Principles & Practice of Health Evangelism
Chapter 14-B
Therapeutic Behavior Change
Part B: Divine Intervention
Textbook pages 132-150
God’s Special Help with Bad Habits and Addictions
I have already mentioned prayer; but there is much more to learn about God’s special help for those who want to overcome. God will help you overcome every bad habit and addiction. God is the answer to life’s failures and unfulfilled desires. God wants you to know Him as a helper.
God does not usually save us from the consequences of the diseases we get from years of indulgence, but God will always help us change our destructive behaviors. You may not know God personally. You may not even believe in God. You may not want to know God, but God wants you to experience Him as a Helper in your life. God will prove to you that he is real. If after asking God for help, you find that you experience success in overcoming bad habits where you had only experienced failure before, you will have first-hand, personal experience that there is a God who helps you in your time of need.
Preachers and evangelists want unbelievers to come to know Jesus Christ as a redeemer of the “soul” and acknowledge the life, death, and resurrection of Christ as realities before moving on to other issues in the Christian life. This is a rather narrow and limited approach to God. In many ways it restricts God’s influence and activity in human life.
When Jesus was here on earth working miracles, he opened blind eyes and then the person saw their Savior. Jesus opened the ears of the deaf who then heard the good news of salvation. The healing of disease in Christ’s day, in many cases, preceded belief in Christ as Savior. And so today, many who are struggling with destructive habits and addictions can be healed of these deadly behaviors by God as a first step in convincing a person that He is real.
God’s help is available to all, but God’s help will not be dispensed to all. The conditions to be met for receiving help from God are very specific, yet not unreasonable. It is necessary to become familiar with God’s formula for behavior change.
It is important to be positive regarding the outcome of the struggle. Help is at hand. Jesus will be there throughout the struggle. Do not dwell on the negative aspects of behavior change. Fear of consequences discourages, but God encourages.
We should inform people of the certainty of behavior change and point the discouraged to God as the One who helps us accomplish what would otherwise be impossible for us to do by ourselves. God wants us to enjoy the benefits of healthful living. The behavior change God wants us to implement in our lives is not impossible to achieve.
God does not usually save us from the consequences of the diseases we get from years of indulgence, but God will always help us change our destructive behaviors. You may not know God personally. You may not even believe in God. You may not want to know God, but God wants you to experience Him as a Helper in your life. God will prove to you that he is real. If after asking God for help, you find that you experience success in overcoming bad habits where you had only experienced failure before, you will have first-hand, personal experience that there is a God who helps you in your time of need.
Preachers and evangelists want unbelievers to come to know Jesus Christ as a redeemer of the “soul” and acknowledge the life, death, and resurrection of Christ as realities before moving on to other issues in the Christian life. This is a rather narrow and limited approach to God. In many ways it restricts God’s influence and activity in human life.
When Jesus was here on earth working miracles, he opened blind eyes and then the person saw their Savior. Jesus opened the ears of the deaf who then heard the good news of salvation. The healing of disease in Christ’s day, in many cases, preceded belief in Christ as Savior. And so today, many who are struggling with destructive habits and addictions can be healed of these deadly behaviors by God as a first step in convincing a person that He is real.
God’s help is available to all, but God’s help will not be dispensed to all. The conditions to be met for receiving help from God are very specific, yet not unreasonable. It is necessary to become familiar with God’s formula for behavior change.
It is important to be positive regarding the outcome of the struggle. Help is at hand. Jesus will be there throughout the struggle. Do not dwell on the negative aspects of behavior change. Fear of consequences discourages, but God encourages.
- “In working for the victims of evil habits, instead of pointing them to the despair and ruin toward which they are hastening, turn their eyes away to Jesus. Fix them upon the glories of the heavenly. This will do more for the saving of body and soul than will all the terrors of the grave when kept before the helpless and apparently hopeless.” The Ministry of Healing, 62-63.
We should inform people of the certainty of behavior change and point the discouraged to God as the One who helps us accomplish what would otherwise be impossible for us to do by ourselves. God wants us to enjoy the benefits of healthful living. The behavior change God wants us to implement in our lives is not impossible to achieve.
- “Our heavenly Father presents before his finite creatures no impossibilities; he requires not at their hands that which they cannot perform. He has not set before his church a standard to which they cannot attain; yet he designs that they shall labor earnestly to reach the high standard set before them in the text. He would have them pray that they may be "filled with the fruits of righteousness," and then expect this blessing and receive it, and in all things grow up into Christ their living Head.” The Signs of the Times, 12-09-86
Admit You Cannot Change on Your Own
God wants to demonstrate a person’s inability to succeed without Him. It is always necessary for those who do not have a relationship with God to realize their inability to change on their own. If a person is self-confident and believes that he or she can bring about a permanent change for the better in their lives, God doesn’t step in to help. Self-confident people must try again and again until they experience enough repeated failures that they become convinced of their own inability to change.
This may seem discouraging, but it is a setup for eventual success. If you have failed miserably to change yourself, if you have repeatedly failed to change yourself, but you suddenly become successful after calling on God for help, you will know that divine help came from outside yourself.
This is the true point of conversion. It doesn’t really matter if you start your walk with God by trusting your lost “soul” to God or by trusting your lost physical or mental self to God.
God saves us when we trust Him to save us. Being saved from the sin of smoking is a good a place to start your walk with God. Being saved from your perverted appetite for food is a good way to be saved. Being saved from some addiction is just as valid as being saved from some “spiritual” sin.
A person who has just been saved is now a “babe” in Christ. Growth and maturity are necessary to round out the Christian experience. This is known in theological circles as the process of “sanctification.” I do not believe any church would be willing to baptize a person whose only experience with God was salvation from smoking or obesity, but God saved that person just the same. As long as a person is willing to grow from that point, God will continue to work with them.
I want people to know our wonderful God. He loves, he cares, he saves, he changes behavior. I want people to get to know God. Everyone who comes to know God must start somewhere. Where and under what circumstances are people most likely to know God? At the point of failure and futility, God will be there to save and change the life.
Yes, baptism and church membership are important in the Christian life, in their own good time. Baptism and church membership are steps in the Christian life that come later. They do not mark the beginning of the Christian life. Baptism indicates that a person has grown to the point that he or she is ready to join a body of Christian believers.
For unbelievers it is a long walk to the baptismal tank. That walk must begin at some point. Everyone has a behavior problem that is keeping them back from personal fulfillment. They have destructive habits, addictions, and strained relationships. Let’s introduce these hurting and defeated people to God as the agent of change in human life. God will help all defeated people who are willing to call on his name.
In the wilderness of Moses' time, the poisonous snake bite that resulted in a painful and rapid death was neutralized by a look at the uplifted serpent. So today, the bite of death that comes from drugs, smoking, a sedentary life, alcohol, and bad eating habits can all be changed by a look at the uplifted Savior. Jesus changes our behavior. Jesus saves us from our bad behaviors. Jesus saves us. For many, this will begin in a health evangelism program right in your church.
This may seem discouraging, but it is a setup for eventual success. If you have failed miserably to change yourself, if you have repeatedly failed to change yourself, but you suddenly become successful after calling on God for help, you will know that divine help came from outside yourself.
This is the true point of conversion. It doesn’t really matter if you start your walk with God by trusting your lost “soul” to God or by trusting your lost physical or mental self to God.
God saves us when we trust Him to save us. Being saved from the sin of smoking is a good a place to start your walk with God. Being saved from your perverted appetite for food is a good way to be saved. Being saved from some addiction is just as valid as being saved from some “spiritual” sin.
A person who has just been saved is now a “babe” in Christ. Growth and maturity are necessary to round out the Christian experience. This is known in theological circles as the process of “sanctification.” I do not believe any church would be willing to baptize a person whose only experience with God was salvation from smoking or obesity, but God saved that person just the same. As long as a person is willing to grow from that point, God will continue to work with them.
I want people to know our wonderful God. He loves, he cares, he saves, he changes behavior. I want people to get to know God. Everyone who comes to know God must start somewhere. Where and under what circumstances are people most likely to know God? At the point of failure and futility, God will be there to save and change the life.
Yes, baptism and church membership are important in the Christian life, in their own good time. Baptism and church membership are steps in the Christian life that come later. They do not mark the beginning of the Christian life. Baptism indicates that a person has grown to the point that he or she is ready to join a body of Christian believers.
For unbelievers it is a long walk to the baptismal tank. That walk must begin at some point. Everyone has a behavior problem that is keeping them back from personal fulfillment. They have destructive habits, addictions, and strained relationships. Let’s introduce these hurting and defeated people to God as the agent of change in human life. God will help all defeated people who are willing to call on his name.
In the wilderness of Moses' time, the poisonous snake bite that resulted in a painful and rapid death was neutralized by a look at the uplifted serpent. So today, the bite of death that comes from drugs, smoking, a sedentary life, alcohol, and bad eating habits can all be changed by a look at the uplifted Savior. Jesus changes our behavior. Jesus saves us from our bad behaviors. Jesus saves us. For many, this will begin in a health evangelism program right in your church.
