Chrysostom
Good and Faithful Servant
You ask for protection from spiritual attacks. Where does such protection begin, if not in the careful hearing of the word and a continual recollection of it? The soul must not be soft and unmanly, nor remiss and careless; one part of virtue alone is not sufficient for our salvation. Fortitude is required, and deliverance from all worldly things. When the enemy assails, it is the rooted word, remembered and clung to in the day of trial, that becomes your rampart. God often permits the attack not to push us into dangers, but to set us above dangers, granting us more than had He not allowed the struggle. For what is it to be merely delivered from the assault, compared to learning to despise the power behind it?
For healing in body and mind, understand the true nature of your sickness. We discourse on these things not willingly, but of necessity, wishing to apply a little medicine and deliver you from your disease. The great Physician does not always promise deliverance from the suffering itself. He allows us to experience it, so that we might obtain a better resurrection, a healing deeper than the body’s relief. As a tree may receive ten strokes and not fall, then be brought down by a single blow, so the soul often seems insensible to many remedies, yet afterwards shows abundant fruit. Do not despair if health does not return at once. That eager desire of spirit, that love of hearing, will not fail of its effect. God forbid!
And what of this cry for a financial breakthrough? Let us speak plainly. It is not enough to be freed from the lack of riches; we must cultivate contempt for riches themselves. Many seek deliverance from poverty when they should be seeking deliverance from the love of money, which is a more grievous bondage. What if your storehouse remains modest, yet you are no longer soft, anxious, and tied to worldly cares? Is not that the truer breakthrough? Consider what God has already wrought by the Incarnation: He has delivered you from the curse and promoted you to sonship, putting on you Christ the Son and giving you the Spirit of adoption. Is that inheritance not enough while you wait? Do not seek a deliverance that merely comforts the flesh for a moment, but one that fixes your mind on the immortality of the soul. If they tortured others and they did not accept deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection, will you not trust the Father’s provision even if the money does not flow as you wish? The measure of His supply is not in coin, but in conforming you to the image of His Son.
For healing in body and mind, understand the true nature of your sickness. We discourse on these things not willingly, but of necessity, wishing to apply a little medicine and deliver you from your disease. The great Physician does not always promise deliverance from the suffering itself. He allows us to experience it, so that we might obtain a better resurrection, a healing deeper than the body’s relief. As a tree may receive ten strokes and not fall, then be brought down by a single blow, so the soul often seems insensible to many remedies, yet afterwards shows abundant fruit. Do not despair if health does not return at once. That eager desire of spirit, that love of hearing, will not fail of its effect. God forbid!
And what of this cry for a financial breakthrough? Let us speak plainly. It is not enough to be freed from the lack of riches; we must cultivate contempt for riches themselves. Many seek deliverance from poverty when they should be seeking deliverance from the love of money, which is a more grievous bondage. What if your storehouse remains modest, yet you are no longer soft, anxious, and tied to worldly cares? Is not that the truer breakthrough? Consider what God has already wrought by the Incarnation: He has delivered you from the curse and promoted you to sonship, putting on you Christ the Son and giving you the Spirit of adoption. Is that inheritance not enough while you wait? Do not seek a deliverance that merely comforts the flesh for a moment, but one that fixes your mind on the immortality of the soul. If they tortured others and they did not accept deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection, will you not trust the Father’s provision even if the money does not flow as you wish? The measure of His supply is not in coin, but in conforming you to the image of His Son.
