Prayer and Quantum Non-Locality
There is an intangible aspect to prayer that transcends distance, location, space, and time. Though intangible, it still has an affect. Prayer is not just words spoken into the air, prayer is a declaration of God’s will has a physical effect independent from space or distance. Prayer is not magical, but it is powerful. Join us today as we discuss the phenomenon of non-locality in physics and how that sheds light on the power of prayer.
“God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.”
There is an intangible aspect to prayer that transcends distance, location, space, and time. Though intangible, it still has an affect. Prayer is not just words spoken into the air, prayer is a declaration of God’s will has a physical effect independent from space or distance. Prayer is not magical, but it is powerful. Join us today as we discuss the phenomenon of non-locality in physics and how that sheds light on the power of prayer.
In the realm of quantum physics, there’s a fascinating concept known as non-locality, where particles, once entangled, remain connected regardless of the distance between them. This connection is instantaneous and transcends the physical constraints of time and space. Interestingly, this principle provides us with a powerful analogy for understanding the spiritual dynamics of prayer.
Prayer, much like quantum non-locality, transcends physical barriers. It’s not confined by the limitations of time, space, or distance. When we pray, we’re engaging with an intangible yet potent force that connects us to God’s will and power. Prayer is far more than just words spoken into the air; it’s a declaration that resonates in the spiritual realm, creating effects in the physical world, independent of where or when the prayer is made.
Consider the centurion in the Gospels who asked Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus didn’t need to be physically present to perform the miracle; He spoke the word, and the servant was healed. This story exemplifies the principle of non-locality in prayer. Just as quantum entanglement allows particles to affect one another regardless of distance, our prayers, spoken in faith, can have real, tangible impacts no matter where we are.
Prayer, therefore, should not be viewed as a magical formula or an attempt to manipulate physical reality. Instead, it’s an interaction with the higher dimension of Heaven, where we operate out of our authority in God’s kingdom. Through prayer, we align our desires with God's will, tapping into His creative power that governs the universe. This alignment brings about outcomes that are not just miraculous but are in harmony with the laws of God’s kingdom.
In essence, prayer is a powerful tool that allows us to engage with the spiritual laws of God’s kingdom, which operate beyond the limitations of our three-dimensional world. By understanding the principles of quantum entanglement and non-locality, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the effectiveness and reach of our prayers. We’re not merely asking for things; we’re participating in the co-creation of God’s will on Earth, reflecting the unity and connection that underpins both the physical and spiritual realms.
So, when you pray, do so with the confidence that your words, rooted in faith, resonate far beyond the immediate and the visible. They reach into the very heart of God’s kingdom, activating His power and bringing His will to pass in your life and the lives of those you pray for.
Acting Justly, Loving Mercy, and Walking Humbly with God
It’s good to know what God expects from you, it keeps things simple. But When you look deeper into what God prescribes for your life, while there are definitely specifics, it’s actually very general. Meaning there’s lots of room for choice on your part.
As we wind down 2022 and look toward a new year, I plan to remember this verse in my daily life. I can’t say there’s one action defined for me from this passage. It’s more of a way of life.
When the Prophet Micah brought this word to Israel, he warned of judgment. He got to a point where he clarified how God expected them to live to avoid judgment. The funny thing is, it’s not that complicated.
“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
It’s good to know what God expects from you, it keeps things simple. But When you look deeper into what God prescribes for your life, while there are definitely specifics, it’s actually very general. Meaning there’s lots of room for choice on your part.
As we wind down 2022 and look toward a new year, I plan to remember this verse in my daily life. I can’t say there’s one action defined for me from this passage. It’s more of a way of life.
When the Prophet Micah brought this word to Israel, he warned of judgment. He got to a point where he clarified how God expected them to live to avoid judgment. The funny thing is, it’s not that complicated.
Micah 6:6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah points out that you can not do enough for God or make enough sacrifices for Him, but you can live in a way that honors Him.
Act Justly
Love Mercy
Walk Humbly with Your God
Act justly means to do the right thing. It’s not referring to keeping the Law perfectly, it basically means to live with honor and integrity in day-to-day life.
Love mercy means goodness, kindness, and faithfulness. That sounds like - love one another. God desires mercy over sacrifice, we can live the same way with others. To love mercy as a life’s philosophy reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13’s description of love, to give others the benefit of the doubt and be quick to forgive, not holding one another’s failures against one another.