Be Honest with God
God is honest with you and expects you to be honest with Him in return. This is difficult to do. To receive God’s help with any behavior you want to change, it is necessary for you to be honest with God. Think about this implication of honesty.
If God delivers you from cigarette smoking, someone is going to notice your new smoke-free status and ask how you did it? What is your answer going to be? You may not be a religious person. Up to this point in your life you may have been an atheist or a blasphemer, but now you have experienced supernatural help. You are now off cigarettes, and someone wants to know how you did it. What is your answer going to be? You must be honest in your answer.
Your answer should be, “I smoked for years and years and tried to quit dozens of times, but without success. I asked God to help me quit and He did it. I am free of this habit due to the specific intervention of God in my life. I am so thankful to God for the deliverance He provided me in this case.”
In scripture there is the story of a woman who suffered for 12 years with an illness. She was healed when she stretched out her hand and anonymously touched the hem of Jesus garment. This is recorded in Mark 5:25-34. This woman was instantly healed. She would have been satisfied to slip away unnoticed from the crowd and quietly enjoy God’s blessing of healing in the privacy of her own home. But Jesus wanted her to acknowledge that He was the one who healed her. She really didn’t want to publicly acknowledge this but when she couldn’t hide her healing she spoke up.
Is telling the truth an unfair requirement? Not really. There is a world out there filled with people who need to change and are discouraged due to their many failures. You are to share the fact that God changes lives. You are to tell your own story of repeated trials and failures until you achieved success when you finally asked God for help.
A second reason Jesus wanted the woman with the issue of blood to come forward was to let her know, that by that simple touch of his garment, she was connected with the God of the universe. God is not hard to contact. God is very near. God wants to help you. If you simply reach out to him, he will be right there to bring healing to your life.
God will meet you in any place, at any time, when you bring a problem to Him that needs to be changed. It doesn’t have to be in church, although it is especially meaningful if the health evangelism program is conducted in the church. You may have come to a church just to stop smoking, but you met God in a health evangelism program. He is the helper for all who need behavior change.
If God delivers you from cigarette smoking, someone is going to notice your new smoke-free status and ask how you did it? What is your answer going to be? You may not be a religious person. Up to this point in your life you may have been an atheist or a blasphemer, but now you have experienced supernatural help. You are now off cigarettes, and someone wants to know how you did it. What is your answer going to be? You must be honest in your answer.
Your answer should be, “I smoked for years and years and tried to quit dozens of times, but without success. I asked God to help me quit and He did it. I am free of this habit due to the specific intervention of God in my life. I am so thankful to God for the deliverance He provided me in this case.”
In scripture there is the story of a woman who suffered for 12 years with an illness. She was healed when she stretched out her hand and anonymously touched the hem of Jesus garment. This is recorded in Mark 5:25-34. This woman was instantly healed. She would have been satisfied to slip away unnoticed from the crowd and quietly enjoy God’s blessing of healing in the privacy of her own home. But Jesus wanted her to acknowledge that He was the one who healed her. She really didn’t want to publicly acknowledge this but when she couldn’t hide her healing she spoke up.
- “But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth” Mark 5:33 (NKJV)
Is telling the truth an unfair requirement? Not really. There is a world out there filled with people who need to change and are discouraged due to their many failures. You are to share the fact that God changes lives. You are to tell your own story of repeated trials and failures until you achieved success when you finally asked God for help.
A second reason Jesus wanted the woman with the issue of blood to come forward was to let her know, that by that simple touch of his garment, she was connected with the God of the universe. God is not hard to contact. God is very near. God wants to help you. If you simply reach out to him, he will be right there to bring healing to your life.
- “We should reach out the hand of faith, and grasp the arm of infinite power. The simplest prayer that is put up in faith is acceptable to heaven. The humblest soul that looks up to Christ in faith is connected with the God of the universe.” Signs of the Times, March 10, 1890.
God will meet you in any place, at any time, when you bring a problem to Him that needs to be changed. It doesn’t have to be in church, although it is especially meaningful if the health evangelism program is conducted in the church. You may have come to a church just to stop smoking, but you met God in a health evangelism program. He is the helper for all who need behavior change.
Asking for Help
The next step in receiving God’s help is to simply ask. Words need to be spoken. You may have thought about and wished that God would help you. This is not enough. God doesn’t respond to random thoughts and wishes. Relationships are formed by an exchange of words. Often, thoughts and wishes remain vague and nebulous until they are put into words. Putting our desires and requests into words has a way of sharpening and strengthening them. Put your longing for behavior change into words. Speak them aloud. It is often helpful to write them down.
