eventually die of one cause or another. Having the assurance of eternal life in spite of potentially life-threatening conditions, totally changes our outlook. This assurance based on God’s Word (e.g. John 3:16) removes the fear of death (though we often fear the process of dying). It also gives true inner peace knowing that the best is yet to come in “the twinkling of an eye” when we are transported from this life to the next, immortal phase.
4) God’s purposes can often be to change us rather than our circumstances. While our own circumstances may not change, God may use other people, events and especially His Word to change us inwardly, “perfecting” us for any task we need to accomplish according to His will.
5) Focus on issues and relationships in our lives which would have the most lasting or eternal effects. I must accept that in my life, I can care for others as unique individuals and possibly affect them. Writing a personalized “legacy letter”, I can share the most important issues and experiences in my own life as they would relate to any one friend, colleague or family member, voicing specific thanks for past experiences and a hope for an eternal future together.
6) Remember the times God has previously protected and delivered us. In the Old Testament, God often instructed Israel to erect a monument at a specific site in remembrance of God’s previous miraculous deliverances. They were constantly reminded to “remember when God…..”. We likewise are instructed to celebrate God’s faithfulness and remember what God has done previously in our lives and how He has delivered us in the past. His faithfulness remains to this day and forever.
7) Learn to cope with life’s “thorns”. Acknowledge our own weakness. Like the apostle Paul, many of us are given “thorns in the flesh”, namely conditions which we’d rather not have but which God has not chosen to remove. Mine has been prostate cancer. The apostle Paul had his “thorn” most likely a condition involving his eyesight. But through it all, God’s message is that “His grace is sufficient” and God’s “power is perfected in our (my) weakness.” Recognition of my helplessness unleashes God’s power. I need to affirm as the apostle Paul did, that when I am weak (in myself), then I am strong (in Christ). What God can accomplish through me and my life experiences is directly proportional to my level of dependence on Him.
8) Learn to experience the peace of God. Even though it is hard not to think about the fact that there are cancer cells in me, instead I should receive the gift of peace offered in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful.”
9) Lastly, be thankful for everything, taking nothing for granted. I have so much for which to be thankful including a wife whom I cherish, many supportive friends, a career that I could not have planned nor imagined for myself, and most of all, an eternal life in God’s presence in a new heaven and a new earth with a new body to which I can aspire. Finally I am very thankful for the opportunity you all have given me to share with you today.”
Concluding remarks from Dr. Mostwin. “When I was a surgical resident at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in the late 1970’s, surgical attendings would invite their patients to come before the entire department to speak about their experiences. A subliminal message conveyed to us was the unique bond between surgeon and patient that extended beyond the operating room and the hospital bedside, something that seemed special for me then, though I did not understand how and why. We don’t do that sort of thing very much in medical education now. But in this presentation, we have done just that and in doing so have shared with you the closeness of medicine, faith and the unique circumstance of life that brought us together and kept us that way. We are grateful for your attention.”
P.S. Only an hour or so before the presentation, Dr. Mostwin shared with me two very pertinent verses he had just read in his daily devotional as follows. “I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation. I have not restrained my lips, as Thou knowest O Lord. I have not hid thy saving help within my heart. I have spoken of Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation; I have not concealed Thy steadfast love and Thy faithfulness from the great congregation.” (Psalm 40:9-10).
When God Does Not Heal
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
If God is all-powerful, why do we witness so few miraculous healings? There are many reasons for this. Sometimes we do not ask Him. Other times, we might ask but with wrong motives or a lack of faith. And then there is the reason that we do not like to hear: God may choose not to heal.
Beware of theology that promises healing to anyone who asks. This is not biblical. The problem is not inability; God is able to heal anyone and anything. And be careful if someone claims the lingering illness is the result of sin. This may be true, but often our heavenly Father, in His great love and unfathomable wisdom, allows our ailments to persist.
