When was the last time you asked yourself; Do I really believe everything that is written in the Bible?  You may not have ever done so before, but everything you need from God hinges on your ability to reply YES without any reservation whatsoever.
    Even though salvation became available to mankind from the moment Christ Jesus was raised from the dead, after having been crucified, salvation didn’t become available to you personally until you believed that Jesus died for your sins and rose again, and you repented of your sins.  What did believing have to do with it?  well, apparently everything, not because I said so, but because God said so.  We don’t get anything from God by abiding in unbelief.  All the blessings God has to offer us are of no effect to the person who refuses to believe what God says in His Word.  There are people who refuse to even believe that God exists.  Does that make God non-existent? No, but it sure keeps them out of His blessings.  And that brings me to another point:  God says in His Word in no uncertain terms that He is our Healer.  Does that mean everyone is getting healed?  As one of our past Presidents so cleverly put it, “That depends on what your definition of “is” is.
   You see, we can make excuse after excuse why some people are healed, and some are not.  And if they aren’t healed, someone may say that person had some hidden sin, or they had refused to forgive someone for something, or a million other excuses.  But the Bible seems perfectly clear on the subject, and you’d have to really work at making it otherwise.  People have told me, you just don’t know what God is going to do.  To that I reply: read the Bible, then you’ll know.  He always does what He says He will do, every time.  That’s one of my favorite traits of God: He always keeps His word.  How I wish people were like that!
   I mean, how many ways must God express it before we believe that He is our Healer?  Here, let’s pick an easy one: 
Exo 15:26  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
Ok, quiz time: who is the healer?  The LORD.  Is that so difficult? 
Psa 103:2  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Psa 103:3  Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Psa 103:4  Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Psa 103:5  Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Again, who is the healer?  The LORD.  He is the one doing all this good stuff for us.
   Why would the LORD do these things for us?  Well, for one thing, He loves us.  Not because of anything we have or have not done.  It was a decision of His own free will to do so, regardless of our behavior or need.  That means we have been totally left out of the decision making process.  God isn’t looking for our approval or disapproval.  He isn’t looking for our name on a church membership roll, nor does He need permission from our church board to love any of us.  He doesn’t care where we came from or what color we are.  He doesn’t care if we’ve been naughty or nice, He loves us anyway, and there really isn’t anything we can do about it.  And, He’s going to love YOU whether you love Him back or not.  He loves you whether you believe in Him or not. 
   That could be the end of the story, but it’s only the beginning.  How is it that God could love mankind, who has been rebellious and nothing but trouble from almost the very beginning?  Sorry, I don’t have the answer to that one….  But He does, nonetheless.  And that’s good for us.  Does God get anything out of the deal?  Well, hopefully so.  In exchange for putting up with a bunch of whiny kids who constantly say, Give to me, give to me, bless me, bless me!, He also gets to stay up all night watching over us, even while we sleep, dreaming of what we’re going to ask Him for tomorrow.  Maybe, just maybe we will return just a little bit of that love to Him.  Maybe, just maybe, we will actually believe what He has recorded in His Word, which is the greatest love letter that has ever been written in all time, and we will fall in love with God. 
   Right about now you’re saying, Sounds good, but there’s gotta be a catch!  Yes, there is.  Surely you didn’t think there wasn’t, did you?   Tune in next week, and I’ll tell you.
   Hahahaha!  Sorry, I just couldn’t resist that one.  Here’s the catch: you have to believe!  Does it sound too good to be true that God could love you no matter what you’ve done, or how many times you’ve done it?  Is it possible for you to experience God’s unconditional love, that feelings of guilt could be gone from your heart forever?  Yes!!!  Even if you’ve made promises to God and failed to make good on them, there is still hope, because, though God hates sin, He loves the sinner.  He’s the God of a second chance, and a third, and as many as it takes to get through to you that He actually loves you.  And with your sins forgiven, He remembers them no more.  That’s the best deal on the planet, or elsewhere, for that matter.
   Another thing: God says if we repent, He forgives ALL our sin.  How many is all?  That is the total amount of them, including the ones you haven’t even thought of yet.  How can so much grace abound?  Hey, I didn’t make the rules, God did.  He can do it any way He pleases.  All I know is this, for this grace to abound unto me, I must believe, pure and simple.  And you must, too.  How many times can we sin and fall short of the glory of God and He still be gracious and forgive us?  Until seven times?  How about seventy times?  Seventy times seven?  How about we just get it right and not find out?  I don’t know about you, but if I love someone, I will try my best to not grieve them.  Can we at least do that for God who loves us so very much? 
   Sometimes things happen to us in life that make us feel absolutely worthless, but yet, God places so much value on us that He gave His Son Jesus as ransom for our sins. He could have sacrificed us so that His Son could live, but no, He sacrificed His Son so that WE could live.  That’s love that you can believe in.  God believes us when we say we’re sorry for our sins.  Don’t you think it’s time that we believe Him?