Christians know this process as prayer. This is a word that may scare away those who do not yet have a relationship with God. It is not necessary to even call this process of talking with God as prayer. It is enough to call it talking with God.
God has been leading you for months, years, even your whole life, but now is the time to open a return channel. This is done by talking with God. There are no special words that need to be spoken. The conversation should be short and to the point. Here is an example.
“God, I am overweight. I have tried many diets. Some of them worked for a while but never for very long. I look horrible. Obesity is going to ruin my relationship with others. Obesity is going to ruin my health. I want to change. I need to change. I am not able to change permanently by myself. I need help. Please help me lose weight. Oh yes God, I will be honest about this. If You help me lose weight, I will tell others that my help came from You. Thank you in advance. Let’s get to work.”
This is the first of many conversations you will have with God. You will find it necessary to talk with God many times a day. But if you do not feel anything when you ask God for help, how do you know that God has helped you? When will you know that God is helping you? What will God’s help be like? How long will God’s help last? Will God help for one meal, one hour, one day, one week? The answers to these questions are exactly what everyone needs to know.
Here is what I have learned from my experience and the experience of others. Frequent conversations with God are needed because it is so easy to forget that you have requested God’s help. If you carelessly consider and then yield to your old habits, it is not a failure on God’s part but a simple negligence on your part. Additionally, God is seeking a “real time” relationship with you. If you drop the ball and leave God’s presence, He is not obligated to rescue you from your own carelessness.
You may in some way I can’t define for you feel or sense the presence of God or some assurance from God when you ask for help, but many feel nothing after praying. God will still help you. You will know that God is helping when you successfully resist a temptation that used to be an unbearable urge.
The duration of God’s help depends on the duration of your communion with God. God will help for one meal, one day, or one week, but it requires a continuing commitment to the process of depending on God for the success you know you can’t provide yourself.
Prayer is vital to success. Review these promises God makes:
Prayer is powerful. If prayer can subdue kingdoms, quiet roaring lions, and stop fire from consuming, then prayer can help you with your problems and bring about new behaviors.
God is pictured as eagerly leaning forward to catch the plea of one who is struggling to overcome. God has a blessing for us just waiting for us to make our needs known.
God doesn’t respond to ceremonious prayers. He wants to hear the frank, desperate, disorganized cry of one facing temptation.
Though God is the Lord of the Universe, He wants us to approach him as a friend.
In this struggle to live better, you can eventually overcome all the harmful habits you have acquired through life’s experiences and even congenitally acquired tendencies toward bad habits as well. The child of an alcoholic has an addictive personality. This may be overcome through the power of Christ. There are other inherited tendencies that predispose us to harmful behaviors. Many suppose that their natural tendencies are excused or unchangeable because of the laws of nature. This is not true. God has clearly indicated what constitutes healthful behavior. You may have inherited many harmful tendencies, but all this can be overcome through the grace of God.
Christians know this process as prayer. This is a word that may scare away those who do not yet have a relationship with God. It is not necessary to even call this process of talking with God as prayer. It is enough to call it talking with God.
God has been leading you for months, years, even your whole life, but now is the time to open a return channel. This is done by talking with God. There are no special words that need to be spoken. The conversation should be short and to the point. Here is an example.
“God, I am overweight. I have tried many diets. Some of them worked for a while but never for very long. I look horrible. Obesity is going to ruin my relationship with others. Obesity is going to ruin my health. I want to change. I need to change. I am not able to change permanently by myself. I need help. Please help me lose weight. Oh yes God, I will be honest about this. If You help me lose weight, I will tell others that my help came from You. Thank you in advance. Let’s get to work.”
This is the first of many conversations you will have with God. You will find it necessary to talk with God many times a day. But if you do not feel anything when you ask God for help, how do you know that God has helped you? When will you know that God is helping you? What will God’s help be like? How long will God’s help last? Will God help for one meal, one hour, one day, one week? The answers to these questions are exactly what everyone needs to know.
Here is what I have learned from my experience and the experience of others. Frequent conversations with God are needed because it is so easy to forget that you have requested God’s help. If you carelessly consider and then yield to your old habits, it is not a failure on God’s part but a simple negligence on your part. Additionally, God is seeking a “real time” relationship with you. If you drop the ball and leave God’s presence, He is not obligated to rescue you from your own carelessness.
You may in some way I can’t define for you feel or sense the presence of God or some assurance from God when you ask for help, but many feel nothing after praying. God will still help you. You will know that God is helping when you successfully resist a temptation that used to be an unbearable urge.
The duration of God’s help depends on the duration of your communion with God. God will help for one meal, one day, or one week, but it requires a continuing commitment to the process of depending on God for the success you know you can’t provide yourself.
