Ill Health

FRI., APR. 14, 1989, 6:05 AM
FARM, STUDY

The marathon of presentations for the Survival class has been completed, and My only criticism is one you would expect: not quite enough emphasis on spirit in the two final lectures. As an example, this morning you shall hear about spirit as it relates to ill health. I have told you much about health, and positive health is the emphasis I want you to maintain, but I also am involved with ill health.

In times past and in some cultures today many of those who experienced ill health died early in life. Many, many souls have had only a short sojourn into earth life. This is unfortunate, but the earth was designed so that this would happen. The earth just had to have this quality of danger to it.

Out of this condition developed the practice and now the science of medicine. States of ill-health very early in human history began to incite compassion, and out of this spiritual motive developed the spirit of medicine… treating ill-health because of a deep desire to see health restored. So you see that ill-health has this capacity of inciting compassion and selflessness… the desire to serve another who truly needs help.

Occasionally I cause conditions of ill-health. I know that this doesn’t seem to fit the ideal perception of Me and My workings in the earth, but there are occasions when this seems necessary for the best spiritual growth. You know, of course, that My prime concern is the growth and development of spirit, and occasionally this is enhanced by experiences of ill-health. One of the purposes of the story of Job in My Holy Scriptures is to tell that I may be directly involved in the onset of ill-health. It is a bizarre story, of course, with the actual afflictions coming by way of satan, but I am continually in control. I allow spiritual forces to afflict the physical body, but ultimately I am the only true spiritual force.

So occasionally I cause, but more normally I allow ill-health to develop. In some ways the earth is a dangerous realm, with the competition among forms of life. Even though humans are My finest creation I do not interfere when insignificant microorganisms cause ill-health and even death. It may be wasteful, but it is My way.

Now, with modern medicines and preventive measures ill-health has been diminished somewhat, but now takes other forms. Medicines and care are responsible for many recovering more quickly from ill-health. They also are responsible for many living longer in a state of ill-health, which may bring some regression in spiritual status.

Ill-health can bring forth prayer and requests for prayer. Some who feel no need for Me in states of health call to Me timidly to fervently when illness strikes. I realize that this “return” may last only until health is restored, but occasionally this call for help brings forth a rebirth or a new birth of relationship that would not have come if health had prevailed. I cannot deny this reality.

And, yes, I do intervene in some conditions of ill-health. I have the power to overcome any king of physical malfunction. I can even restore structure damage. I have supreme power over ill-health of all sorts, but… I rarely employ it. I want the earth to be this special realm of cause and effect, of chance and danger, of the predictable and the unpredictable. When you come into the earth you are aware of this, but this awareness fades when you are not growing up in a culture that encourages this interpretation.

So do not be reluctant to pray for a person in a condition of ill-health. You can be humble and simply pray that My Will be done. You also can pray for healing, for relief, for My powerful intervention. You pray that I lower your blood pressure so that you can give blood. You almost always give Me credit when the numbers are favorable, and you should, even if I don’t intervene. Just know that I can, and whatever happens it is as I want it to be – for ultimate reasons.