A More Excellent Way
About 13 years ago I set out on a journey to see the power of God flow through me for miracles and to see the sick healed. And I can say that over the past years I have not been disappointed. Whether it is seeing deaf ears open, broken bones healed instantly, or someone getting a new heart; watching God touch His children never gets old. I must admit however, it wasn’t always this way. In the beginning I didn’t really see many instant miracles or healings, I really didn’t understand how this all worked. The only thing that was consistent was every time I stood before someone, and many times just looking at them, I would feel God’s love for them. It would be so intense at times I would just start crying as I felt how their pains and torments were hurting God. He is their Father and hurts immensely when His children are hurting; not because they have some sin in their life, but because It hurts Him to see his children in bondage and pain. At that time I didn’t have the understanding of what God was trying to do in my life. I was even told this was the beginning or elementary aspect of ministry and that I would move beyond to seeing the power. With those “words of wisdom” I pushed beyond the emotions and set my singleness of sight on seeing the power manifest when I prayed for others. I got what I sought after.
Thirteen years later as I write this I again weep. This time not because I feel the Fathers heart for others but because I’ve realized I missed what my Father was trying to teach me. He was trying to show me the more excellent way, He was trying to show me the way of love.
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
He was trying to show me His heart, and how to move and act out of love and compassion. By allowing me to feel his love and compassion for others He wanted me to understand that He would withhold nothing from them. He was showing me that it didn’t matter what we do, we are already accepted because of Jesus (Eph. 1:6), and that He has already given us everything we need. (2Peter 1:3) It is because He is love that He created us, and because of love that He has saved us. He wanted me to see what He saw, He wanted me to see their created value. He wanted me to see that the reason Jesus came was to set us free from the lie and deception we were in bondage to and to redeem us back to our original value; a son of God. He created us in His image. We were made to be like Him, our Daddy; to walk, act, think, and be just like Him. We are the apple of His eye, His focus, and His whole heart longs to be with us. Jesus accomplished that by reconciling the world back to Daddy, and you can be reconciled to Him if you will receive the free gift of Jesus, you can become love just like Him.
Looking at people in this light allows you to understand why we can never be angry at, hate, despise, be offended, or even hold a grudge against someone. When we see their created value and how much Daddy loves them we hurt, not because of what they did or said, but because they don’t realize who they are. We are compelled to go to any length, lay down our own lives, in order for them to see their value, to experience His love. Yes, I still pray for the sick and see miracles; but now not because I want to see the power of God manifest, but because I want them to know how much they are loved.
Glen Hartline 