Prayer is vital to success. Review these promises God makes:
- “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” Matthew 7:7-8 (NKJV).
- “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” John 14:13-14 (NKJV)
- “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” 1 John 5:14 (NKJV)
Prayer is powerful. If prayer can subdue kingdoms, quiet roaring lions, and stop fire from consuming, then prayer can help you with your problems and bring about new behaviors.
- “The children of God are not left alone and defenseless. Prayer moves the arm of Omnipotence. Prayer has ‘subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire.’” Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 172.
God is pictured as eagerly leaning forward to catch the plea of one who is struggling to overcome. God has a blessing for us just waiting for us to make our needs known.
- “God is bending from his throne to hear the cry of the oppressed. To every sincere prayer he answers, "Here am I." The prayer that ascends from a broken and contrite heart is never disregarded; it is as sweet music in the ears of our heavenly Father: for he waits to bestow upon us the fullness of his blessing.” The Oriental Watchman, 12-01-1909.
God doesn’t respond to ceremonious prayers. He wants to hear the frank, desperate, disorganized cry of one facing temptation.
- “There are two kinds of prayer -- the prayer of form and the prayer of faith . . . But the prayer that comes from an earnest heart, when the simple wants of the soul are expressed just as we would ask an earthly friend for a favor, expecting that it would be granted -- this is the prayer of faith.” My Life Today 19.
Though God is the Lord of the Universe, He wants us to approach him as a friend.
- “Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it is necessary in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him.” Steps to Christ 93.
- “Those who decide to do nothing in any line that will displease God, will know, after presenting their case before Him, just what course to pursue. And they will receive not only wisdom, but strength. Power for obedience, for service, will be imparted to them, as Christ has promised. The Desire of Ages 668.
In this struggle to live better, you can eventually overcome all the harmful habits you have acquired through life’s experiences and even congenitally acquired tendencies toward bad habits as well. The child of an alcoholic has an addictive personality. This may be overcome through the power of Christ. There are other inherited tendencies that predispose us to harmful behaviors. Many suppose that their natural tendencies are excused or unchangeable because of the laws of nature. This is not true. God has clearly indicated what constitutes healthful behavior. You may have inherited many harmful tendencies, but all this can be overcome through the grace of God.
- “It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church.” The Desire of Ages 671
Action
After asking God for help there is another step you need to take to receive the requested assistance. There is something you need to do. Here is an unfortunate experience of a lady who failed to understand this.
She was a lady who attended a 5-Day Plan to Stop Smoking I conducted in Towson, Maryland. I had talked about how God helps smokers quit. After the program she lit up a cigarette in the parking lot of the church. She told me, “I have been asking God to help me stop smoking for the past 20 years and He hasn’t done it yet.”
I asked what she expected God to do to help her to quit. I asked whether she expected God to make her lighter so it wouldn’t light. Was she expecting matches to fizzle and go out before she could light up? Did she expect God to work on the mind of the checkout clerk at the local store when she tried to buy cigarettes, so the checkout person would refuse to sell her any cigarettes because God was trying to get her to quit?
She was repeatedly asking God to help her quit smoking but without her doing anything. She was expecting God to force her to stop smoking in response to her prayer. Prayer doesn’t work that way. God doesn’t work that way. This lady needed to act on her request. She needed to act like she was a nonsmoker.
Immediately after asking God for help is the time for action. You should have a plan to put to work. For the obese person, that plan will include a diet and eating behavior changes. For the smoker it is time to throw away the cigarettes, lighters, and ash trays. For the sedentary person it is initiating a regular program of exercise. For the alcoholic it may be attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. For those with a bad temper it may be an anger management program. For those attending your health evangelism program, you will be providing the plan of action a person needs to follow.
Working at behavior change may seem too familiar. You have done this before. You know what a tremendous effort and strain it is. For you, diet, or exercise programs, and in fact all programs you have ever tried have been frustrating and did not produce lasting success.
The difference in this program is that you have asked God to help you. God does not dispense with your effort or cooperation when He provides help for you to overcome. God works with your efforts. God helps you work the plan you intend to follow.
So, if you have a plan and are working it, do you now have a brighter vision of success? Are you brimming with confidence? Do you know that this plan is going to work for you this time? Possibly not. So, when will you know that God has been helping you? When and how will you experience God’s help?
The simple answer is, “Just when you need it, God’s help will be there.” God’s acting in the human life is often not felt at the time the plea for help is made, but God’s help will show up when you need it.
