Steps to Christ: Consecration

God's promise is, "Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13.

The whole heart must be yielded to God, or the change can never be wrought in us by which we are to be restored to His likeness. By nature we are alienated from God. The Holy Spirit describes our condition in such words as these: "Dead in trespasses and sins;" "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint;" "no soundness in it." We are held fast in the snare of Satan, "taken captive by him at his will." Ephesians 2:1; Isaiah 1:5, 6; 2 Timothy 2:26. God desires to heal us, to set us free. But since this requires an entire transformation, a renewing of our whole nature, we must yield ourselves wholly to Him.

Let Your Food Be Your Medicine

"Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever." Psalm 136:25 

The "Doctrine of Signatures" is a traditional belief that the physical characteristics of plants and foods (their "signatures") indicate their intended use for healing specific parts of the body. The idea can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome, but it became especially prominent in medieval Europe and the Renaissance.

Paracelsus (1493–1541), a Swiss physician and alchemist, was one of its strongest advocates. He taught that God had marked plants with signs of their purpose for human use. It was common in herbal medicine traditions across Europe, the Middle East, India, and China, though expressed differently in each culture.

The Siege of Jerusalem

 

On August 30, A.D. 70, the magnificent Second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by fire during the Roman siege under Titus. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, an eyewitness to the events, records that although Titus had originally ordered the temple spared, a Roman soldier hurled a burning brand into one of its chambers. The flames quickly spread beyond control, and the sanctuary, once regarded as the very heart of Jewish life and worship, was reduced to ashes (The Jewish War, 6.252–266).

Ministry of Healing: Our Example

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as the unwearied servant of man's necessity. He "took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses," that He might minister to every need of humanity. Matthew 8:17. The burden of disease and wretchedness and sin He came to remove. It was His mission to bring to men complete restoration; He came to give them health and peace and perfection of character.

Steps to Christ: Repentance

How shall a man be just with God? How shall the sinner be made righteous? It is only through Christ that we can be brought into harmony with God, with holiness; but how are we to come to Christ? Many are asking the same question as did the multitude on the Day of Pentecost, when, convicted of sin, they cried out, "What shall we do?" The first word of Peter's answer was, "Repent." Acts 2:37, 38. At another time, shortly after, he said, "Repent, . . . and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Acts 3:19.

Repentance includes sorrow for sin and a turning away from it. We shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness; until we turn away from it in heart, there will be no real change in the life.