Consider Paul, who asked the Lord three times to remove his “thorn.” (See 2 Corinthians 12:7-8.) Yet it remained. We can learn from his response—he did not question God’s authority, nor did he complain. Instead, recognizing that divine strength would show through his weakness, Paul trusted God.
We, too, can believe that God will work all things for good in His children’s lives (Romans 8:28). In fact, character growth usually occurs in times of suffering, loss, or hurt. While adversity is uncomfortable, we can feel hope and joy in what our Father is accomplishing through painful times.
Ultimately, God brings glory to Himself and good to His children. There are instances when this involves miraculous healing, but He often refines us by allowing the hardship. As with silver and gold, impurities are usually removed from hearts in the fiery furnace of life’s struggles. Trust God’s plan and rest in His love.
From Dr. Charles Stanley, In Touch Daily Devotional, January 13th, 2017.
Help For Our Healing
God cares about our physical well-being. After all, He made our bodies as a temple for His Spirit. And while He is able to heal sickness, His original intention was not for His perfect creation to experience disease.
But in this sinful world, ungodly choices at times lead to illness. So when we’re afflicted, it’s wise to ask God to search our heart and reveal anything He wants us to address (Psalm 139:23-24). Since sin can act like a blockage to prayer (Psalm 66:18), confessing any known wrongdoing is also a good idea.
Most of the time, though, health problems are just part of our human condition—a symptom of mankind’s fallen state rather than evidence of personal sin. The truth is, disease affects just about everyone at some point. So how does God want us to respond?
Certain situations, of course, require prompt medical attention, but even in a crisis, our Father wants us to be aware of His presence and to stay in communication with Him (“pray without ceasing”, 1 Thess. 5:17). Developing a pattern of prayerfulness before an emergency occurs is the best way to prepare for the unexpected.
The Bible’s instructions also include praying for one another and calling the elders of the church to come and pray, anointing the afflicted person with oil in Jesus’ name. (See James 5:14).
Our Father is able to heal even the most deadly disease, but He sometimes chooses to allow the condition to remain. When requesting restored health, we should ask with faith and trust—faith in God’s ability but trust in His perfect will, whether that means healing or suffering-induced growth.
See James 5:13-20. This devotional by Dr. Charles Stanley was published on January 12th, 2017 in the In Touch Devotional Magazine.
A Faith Savings Account
Imagine God or Jesus Himself writing this to you. “Every time you affirm your trust in Me, you put a coin into my treasury. Thus you build up equity in preparation for days of trouble. I keep safely in My heart all trust invested in Me, with interest compounded continuously. The more you trust Me, the more I empower you to do so.
Practice trusting Me during quiet days when nothing much seems to be happening. Then when storms come, your trust balance will be sufficient to see you through. Store up for yourself treasure in heaven” (Matthew 6:20-1) “through placing your trust in Me. This practice will keep you in My Peace.”
Psalm 56:3-4: “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee. In God, whose word I praise. In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid.”
The excerpt above was taken from January 10th, “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young; Thomas Nelson publisher.
December 5th, 2016; A Dreaded Day-More Lessons Learned
A western Norway fjord; Provided by Arnold Dalene.
I always knew the day had to come when the therapy I had been given for the last ten years inhibiting cancer cell growth would stop working and my PSA would start increasing despite the treatments. I had been living my life in four month increments of time between PSA tests. Now on December 5th, I finally saw the PSA rising uncontrolled. My local urologist called it “a bad day”, gave me a hug, kissed my wife on the cheek and in a “dismissal speech” said I’d have maybe 2-3 good years left before the painful and eventually fatal effects of advanced prostate cancer would manifest themselves. Meanwhile my oncologist told me I could maybe get ten years “if I hit the jackpot” in terms of additional therapies [e.g. enzalutamide (Xtandi® and abiraterone (Zytiga®] now available to me as an asymptomatic but metastatic patient. These drugs were not available as long I did not have clinical metastases. (I now see a medical need for the development of new therapeutic agents for prostate cancer patients like me who are asymptomatic yet metastatic.)
