Recent Blog Posts from Pursuit NYC
Feb 19, 2019
by Josh Kim In part one of this blog series, I shared that it is always God’s will to heal due to the sacrifice, or atonement, of Jesus. The atonement of Jesus through the cross purchased full salvation for our entire being: our spirits (reconciling humanity with God), our souls (forgiveness of sins and renewing of the mind), and our bodies (healing of sicknesses and suffering). In part two of this blog series, I want to briefly explain the various reasons that may perhaps prevent healing. But ultimately, I want to clarify the nature of the kingdom of God, and the time we are living in, to help make sense of the mystery of divine healing. FACTORS PREVENTING HEALING Having faith in God’s will to heal is the biggest factor for healing as I have mentioned in part one. But it is often human tendency to oversimplify things that we do not fully understand. So when healing does not take place, our tendency is to create over-simplifications, such as a particular person was not healed due to their lack of faith. This only produces false guilt within people, which is never God’s will. In order to avoid these simplistic answers or approaches to healing, here are a few reasons why a particular person may not be healed (for more in-depth descriptions, you can refer to a great resource for healing called Healing by Francis MacNutt): Lack of faith. In Matthew 17:14-20, the disciples are rebuked by Jesus for not being able to cure a epileptic demoniac due to their lack of faith. Everyone, even for those who do believe... read more
Feb 12, 2019
by Josh Kim Does God always heal? I have personally struggled with this question for the majority of my life. We hear and read stories in Scripture about God performing miracles, being powerful, and even being willing to heal (Luke 5:13). Yet when we look at the world around us, there are still many believers and non-believers suffering with all different kinds of sickness. In this part one of a two blog posts series, I want to share with you my personal journey of God’s healing, give a biblical overview on healing and sickness, and confirm that God is good, powerful, and always willing to heal. PERSONAL JOURNEY Back in 1998, I was a normal second-grader who contracted chickenpox like most kids at that age. As I was quarantined in my house for 2 weeks, all I looked forward to was playing baseball outside with my friends once I was healed. Eventually, the doctors cleared me and I played outside all day. However, when I came back to my house, my mom freaked out because I had blisters all over my face and body. We went back to the doctors to get re-examined and we found out that I had a skin condition where my body reacted to the sunlight with fever blisters. I was no longer a normal second-grader, but a second-grader allergic to the sun of all things. It changed my life in many ways. Initially, my parents and church members all prayed for healing over me saying, “God, you love him so out of your power, heal him.” But when nothing changed, the prayers eventually... read more
Jan 29, 2019
After a short hiatus, we are finally back with FRONTIER! Recently I had the privilege of going to Atlanta to minister at a multi-church retreat for youth. While there I met a lot of amazing people. One of them was Edward, who was serving behind-the-scenes with media. I appreciated his hard work and dedication, and we got a chance to talk in between sessions. Most of our conversations revolved around faith and dreams. That’s when I found out he was a rapper! Here’s more about my new friend, Edward, aka Kaptivated. Tell us who you are. My name is Edward. I’m 24, and I was born, raised, and currently reside in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m a full-time graphic designer and a part-time rapper. On stage, I go by Kaptivated. How did you get into rapping? It was two things. First, my older brother Eric had been rapping for a while before I picked it up. I didn’t hear much of it until after he became a Christian and he started showing me some of his songs. He used to record and make beats all the time—seeing this as a middle schooler made me realize that music production was accessible. It wasn’t just something for the celebrities to do; it was something I had the resources to accomplish myself. Second, I heard the song “Stan” by Eminem. That song made me realize the power that hip hop could have. It made me realize that music—hip hop especially—could be leveraged as a tool for great influence in the world. These two realizations naturally led me to start writing my own songs and... read more