She was a lady who attended a 5-Day Plan to Stop Smoking I conducted in Towson, Maryland. I had talked about how God helps smokers quit. After the program she lit up a cigarette in the parking lot of the church. She told me, “I have been asking God to help me stop smoking for the past 20 years and He hasn’t done it yet.”
I asked what she expected God to do to help her to quit. I asked whether she expected God to make her lighter so it wouldn’t light. Was she expecting matches to fizzle and go out before she could light up? Did she expect God to work on the mind of the checkout clerk at the local store when she tried to buy cigarettes, so the checkout person would refuse to sell her any cigarettes because God was trying to get her to quit?
She was repeatedly asking God to help her quit smoking but without her doing anything. She was expecting God to force her to stop smoking in response to her prayer. Prayer doesn’t work that way. God doesn’t work that way. This lady needed to act on her request. She needed to act like she was a nonsmoker.
Immediately after asking God for help is the time for action. You should have a plan to put to work. For the obese person, that plan will include a diet and eating behavior changes. For the smoker it is time to throw away the cigarettes, lighters, and ash trays. For the sedentary person it is initiating a regular program of exercise. For the alcoholic it may be attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. For those with a bad temper it may be an anger management program. For those attending your health evangelism program, you will be providing the plan of action a person needs to follow.
Working at behavior change may seem too familiar. You have done this before. You know what a tremendous effort and strain it is. For you, diet, or exercise programs, and in fact all programs you have ever tried have been frustrating and did not produce lasting success.
The difference in this program is that you have asked God to help you. God does not dispense with your effort or cooperation when He provides help for you to overcome. God works with your efforts. God helps you work the plan you intend to follow.
So, if you have a plan and are working it, do you now have a brighter vision of success? Are you brimming with confidence? Do you know that this plan is going to work for you this time? Possibly not. So, when will you know that God has been helping you? When and how will you experience God’s help?
The simple answer is, “Just when you need it, God’s help will be there.” God’s acting in the human life is often not felt at the time the plea for help is made, but God’s help will show up when you need it.
Examples
Here are examples of where God exercised miraculous power on behalf of a person, but a cooperative effort was required on the part of the person or persons nearby at the time the miracle was performed.
The Raising of Lazarus
The raising of Lazarus recorded in John 11 is an important example. Raising Lazarus to life, four days after he died, was Christ’s greatest miracle. As Jesus stood at the tomb, He instructed that the stone be rolled away. This command to remove the stone seems strange.
It takes less divine power to move a stone than it does to raise a person from the dead. It would have added significant drama to the scene if the stone had mysteriously moved all by itself or been shattered with a bolt of lightning.
The point is this, in every miracle God performs for you, there is a part for you to play. God will not do for you what you can do for yourself. Jesus required someone to roll away the stone from the opening of the tomb. Martha objected to removing the stone. If there had been a lot of sympathy for Martha’s point of view in the crowd that was standing there, if there had been a general outcry for the stone to stay in place, Lazarus would not have been raised from the dead.
I do not think the men who rolled away the stone went home that evening and boasted to their family how they and Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Yet, if the stone didn’t get rolled away Lazarus wouldn’t have been raised.
The part you play in any miracle is necessary for the miracle to happen, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the power it takes to perform the miracle. All the power comes from God, but your cooperation is necessary. Your efforts are acts of faith moving or even just leaning in the direction you want to go, but God supplies all the ability.
It takes less divine power to move a stone than it does to raise a person from the dead. It would have added significant drama to the scene if the stone had mysteriously moved all by itself or been shattered with a bolt of lightning.
The point is this, in every miracle God performs for you, there is a part for you to play. God will not do for you what you can do for yourself. Jesus required someone to roll away the stone from the opening of the tomb. Martha objected to removing the stone. If there had been a lot of sympathy for Martha’s point of view in the crowd that was standing there, if there had been a general outcry for the stone to stay in place, Lazarus would not have been raised from the dead.
I do not think the men who rolled away the stone went home that evening and boasted to their family how they and Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Yet, if the stone didn’t get rolled away Lazarus wouldn’t have been raised.
The part you play in any miracle is necessary for the miracle to happen, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the power it takes to perform the miracle. All the power comes from God, but your cooperation is necessary. Your efforts are acts of faith moving or even just leaning in the direction you want to go, but God supplies all the ability.
The Water to Wine Miracle
Another example of divine and human cooperation in performing a miracle is when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana as recorded in John 2. Jesus required the household servants to fill the stone jars with water and then dip it out and serve it. The water was suddenly turned into wine.
If the servants had objected and refused to fill the jars with water, there wouldn’t have been any wine. When those servants went home that night, they certainly recounted to their families what a great miracle Jesus had performed, but I doubt they took any credit for the miracle because you can fill jars with water all day long and the water will never turn to wine unless there is a miracle from God.