For several days, my mind was numb. I now could see an end-of-life coming into view. Even my personal relationship with God and Jesus seemed light years away through a combination of fear of dying, anger at therapeutic failure and extreme anxiety of near-future events. In my daily devotionals, I pleaded with God to allow me to hear something positive from Him now even though I knew He had spoken to my heart and mind many times in the past. An answer came from the Old Testament prophetic book of Micah 6:3-5 where God says to His people (and to me) “what have I done to you and how have I wearied you?” I quickly answered “You allowed the therapy that had worked for so long to fail.” Then He reminded me of so many instances in the past where He had delivered me from near-fatal accidents and illnesses just as He reminded His people (Israel) in verses 4-5 of the times He delivered them e.g. by parting the Red Sea among others. Then in verse 8, God reminded me to simply continue to “walk humbly with my God.” In addition, in the book of Hosea, God tells Israel (and me) “what shall I do with you”, your faith is like dew on morning grass which evaporates as soon as the hot sun hits it. Also as Jesus told His disciples when the storm arose nearly overwhelming them in their boat followed by His calming of the sea, “why are you so anxious, have you so little faith?”
While in this state of despair, I came upon a clinical trial of a new PET/CT scan imaging agent under development at Johns Hopkins designed to identify and localize tiny pockets of metastatic cancer sites. Upon contacting them, I was informed overnight that I would be an ideal candidate for the scan which I eventually received on December 12th in Baltimore. While my physicians and I had hoped the scan would find nothing, or perhaps one metastatic site which could be treated, the scan revealed three very small sites of cancer in three different lymph nodes which did not lend themselves to remedial treatment. In my disappointment however, I remembered that 13 years earlier I had a CT scan (Prostascint) at Hopkins which revealed the same three sites and which had not grown on size over the thirteen years that I was under hormonal therapy. I and my physicians took some encouragement in this comparison. But now of course, that limitation of starving the cells and controlling their growth is lifted.
So where does this leave me and perhaps you the reader if you can relate to my condition? Medically, I am in a watch-and-wait-and re-scan mode with several potential treatments available including immunotherapies like Provenge and soon Prostavac if and when needed. I am grateful for a team of cutting-edge and communicative physicians at Johns Hopkins (Maryland) and Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. In addition, I was honored to be asked to give a talk along with my Hopkins urologist at a conference entitled “Medicine and Religion” in March, 2017. I intend to describe my personal spiritual and medical experiences including “lessons learned” as described on this website over the years.
I have been reminded over and over to remember what God has told me in the past predominantly through His Word, the Bible and so directly and unexpectedly several times. Jesus has said He would take care of my body as long as I continue the “mission” He has given me of allowing Him to be seen through my cancer. (See the April 30th, 2015 link).
God may also want to change me from the inside rather than my circumstances. When we wait in silence before God, it gives Him the opportunity to communicate His thoughts to us. In Psalm 62:1,5 David writes, “my soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation…..My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him.” Verses 11-12 state that “power and lovingkindness belong to God.” It may be His will that I keep my prostate cancer but God will deliver me now in this life as well as in my eternal life which I possess as a free gift through personal faith in Christ.
I am also learning how to combat the negative cloud of anxiety which seems to overwhelm me at times of bad news. In Romans 12:1-2 the apostle Paul writes, “I urge you….to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship; and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” How do I “renew my mind”? In Christ, I am to become a “living sacrifice”. I need to say to Him as my Savior and Lord, “I trust You. Whatever You want me to do I am willing.” Then He “transforms” me by renewing my mind to focus on things that please God and are in my best interest as well. God will never call on us to do something for which He has not already equipped us.
God has also told me (through my wife) that what He can accomplish in and through me is directly proportional to how much I depend upon Him.
And so the journey continues. More medical and spiritual posts to come. If you cannot relate to having a personal, communicative relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, see this link.