Walk humbly with your God. The word “humbly” in this passage is not the usual word for humble, it means: lowly, to yield to, to hold the door for.
To be humble before God is to yield to Him in your life. So hold the door for Him and let Him go first into each situation. In other words, consider how He sees people in the arena you’re entering. How would He treat people or behave in the environment you are walking into? How would He love and unify in the spaces you occupy?
Hold the door for the Lord as you live your life, and allow your motives to be shaped by His character within.
Feed on the Body and Blood of Christ
What does it mean to feed on his flesh and drink his blood?
John 4:31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
Jesus informs his disciples that there is a different kind of food available that nourishes us and strengthens us in place of natural food. It’s spiritual food but it is accessed with intention, by grace through faith. God will not spoon feed you the sustenance of his spirit like a baby, you must pick up a cup and drink.
How do you ;ick up that cup? Jesus said he did it by doing the will of his father and by fulfilling God’s will for his life.
“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”
What does it mean to feed on his flesh and drink his blood?
John 4:31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." 32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
Jesus informs his disciples that a different kind of food is available that nourishes us and strengthens us in place of natural food. It's spiritual food, but it is accessed with intention, by grace through faith. God will not spoon-feed you the sustenance of his spirit like a baby, you must pick up a cup and drink.
How do you pick up that cup? Jesus said he did it by fulfilling his father's will and fulfilling God's will for his life.
I can tell you that it is enriching and fulfilling when I'm serving, ministering, enjoying my family, or any other things that align with God's guidance for that moment. So many times, I preach and feel full as if I've eaten a meal. But that's just one example. We have access to be nourished by God's spirit in everything we do. Because we are children of God, we have access to his spirit as strength and nourishment in every aspect of life.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
The Apostle John records a detailed conversation and teaching from Jesus about this subject. Read through the following section slowly. Pay attention to what you notice. Keep your heart open to God and allow him to give you insight into how the flesh and blood of Christ can strengthen you. Identify areas where you are living in your own strength and decide to allow God's spirit to be your strength.
John 6:27-59 (read full chapter)
27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—
46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you
54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day
55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
God Does Not Want to Judge You
Jesus bore God's wrath and judgment for sin in his body on the cross as the sin offering for the world. Now that Christ is in you, you don't ever have to worry about being judged by God. Jesus explains why throughout the Gospel of John.
““Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
Jesus bore God's wrath and judgment for sin in his body on the cross as the sin offering for the world. Now that Christ is in you, you don't ever have to worry about being judged by God. Jesus explains why throughout the Gospel of John.
While speaking with Nicodemus, Jesus explained that God would judge him on our behalf.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up
Jesus is speaking of an event during the Israelite's time in the desert.
Numbers 21:4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." 6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Our first response to this story should be thankfulness that we are not under the Mosaic covenant, otherwise known as the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant is not the whole of the Old Testament, it's just the arrangement the Israelites were in from their deliverance from Egypt to the time of Jesus when he enacted a New Covenant.
The Old Covenant included blessings AND curses. The Israelite's complaints against God and Moses brought upon themselves a judgment in the form of poisonous snakes. But when they repented and asked for deliverance, God gave them a way to be free from the judgment of their sin.
Under the New Covenant, Jesus has already been tried, judged, and punished for all your past, present, and future sins. You never have to wonder if God will judge you for your mistakes and sins. You have already been delivered from the curse of the Law. Also - you don't ever have to wonder if what you're going through is some judgment or trial from God because he is not relating to you that way because of the kind of covenant we're in through Christ. God is not sending poisonous snakes into your life in the form of depression, job loss, troubled relationships, poverty, disease, etc.
I love the glimpses we have into Jesus' heart. For example, he was highly stressed about the kind of death he was going to face. In several cases, he prayed to God for a different plan.
He said this about the kind of death Jesus would face.
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
I believe the word "peoples" in verse 32 should be the word "judgment." Some translations read, "I will draw all men unto me." But the word "peoples" or "men" was not in the original editions of John. It was added at the discretion of the translators.
When you think through the context of this story, you understand that Jesus is drawing the judgment on himself, not on people. When the Israelites looked to the serpent on the pole, they understood that their judgment was being transferred to the serpent. As long as they beheld the serpent, they were delivered from judgment.
The same is true for Christ on the cross. When we behold him and place our faith in what he's done on that cross in our place, we understand that our judgment has been removed from us and put on/in him on the cross.
