No More Walking It Off

When I woke up on the football field I remember seeing the school doctor leaning over me with a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth. I just suffered a collision with another player which felt like it took my right arm down the field as the rest of me went forward. I actually asked the question of whether my arm was still attached. I was assured that it was and next came the advice that only a doctor with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth could give: "Walk it off, kid."

No x-ray. No follow up visit. We now know today that the injury was serious. The capsule was cracked. The rotator cuff was torn. The labrum was torn. There were dozens of pieces of little white flecks that showed up on the x-ray which have been identified as bone chips. There is also this huge part of the shoulder that is slightly darker than the rest. It looks to me like it belongs there. The doctor assures me it does not. It's a monstrous calcium deposit. It looks like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.

I had been living with this for almost 42 years working through the increasing pain as time went on. Finally, I had some arthroscopic surgery a few years back to "clean it out". It worked for awhile, but the pain gradually started to come back.

Walk it off, kid.

I believe I received my brand new shoulder on one Saturday night at the church. I gave it to God as a young lady laid hands on it and brought the fire of healing into it (thanks Marissa!). I felt heat. Fire. The pain left. I can move my shoulder in positions I couldn't before. I am healed.  I don't need an x-ray. I can tell.

I'm done "walking it off".  I was pursuing the mere gratification of the flesh. I should have been pursuing and chasing after the desires of the Spirit which would have healed me a lot sooner.

Sometimes you think you have it all covered.  Then you see that you don't. I had brought healing to many, yet I couldn't get it myself. My focus was wrong even though I was sure I was squarely in His will. I was obsessing with the flesh (shoulder pain) and allowing it to take my focus off the Spirit.

Romans 8:5 (AMP) - "For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit."

It's about Who is controlling us. What we are most concerned about. Where our affinity lies.

It's Jesus. If we shift that away from Him even momentarily, and place it upon even something that appears to be innocent, we put ourselves at risk. Even pain can be that shiny object the devil uses to distract.

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

www.reallifect.com