I am repeatedly making the point that it is necessary for people to participate in the performance of a miracle. If we do not do our part, God doesn’t do His part. Our part is essential but ineffectual. God does it all but waits for us to cooperate with him.
If the servants had objected and refused to fill the jars with water, there wouldn’t have been any wine. When those servants went home that night, they certainly recounted to their families what a great miracle Jesus had performed, but I doubt they took any credit for the miracle because you can fill jars with water all day long and the water will never turn to wine unless there is a miracle from God.
I am repeatedly making the point that it is necessary for people to participate in the performance of a miracle. If we do not do our part, God doesn’t do His part. Our part is essential but ineffectual. God does it all but waits for us to cooperate with him.
Crossing the Jordon River
Here is a third example. When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River, they all marched forward even though the river was at flood stage. This is recorded in Joshua 3. There was no bridge and no boats, but they lined up and marched forward.
The children of Israel headed in the direction they were instructed to go. When the feet of the priests touched the flood waters, the Jordan was held back, and they all crossed over on dry ground. A miracle happened. The people marched forward indicating a willingness to do what God requested. God provided the miracle. Again, we see the cooperation between the human and the Divine. Man acted as though God was going to do something, and He did. God requires you to act and then He provides ALL the power to accomplish the act.
The children of Israel headed in the direction they were instructed to go. When the feet of the priests touched the flood waters, the Jordan was held back, and they all crossed over on dry ground. A miracle happened. The people marched forward indicating a willingness to do what God requested. God provided the miracle. Again, we see the cooperation between the human and the Divine. Man acted as though God was going to do something, and He did. God requires you to act and then He provides ALL the power to accomplish the act.
Cooperation
Cooperation between the human and the Divine is necessary to form a correct character. We must make serious efforts, but our efforts are not sufficient to accomplish anything. We are still wholly dependent on God for success.
Human effort is worthless unless energized by divine power. Divine help is unavailable unless there is human endeavor.
Actions essential for success are themselves gifts which we have already received from God. The use of these talents and skills helps us move in the direction we want to go. God will not duplicate that which He has already enabled us to do.
In all your efforts to overcome bad habits you must constantly be aware that you are weak. Success at this moment does not guarantee your success in the next hour or tomorrow. You need God’s constant help, but you must never let down your guard or relax your own efforts to succeed.
As you make constant, earnest struggles, you should be looking to and contemplating the goodness of God and how it is His strength that enables you to be successful.
There are stern battles with self that need to be fought. You need to examine your progress regularly. God gives you the talents and the powers of mind that you can use in developing your habit free character.
It is amazing to me that with God’s help even hereditary traits can be corrected. Think of the health problems and harmful practices for which a congenital component has been identified. All this can be changed.
When you have done all that you can, God will do all that you cannot.
Constant watchfulness, persevering effort, severe discipline, and tough conflict will be your lot but as you depend on God you can right the deformity of your character. There is a lifetime of struggle, but with God’s help the outcome is certain.
Living a healthful life is not an option. Once we know what should be done, we need to act.
There is a need for struggle and perseverance.
- “The work of gaining salvation is one of co-partnership, a joint operation. There is to be co-operation between God and the repentant sinner. This is necessary for the formation of right principles in the character. Man is to make earnest efforts to overcome that which hinders him from attaining to perfection. But he is wholly dependent upon God for success. Human effort of itself is not sufficient. Without the aid of divine power it avails nothing. God works and man works. Resistance of temptation must come from man, who must draw his power from God. On the one side there is infinite wisdom, compassion, and power; on the other, weakness, sinfulness, absolute helplessness.” The Acts of the Apostles 482
Human effort is worthless unless energized by divine power. Divine help is unavailable unless there is human endeavor.
- “Human effort avails nothing without divine power; and without human endeavor, divine effort is with many of no avail. To make God's grace our own, we must act our part. His grace is given to work in us to will and to do, but never as a substitute for our effort. . . . Those who walk in the path of obedience will encounter many hindrances. Strong, subtle influences may bind them to the world; but the Lord is able to render futile every agency that works for the defeat of His chosen ones; in His strength they may overcome every temptation, conquer every difficulty.” God's Amazing Grace 253
Actions essential for success are themselves gifts which we have already received from God. The use of these talents and skills helps us move in the direction we want to go. God will not duplicate that which He has already enabled us to do.
