Good news

David has finally turned a corner with the pneumonia he has had ever since his wisdom tooth extraction.

If you have a kid getting wisdom teeth out, and he comes down with a mild cold the morning of the surgery, take my advice: cancel the surgery. I am not kidding.

Anyway, a friend of mine gave us some powerful liquid vitamins, which seemed to help quite a lot. She also gave us a very good probiotic for him to take, given that he had been on something like five courses of antibiotics, and the current course is for twenty days.

Another friend of mine counseled us regarding natural health. She encouraged us to continue the probiotic and to take more and more each week until his body is literally flooded with it. She also instructed him to eat the juice and pulp of 1/2 a lemon in 8 oz. of water sweetened with stevia, every day. This alkalinizes the body, which seems strange, because lemon is an acid, but it alkalinizes the body system to make it a hostile environment for viruses and bacterium. She has David inhaling peppermint essential oil (which he doesn't seem to mind at all) and told him to cut all white flour and sugar out of his diet. She also explained why all this stuff works, but I won't get into that here.

I noticed today that David was no longer violently hacking up mucus morning and evening. He seems more energetic (probably due to the vitamins) and also less congested. The last time I put my ear on his back and listened to his chest, it was so alarming, I have been afraid to do it again, but I think I might try listening again tonight. Now my biggest angst is over whether I should have him finish all twenty days of this antibiotic. I don't think antibiotics are good for you. I think fourteen days should be quite sufficient.

Except for the fact that our insurance is denying coverage for the allergy and asthma doctor, I am feeling pretty relieved about this whole situation.

I'm so relieved, in fact, that I am thinking of other people I would like to introduce to my natural health friend, people who have serious health issues of their own.

I was thinking about how eager I am to share this good news with friends who could benefit, who could maybe have wonderful deliverance from symptoms that they suffer, and I thought, "Why am I not eager like this to share about Jesus with people who need to be saved from sin and death and eternity in hell?"

The answer came to me straightaway. I don't feel eager to share with people about Jesus, because by and large the people who need Jesus don't know that they need Him. My friends know that they are sick and suffering, so they would be eager to hear about natural help for their health problems. But people living apart from the Lord often have no awareness of their problem, and they generally don't appreciate being told that they have one.

So... how do you bring good news about a Savior to a world that has no idea that it needs salvation?

I'm not sure what the answer is. However, I don't generally think it's very effective to get into people's faces and tell them that they need a Savior. That is pretty much on the same plane as approaching an obese person and saying, "I have a diet plan that would work just great for you! You will lose weight, look better, feel better and live longer if you follow my diet plan! Can I tell you about it?" And all the person really hears is, "This woman thinks I'm fat." When we approach non-believers with the plan of salvation, all they hear is, "This person thinks I'm a lousy sinner." And even if they know it's true, they really are lousy sinners, they can't receive the message because of the bad feelings that arise within them.

At the same time, there is no purpose for salvation if people don't understand that they are in danger and need saving.

I really think it lies with the Holy Spirit. He touches hearts. He draws people into the Kingdom. We don't. Jesus said, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper [Holy Spirit] will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment..." (John 16:7-8). So you see, awakening people to their sinful nature is not our job. It is the Holy Spirit's job.

We are useful. We can love people, feed them, listen to them, and even tell them about the Lord. But we can never draw them. That is a process begun by the Holy Spirit alone. He will draw them in His time and in His way. Ephesians 2:10 says that we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. We will be involved with the process. God has us here on earth in order that we may be His hands to the world. He laid it all out in advance; He knows in advance who will be saved, and He knows in advance whom He has tasked with bringing the message of salvation to each one. Colossians 1:24 says that we complete in our flesh what was lacking in Christ's afflictions, which means that we are the carriers of grace, messengers left in the world to work through the power of the Spirit to bring people into the Kingdom through the story of Jesus' perfect and complete work on the cross.

Colossians 1:29 says, "To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy which so powerfully works in me." We cannot do this alone. The Holy Spirit's power in our lives is absolutely critical to the worth of anything we ever do.

So, I think, the most important thing is to nurture our relationship with the Holy Spirit, our sensitivity to His leading, and our faith in God's promises. Our lives will be truly effective for Him when they are utterly bound up in Him and totally dependent on Him. John 15:5 says, "If a man abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing."

We need to nurture our relationship with Him first, feast on Him first, bask in His beautiful glory first. The Lord needs to be first. He can handle all the rest. He softens the heart before we arrive, and He births the new Christian into eternal life. We just stand by, pray, share some scriptures, and watch in amazement at what the Lord can do.