Tag: Holy Spirit

The Anointing

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

The anointing of God, so vital to saints of old, is available and active today. Seek it out from the godliest person you know, and you will be blessed.

By Mark D. Harris

Tim was retiring from the US Air Force and moving out of the national capital area. He had had a stellar career and had been seeking civilian work. He showed great confidence in the future, but as the weeks passed, worry crept into his face. Tim, his wife and daughters moved out of their rental house and moved in with extended family, but several job opportunities had faded away.

They visited with us after Vacation Bible School one afternoon, as we were going through the same transition. As Tim and his family were leaving, my family gathered around to lay hands on them and pray. We prayed for their journey to Texas, their search for a new house, their transition to new schools, a new church, and a new community, and most of all, for a job. Once we finished, I turned to Tim and said “Congratulations, you have received the anointing of the Spirit for this task in your life. You will be successful.”

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The Death of a Friend

~ MD Harris Institute ~ 3 Comments

Death is a great sadness in this world, but not the greatest. We lost a dear friend, like many others in life, but we will see her again. 

By Mark D. Harris

It was a beautiful morning at the state campgrounds at Lake Anna, near Richmond Virginia. Several families from our church, and one family that had recently moved away to pursue new job opportunities, had come together for a Labor Day getaway. We were busily preparing breakfast, assembling fishing tackle, and drinking coffee by the crackling fire. As the only physician in the group, I was in unfortunate demand. One girl from a different party had had a bike accident, a man splashed some chemlight fluid in his eyes, and a little boy hurt his arm. After my quasi-clinic Mary, a dear friend and breast cancer survivor, asked me about some back pain she had been having. I tried some spinal manipulation with little result. Chagrined by the lack of improvement but without the opportunity to investigate further, we moved on. Our group had prayed for these problems, and Mary had a medical appointment a few days later.

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Mysteries of the Trinity

~ MD Harris Institute ~ 1 Comment

Do we believe in one God or in three gods? How do we explain it? What do we do about it?

I had never expected to meet a Muslim from Lebanon during my family medicine rotation at the Indian Health Service Hospital in Barrow, Alaska in December, 1990. Nonetheless, there I was, eating flat bread in his living room with a few other friends who also happened to be visiting Barrow a month after the sun went down. It was 30 below outside but warm and comfortable within, with conversation ranging from the weather to politics to local events and back to politics again. I stumbled as I tried to say “Good Afternoon” (Masah al Kheir), and the other phrases in Arabic that my new Lebanese friend patiently taught me, in between tending pots and trays to prepare what turned out to be a delicious meal.

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Why God?

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God is the fundamental assumption, the ground for all existence, and for every other assumption. He need not be proved and in the final analysis cannot be proved or disproved. So why is there so much controversy, and what do we do?

By Mark D. Harris

The question at hand is “Why God?” I was brought up in a Christian home and so I had a marvelous advantage over some who were not; God was just assumed in my home and none of the people around me thought otherwise. They had relatively minor differences about their understanding of His attributes but no one denied His existence or asked why He was important.

I have now had decades to consider the issue and decide for myself, as most people eventually get the chance to do. As a result, I believe in God more strongly than ever, for three reasons:

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