Clearing Out the Idea Box
- Pastor Jay Christianson
- Jan 23
- 6 min read
Well, it’s Monday afternoon, and I’m facing one of the biggest challenges of my week.
Writing the upcoming Friday blog.
I’ve been writing weekly blogs for High Beam Ministry for the last five-and-a-half years. That comes to about 286 articles, give or take a few reprints due to illness or scheduling conflicts. Important life tip. If you live in Florida and have a guest room, guess what you’ll have. Yup. Guests. It’s inevitable. Especially when my friend tells me that today, in some Minnesota cities, the wind chill index is in the minus-40-degree Evil Winter Demon range. One town reported a wind chill of -57 degrees, enough to freeze your toes off.
My phone should start ringing any minute for guest reservations.
One of the worst parts about the uber-frigid nastiness up north is that it sometimes gets drunk, comes south, and passes out in my Florida front yard. Yes, it gets cold in southern Florida, relatively speaking. And yes, I’m an acclimated pansy. I call my friends up north, but no one answers. They’re either too frozen to move, or they’re in their ice house on the lake, downing a few beers and watching the football game on their TV as the fish glide by silently under the ice.
Here’s a little inside scoop: Ice fishermen (and women, don’tcha know) are out there to hang out and party. Fishing is just a side gig.
Speaking of gliding along silently, that’s pretty much the state of the ideas in my brain when I sit down to start writing. I usually have either an already established idea or do the ol’ stream-of-consciousness thing until the Holy Spirit assembles something cogent. This time, I think I’ll clear out my idea box on my desk.
It’s not really a box. It’s just a pile of hastily scribbled notes on scratch paper that I paperclip together, hoping that they might someday coalesce into something meaningful. Well, there they are right now. Sitting on my desk to the left of my laptop, looking at me with an “I dare you to make me into something” glare.
Challenge accepted.
Idea Number 1: The Hibiscus Tree.
I appreciate the landscaping crew in my community. However, with over 1,800 home and townhouse lawns to maintain, sometimes things get overlooked. One of those things last year was the hibiscus tree outside my office window. When it blooms, it has magnificent six-inch red flowers. Not many, but enough to dot the canopy of green leaves.
Well, last year, the tree began to look really leggy. You gardeners know what I mean. Individual branches growing ever outward without filling out. It reminded me of Medusa’s stunning snake wig and was about as attractive. So, I submitted a request for tree trimming. Just a little off the top, please.
Oh no. There was no trimming. It was a wholesale branch slaughter. I’m not exaggerating when I say that our formerly lovely, 8-foot tree was reduced to a nearly denuded 5-foot tree. I was tempted to get perturbed. Instead, I became curious. The tree looked pretty scalped. Would it recover?
The suspense was terrible.
The result was fantastic. The hard chop removed much of the dead wood, allowing airflow to increase and sunlight to reach the canopy’s interior. It has fully recovered and is beginning to sport blooms once again. It looks beautiful and produces flowers once again.
And now, here’s your lesson (John 15:1-2). The Lord knows we need trimming. Sometimes it’s a little more than a smidge. Sometimes, He cuts us down to what we think is nothing. No problem. The Master Gardener knows what He’s doing. We’re being pruned according to what He knows we need. The dead wood of old habit patterns, ways of thinking, and behaving. The weird, wild spiritual growth? Gone. Those things weren’t contributing to our spiritual vitality. Those things were mostly interfering with our growth. Once they’re shed, new sprouts of life, opportunities to grow close to the Lord and increase our spiritual fruit, emerge and mature.
Plus, the wind of the Holy Spirit can flow through us more fully, refreshing us, and the Lord’s illumination sparks new energy within us for life and service. Hard pruning produces fresh, vigorous growth.
Look past your pain and apparent barrenness. You’ll be amazed at what comes.
Idea Number 2: The King’s Arrival in Hell
Imagine the satanic horde’s horror when the One they thought they had defeated strode into hell and announced their defeat…
and doom.
Idea Number 3: Big vs. Small Ministries
Pastor, don’t worry that your ministry may seem minor. The only thing that counts is “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Final Idea: A Prayer For Healing Primer
I’ve been in the Spirit-filled “movement” for decades. I have no renowned, ongoing gift of healing which the Holy Spirit works through me. But I’ve prayed for a good number of people. Some are healed quickly or over time, and some aren’t. When it happens, it’s incredible, and God gets the glory.
I’ve met people who sincerely desire a powerful healing ministry. As they learn to pray for someone’s healing, I’m reminded how many of us try to tell the Lord how to heal the person.
For example, “Oh Lord, reach in and crush this person’s cancer. Cause the body to activate a powerful immune response to those nasty cells. Cause them to explode by your power! Let Your healing grace flood every cell of their body. Strengthen their mitochondria with extra energy,” and on and on with the details of what they think is needed to cure their disease. When nothing happens, the person praying often becomes discouraged, especially when it isn’t in accordance with their prayed-for directions.
Let me encourage you today. Don’t stop praying for people. The Lord is the Great Healer (Exodus 15:26). We were designed to be healthy. He built us; He can easily fix us, if that’s His will. Releasing healing is part of Jesus’ atoning work on the cross. Pray to the Healer to heal. That’s His job. Jesus is still active at His Father’s side in the heavenly realm. At present, the Holy Spirit inhabits us, making all born-again Christians His Body on earth. That’s right. We’re to be Jesus in our flesh, His presence in the world. As He worked, so He continues to do so through us, His proxies. That includes being conduits for His healing power.
But let’s be careful not to get in the way.
What I mean is this. When I was pondering how we sometimes pray long, drawn-out prayers telling the Lord how to heal a person, the Holy Spirit stopped me. He asked me, “If you were in the operating suite with a surgeon, would you step in and tell them how to do their job?” “No, Lord,” I replied. He said, “There’s no need for details or directions. They’re unnecessary. I know the source, the extent of the problem, and the cure. I know My will. Just ask me to heal them.”
It struck me again that any Christian can pray for someone’s healing. There’s no need to be envious of the Super-Healing-Ministry people. That’s their God-given specialty. Do you want Jesus to use you to heal someone? Then take every opportunity to pray for the sick and infirm. Don’t deny a person the possibility of being healed because you don’t have a “healing ministry.” Step out compassionately. Ask and see what your God Who Heals will do.
A special note to you, dear reader: I want to know what you think of the Frothy Thoughts Blog. If you will, please send a quick email to HighBeamMinistry@gmail.com with your comment about this blog, or just to let me know you read it. Your response can be a sentence or a page. Don’t worry. High Beam Ministry won’t use your email for spam. For notifications about new material, please use the subscribe button on the website. Thanks so much for reading and replying!
Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts