Hello again.
The title to this post is a few words from Ecclesiastes, a book written by the wisest man ever to have lived, King Solomon. Here are the relevant verses from chapter one:
1These are the words of the teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2“Futility of futilities,” says the teacher, “futility of futilities!
Everything is futile!”
3What does a man gain from all his labour,at which he toils under the sun?
4Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
5The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries back to where it rises.
6The wind blows southward, then turns northward; round and round it swirls,
ever returning on its course. 7All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full;
to the place from which the streams come, there again they flow.
8All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear content with hearing. 9What has been will be again,
and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
10Is there a case where one can say, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.
11There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered
by those who follow after.
12I, the teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them
14I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
15What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”
17So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
18For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.
Recently, I prayed in Yahshua’s name for two things, both to bring glory to God. The first was a couple of weeks ago, and I prayed to be taken to Morocco on the clouds of heaven to visit my friend Jamal and his family, and to baptise them, as they would have seen me arrive, glorified God, known that my doctrine is true and that Islam is all lies, and four of them would have been baptised the same day, and I would have come home again the same day.
Nothing happened. I went to a place where I told God I would be, I had a rucksack packed with swimming shorts, and some other bits and pieces, and awaited collection, but nothing happened, and I went back home, feeling disappointed.
Earlier this week I visited clients briefly to give them some pocket diaries for next year. They are a very nice elderly married couple, as well as being clients, they have helped me out a few times as good neighbours too, living just a couple of miles away from my village. The husband is in terrible pain, nearly bent double, due to back problems, spurs on the spine I believe.
The next day I returned to see them very briefly. I popped quickly to return some paint to their next door neighbour, also a client of mine. I told him I was going next door to heal the husband by laying hands upon him. I had already prayed at home in the name of Yahshua for the healing to be a success. I was certain I could heal him. The next door neighbour wished me luck and I told him I didn’t need luck, it was going to happen.
I then visited the elderly couple, and asked if I could pop in. I told them both that I could heal them through my faith. They are both unbelievers, but have listened politely to my witnessing to them in recent years. Despite the unbelief, they were happy for me to try to heal the husband, which pleased me. So, I laid my hands on his back, told them that through my faith in God and the name of Yahshua (I said Jesus to them), that I prayed he was immediately healed. I left my hands on his back, moving them up and down a bit, for around thirty seconds.
Nothing happened, he felt nothing, I felt nothing. He told me that if anything changed he would let me know. The next morning he sent me a text thanking me for trying, but reported no change at all. Once again, I felt disappointed.
The next door neighbour sent me a message later that day to ask if it had been a successful healing. He is a believer, but has yet to be baptised. I told him it had not been a success, and then we exchanged a few messages, as I quoted some scriptures and voiced my view about things. So, here are the scriptures that I shared with him, starting with John 14:
12Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the son. 14If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.
Its an excellent promise isn’t it? Trouble is, the promise failed me, twice. I doubt I am the first person in the world to have asked for something good, to glorify God, through Yahshua’s name, only to receive nothing. There are no qualifiers to Yahshua’s promise either, if you have belief in him, faith in God, and seek to glorify God, it should just happen, every time. But it doesn’t. My attempts were futile, and I do not understand why, and I am troubled that it casts doubts upon the promises of Yahshua to people like me. When is it a bad time to do good in Yahshua’s name, to glorify God? Surely it should never be a bad time, the promise should be fulfilled. Words cannot express how let down I feel, again, after so many disappointments and deceptions (allowed by God) in the past year or so.
I also shared Mark 11 with the neighbour:
22“Have faith in God,” Yahshua said to them. 23“Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
That’s all I want to say in this post, I will pray for my faith to be matched with delivery from Yahshua and my Father in heaven, as it’s horrible to have one’s faith knocked by the scriptures not being fulfilled, especially as I am supposed to be a light to the nations, yet I feel hamstrung, trapped, wasting my time, efforts unappreciated by God. Plus, I am sad for the client I tried to heal, as he’s an unbeliever, and surely would have believed had he been healed.
If you read this post, please take Yahshua up on his promise yourself, and let me know if you have a better result than me.
**Edit** 20th December 2021
It may be apparent from my tone in the above post, but I have since been shown by my Father that I was sorely lacking in love for Him and Yahshua when I attempted to visit Morocco and when I attempted to heal my client. This is a ‘warts and all’ blog though, so I won’t delete what I wrote. My lack of love was partly due to holding a grudge for all of the tests I have endured in the past year. Love is something I have struggled with generally throughout my life too, just understanding what it is, and keeping it in my heart. I was probably a typically emotionally repressed Englishman in this respect. So, I was shown over the weekend that love heals, through faith. Faith in itself, without love, is not profitable, and I am pleased to say that very recently I have been taught how to love by my Father, through His own love for me, and it was a wonderful and ongoing experience of closeness and love and affection between us. The scriptures confirm this in 1 Corinthians 13, and I am pleased to have been enlightened, and to now know what love really is, for God, and for my fellow humans. Here is 1 Corinthians 13 for your enjoyment:
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I should have prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3And if I may give away all my possessions, and I may deliver up my body that I may boast,a but have not love, I am profited nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious, it is not boastful, it is not puffed up. 5It does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek the things of its own, it is not easily provoked, it keeps no account of wrongs. 6It does not delight at unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never fails; but if there are prophesies, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will be ceased; if there is knowledge it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10but when the perfect should come, the partial will be done away.
11When I was a child, I was speaking like a child, I was thinking like a child, I was reasoning like a child; when I became a man, I did away with the things of the child. 12For presently we see through a glass in obscurity; but then, face to face. Presently, I know in part; but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13But now these three things abide: faith, hope, love; but the greatest of these is love.
God IS love, and I am still a child in my faith, but I am starting to see more clearly, and to count my blessings as my Father reveals more and more to me, and I love Him so much now. His love will never fail me, and it’s there for us all, if we want to experience and share our love with Him. Please do so, and rest in His presence, and He will bless you, and you will bless Him. And always remember, the way to Him is through baptism into Yahshua, His first begotten son, who sits by God’s side.