No One Ever Promised Us Instant Results

I continue to chronicle the changes I experience in the wake of my December 19th re-baptism under the authority of The Last Reformation.

I had a remarkable experience last night and this morning. I didn’t want to write about it until tonight, though, because I wanted to make sure it was real. I can explain.

My dad has chronic back pain. I am in charge of his pain medicine. His doctor has never seen him, and I have never spoken to her. I work through a nurse, and I don’t get as much information as I would like. It’s hard to get coherent guidance on what to give him and when.

He has two pain medications. Both are opioids (mild ones), so apart from blocking pain, they may have other effects. Everyone knows about opioids. They can make you euphoric, sleepy, dizzy, unnaturally relaxed, and so on. Also, different opioids work at different rates. Some work fast and last a short time, and others take a while to kick in and work longer.

My dad isn’t awake all that much these days. He usually sleeps over 12 hours per day. That’s fine at this stage of his life, but it can make it difficult to space out his prescription doses. I need his pain pills to work soon after he gets up, but the dose he takes before bed doesn’t have to start working quickly.

Because I am concerned about his balance and the timing of his doses and so on, I decided the best thing was to try one dose of each of his two painkillers. I figured that would tell me what he was experiencing. I took one dose yesterday and another earlier today. Now I have a better idea what the effects are, and I think I know what to do.

I don’t understand how people get hooked on these things. They give you pleasant feelings, but they also cause constipation, liver damage, sleepiness, and so on, and you also risk addiction, a total breakdown of morals, poverty, prison, and death.

It may not be strictly kosher to do things like this, but I am pretty much on my own, and I have zero interest in recreational use, so it seemed like a good idea. I don’t think they’ll put me in the pokey. Anyway, because opioids can affect your mood, and because my testimony involves the way I feel, I had to be sure what I felt wasn’t related to the pills. Now I’m sure, so I can proceed.

One of the things every Christian should know is that it’s important to hold onto the tools God gives you. The people who teach us doctrine are generally ignorant, so at this point in history, you have to go to the Holy Spirit himself if you want to learn anything. God has shown me a lot of things that have helped me a great deal, but I tend to forget to apply them when I need them.

Years ago, God showed me something about getting prayers answered. Unless you get an instant result, you should continue thanking God, in the name of Jesus, in advance. If necessary, thank him over and over for hours. Sometimes prayers are answered gradually over a period of time, and if you quit early, you may cut off your help because you are under the mistaken impression that God has denied your request.

Even Jesus failed to get instantaneous results on occasion, and we are not better than he is.

I have received some miraculous healings, and some involved prolonged prayer. I got a couple of blisters to disappear that way. I kept thanking God and commanding my body to be healed for maybe 45 minutes each time. It worked.

I have had a very slight cold over the last few days. It’s so weak, I haven’t had to blow my nose. It annoyed me, though, because it caused headaches, tiredness, and mild depression. I always find that things like colds and the flu have psychological effects. For example, a cold can cause a very bothersome increase in the sex drive.

When I started getting sick, I attacked supernaturally, praying and speaking defeat and casting out the spirit and so on. I got some results, but I wasn’t totally healed. I felt pretty good, so I didn’t push through for complete healing. That was lazy of me, and I think it goes against God’s will. I think you should always push through to the end. Otherwise, it’s like giving place to Satan, and we are not supposed to do that.

Last night, I felt bad about failing to follow through, and I was tired of the faint symptoms I was having, so I got back to work. I thanked and praised and so on for a long time. I didn’t get an instant healing, but I got tremendous peace, and I felt a lot better. I didn’t sleep well because my nose was a little stuffy. I woke later and started up with the supernatural tools again.

When I got up, I felt wonderful. I still had some minor symptoms, but mentally and emotionally, I felt very free. I felt free of anger and worry. I felt great about the future. I felt God’s joy, which is supernatural, flowing in me. God’s joy is one of the fruit of the Spirit. You can look it up.

I’ve felt great all day. I have had energy. I have felt more love running through me. I have felt physically strong. That’s no surprise. The Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength, and when God said that, he meant it literally. We blow off scriptural statements as flowery words and hype, but God hates idle talk. He means what he says. We forget that. Being insincere, we are in the habit of assuming others flap their lips like we do, without meaning what we say.

God’s joy is not a special present we get occasionally for being good little boys and girls. It’s mandatory, and it’s supposed to be an everyday thing. We need it. We should be pursuing it. It sounds selfish, but we need strength in order to persevere, and joy gives us that strength. Turning it down isn’t unselfish or admirable. It’s dereliction of duty.

The book of Galatians says the fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, kindness, and self-control. Wouldn’t it be great to have these things? The good news is that you can, and you are expected to.

I wasn’t praying for joy and deliverance from anger and worry. I was trying to get rid of a cold. I received the other things anyway. I don’t know how that works. My experience suggests that when you fight one demon, others in the area may take off, too, perhaps because the spectacle discourages or scares them. Perhaps that’s what happened to me.

I feel great relief. Over the last few years, I’ve had problems with worry, fear, and anger. Longer than that, I’ve been frustrated at the difficulty of getting God’s love and joy to flow in me. Christians love to talk about the peace and happiness God brings us, but how many of us are telling the truth? I have times of great peace and happiness, but my times of stress have been longer. I’m hoping that what I just received is permanent and will increase.

Joy and love will make me feel good, but they will also make me more helpful to others. Love is our proper source of motivation. It drives us to forget about ourselves and make sacrifices that would be very hard to make purely out of duty and willpower. Joy keeps us strong. It kills discouragement.

I want to add something. My circumstances didn’t change. When I got up in the morning, I still had the same worldly problems I had when I went to bed, apart from the change in the cold symptoms. I felt better anyway. If you think you’re unhappy because of your circumstances, you’re wrong. It’s a lie from the devil. Unhappiness comes from us and the demons that live in us. The Holy Spirit can give us happiness and peace that can’t be affected by our earthly problems.

I can’t promise anyone that the change I feel will last. Like I always say, I’m just documenting things.

Last night, I had what I think is a revelation from God. Remember how Paul and Silas were freed from prison? They were beaten and jailed, and midnight found them singing hymns and praising God. Their chains fell off, and they were set free. I believe they were praising and singing because they knew what I know: if you want to have a prayer answered, you keep thanking and praising until you see the result.

I think they prayed to be released, and they knew they had to keep going until they got their answer. I think their persistence is what made the chains fall off, and God has shown me the same “trick.”

They probably prayed for the jailer to be saved, too. They knew unforgiveness blocked answers to prayer. After they were freed, the jailer and his household baptized. They must have prayed for the other prisoners to be freed, because their chains came off, too. Praying for other people is a good way to get God’s power to flow through you so he helps you with your own problems. They knew that.

I hope I can continue bringing you good reports, and that what I have learned is even more helpful to you than it has been to me.