When Christ was lifted up on the tree, he took in Himself our curse to deliver us from sin and death.
How can we live out this powerful truth in practical ways?
1. Don't sin, but if you do, don't forget about Jesus.
As I mentioned, you can live free of fear because Jesus has already eternally atoned for your sin. So don't sin, but if you do, remember that was already tried, judged, and punished for it.
1 John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
When you feel the guilt and shame from life's failures, and those fiery serpents come to bite you, behold him and allow the sting of judgment to roll over to Christ rather than worrying if you'll lose your salvation.
2. Don't judge others.
Living with the awareness that you are forgiven allows you to be more understanding of others.
Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
The context of this instruction from Jesus is horizontal, not vertical. Meaning when you judge others, others will judge you. This is not a warning and a threat of judgment from God.
Very simply, when you feel the desire to judge someone else, remember that Christ was judged for your sin. So if you sin or are tempted to judge others, the prescription is the same - remember that Jesus was cursed and judged for your sin.
If Christians lived aware of this truth, we would be much more effective in the world. Of course, we should not compromise God's truth and deny his natural order of sexuality and morality, but we should live judgment free of others because we live judgment free from God.
I pray this video is a blessing and helps you live free from the fear of God's judgment.
The Father’s Desire for you is Eternal Life
If you're going to have beliefs about God, base them on the instances where God describes himself, not your interpretation of a broken world's circumstances. God is not trying to make your life challenging to teach you lessons, he wants you to thrive and experience abundant life.
“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
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If you're going to have beliefs about God, base them on the instances where God describes himself, not your interpretation of a broken world's circumstances. God is not trying to make your life challenging to teach you lessons, he wants you to thrive and experience abundant life.
God is a healer, not a disease-maker. God is a provider, not a thief. God is kind, not cruel. God gives wisdom, not confusion. God can be trusted and depended on, he's not the source of your pain.
Jesus came to represent God and show us what he is like, and he went around doing good and healing people. That's God!! The one who wants to do good things in your life and heal you as you enjoy the life he gives you. You then minister to others out of that overflow.
God wants us to know him. God is not difficult to understand. If you know Jesus and are aware of his works, you can know God. In fact, God is soo good, he desires to do good things in your life, just so you'll sit back and say WOW!! So that you may marvel.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. John 5:20
The world doesn't know God in this way. Instead, they've been shown a judgmental deity that looks more like a Greek deity than the one true God. If you know God is good and only good, then get busy helping others know him. If you struggle to believe that God is only good because you've had a traditional view of God, then it's time to change how you see him.
Jesus is the clearest picture we have of God, base your beliefs about God on him. I walk through John chapter 5 and some of 6 to highlight the point that Jesus wants us to know how good God is. I hope the message is a blessing to you.
God's Love Is More Than A Nice Idea, It's Power Within You
God's love for you is more than just how he feels about you. His love is more than just His motivation for sending Jesus. His love is an active force in your inner being that has an effect. His love is not just positive thoughts he has about you, it's an actual power than flows from Him into your heart that does things.
What does God's love do? It causes you to be whole.
The sacrifice of Christ made a way for your relationship with God to be restored. But His love, poured out in your heart, is actively making your entire being whole and complete, spirit, soul, and body.
God's love is more than just a nice idea to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, it's the most powerful force in existence, and it's active in you.
“Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
God's love for you is more than just how he feels about you. His love is more than just His motivation for sending Jesus. His love is an active force in your inner being that has an effect. His love is not just positive thoughts he has about you, it's an actual power than flows from Him into your heart that does things.
What does God's love do? It causes you to be whole.
The sacrifice of Christ made a way for your relationship with God to be restored. But His love, poured out in your heart, is actively making your entire being whole and complete, spirit, soul, and body.
God's love is more than just a nice idea to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, it's the most powerful force in existence, and it's active in you.
Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
Ephesians 3:16 I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth 19 of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,
His love is that power.
The fruits of the spirit are birthed out of a heart convinced of God's love. The power of God works through your life because his love for you has been poured into your heart. The more you are convinced of God's love for you, the more you will allow yourself to be empowered by grace to experience all God seeks to do through you.
So the conclusion is to become fully persuaded of God's love. I recommend finding 12 passages about God's love and meditating on them daily for a few weeks. Then, notice how that exercise affects you at work, with your spouse, when you're tempted, when you're inspired to pray for someone, and in other areas of your life.
Watch the message above for a deeper teaching on the powerful love of God.