- “The Lord does not propose to perform for us either the willing or the doing. This is our proper work. As soon as we earnestly enter upon the work, God's grace is given to work in us to will and to do, but never as a substitute for our effort. Our souls are to be aroused to cooperate. The Holy Spirit works the human agent, to work out our own salvation. This is the practical lesson the Holy Spirit is striving to teach us. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers 240
In all your efforts to overcome bad habits you must constantly be aware that you are weak. Success at this moment does not guarantee your success in the next hour or tomorrow. You need God’s constant help, but you must never let down your guard or relax your own efforts to succeed.
- “In order to receive God's help, man must realize his weakness and deficiency; he must apply his own mind to the great change to be wrought in himself; he must be aroused to earnest and persevering prayer and effort. Wrong habits and customs must be shaken off; and it is only by determined endeavor to correct these errors and to conform to right principles that the victory can be gained. Patriarchs and Prophets 248
As you make constant, earnest struggles, you should be looking to and contemplating the goodness of God and how it is His strength that enables you to be successful.
- “Let every one who desires to be a partaker of the divine nature appreciate the fact that he must escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. There must be a constant, earnest struggling of the soul against the evil imaginings of the mind. There must be a steadfast resistance of temptation to sin in thought or act. The soul must be kept from every stain, through faith in Him who is able to keep you from falling. We should meditate upon the Scriptures, thinking soberly and candidly upon the things that pertain to our eternal salvation. The infinite mercy and love of Jesus, the sacrifice made in our behalf, call for most serious and solemn reflection. We should dwell upon the character of our dear Redeemer and Intercessor. We should seek to comprehend the meaning of the plan of salvation. We should meditate upon the mission of Him who came to save His people from their sins. By constantly contemplating heavenly themes, our faith and love will grow stronger. Our prayers will be more and more acceptable to God, because they will be more and more mixed with faith and love. They will be more intelligent and fervent.” Sons and Daughters of God 109
There are stern battles with self that need to be fought. You need to examine your progress regularly. God gives you the talents and the powers of mind that you can use in developing your habit free character.
- “A noble character is earned by individual effort through the merits and grace of Christ. God gives the talents, the powers of the mind; we form the character. It is formed by hard, stern battles with self. Conflict after conflict must be waged against hereditary tendencies. We shall have to criticize ourselves closely, and allow not one unfavorable trait to remain uncorrected.” Christ's Object Lessons 331
It is amazing to me that with God’s help even hereditary traits can be corrected. Think of the health problems and harmful practices for which a congenital component has been identified. All this can be changed.
- “Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church.” The Desire of Ages 671
When you have done all that you can, God will do all that you cannot.
- “Some reason that the Lord will by his Spirit qualify a man to speak as He would have him; but the Lord does not propose to do the work which he has given man to do. He has given us reasoning powers, and opportunities to educate the mind and manners. And after we have done all we can for ourselves, making the best use of the advantages within our reach, then we may look to God with earnest prayer to do by his Spirit that which we cannot do for ourselves, and we shall ever find in our Saviour power and efficiency.” Gospel Workers 148
Constant watchfulness, persevering effort, severe discipline, and tough conflict will be your lot but as you depend on God you can right the deformity of your character. There is a lifetime of struggle, but with God’s help the outcome is certain.
- “It will cost us an effort to secure eternal life. It is only by long and persevering effort, sore discipline, and stern conflict, that we shall be overcomers. But if we patiently and determinedly, in the name of the Conqueror who overcame in our behalf in the wilderness of temptation, overcome as he overcame, we shall have the eternal reward. Our efforts, our self-denial, our perseverance, must be proportionate to the infinitive value of the object of which we are in pursuit. . . . Wrongs cannot be righted, nor reformations in character made, by a few feeble, intermittent efforts. Sanctification is not a work of a day or a year, but of a lifetime. Without continual efforts and constant activity, there can be no advancement in the divine life, no attainment of the victor's crown. . . . You have need of constant watchfulness, lest Satan beguile you through his subtlety, corrupt your minds, and lead you into inconsistencies and gross darkness. Your watchfulness should be characterized by a spirit of humble dependence upon God. It should not be carried on with a proud, self-reliant spirit, but with a deep sense of your personal weakness, and a childlike trust in the promises of God.” Gospel Workers 205
Living a healthful life is not an option. Once we know what should be done, we need to act.
- “The time of ignorance God winked at, but as fast as light shines upon us, He requires us to change our health-destroying habits, and place ourselves in a right relation to physical laws.” Counsels on Diet and Foods 19
There is a need for struggle and perseverance.
- “Those who, after seeing their mistakes, have courage to change their habits will find that the reformatory process requires a struggle and much perseverance; Counsels on Diet and Foods 24