I recently had a friend ask about what we should be going onto in maturity according to the admonition in Hebrews 6:1-3 that reads, “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits” (ESV).

I would like to make something clear to you here. There are many who have not yet had even these elementary foundations laid in their lives. I realize that without these secure foundations, the question of going onto the next things will only bring trouble. Kingdom IQ, in some ways, was designed to make sure the basics, the foundations stones, the elementary things were laid, but I realize that I may be, again, making assumptions. Before I share with you some teaching on suffering and healing, I want to take the time to discuss these elementary foundations. Please understand that these are even more basic and should be strong in you:
Elementary 6
1. Never trust in your own ability to earn a place with God. God has initiated everything on your behalf because of his great love before we had the sense to ask (Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:19). We realize that every work, every effort, every teaching, and every other thing that tries to build itself on anything other than trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, righteousness, and perfection is a false teaching and a dead work. Repent from doing or approving dead works.

2. Always believe what God says about you and about everyone, and always choose agreement with him. This is faith. Understand that choosing to agree with something other than God will only produce death in you and around you. Your mind, your will, and your emotions are not trustworthy commentators about yourself, others, or God, so choose only to believe in God. Walking by the Spirit—seeing by the Spirit—is a mindset of trusting in God who is always good, and this is never negotiable.

3. Baptism is important and it's a command. Jesus commanded us to go and baptize into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit those who would believe and follow him. We don’t only baptize for repentance like John did; we baptize into a relational identity that is enclosed in, and sponsored by, the Trinity. We are not merely doing “ceremonial washings” in our baptism; we are being resurrected to live inside of Christ. We have no other life but Christ's after our baptism, and this is why it is elementary.

4. When the apostles, the elders, and other leaders lay hands on us and pray, miracles will happen. When we lay hands on others and pray, miracles will happen. Jesus laid hands on many people and they were healed! Gifts will be stirred up (1 Tim. 4:14), and authority will be established. There is no authority in the kingdom that doesn’t work along the lines of trusting relationships and the laying on of hands creates a connection, a relationship, a transfer. This is why Paul tells Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:22 to not lay hands on anyone in a hurry because so much trust is imparted by it. Healing and relationship are also connected in passages like Mark 10:13 and Mark 6:5. We are to understand the elementary importance of trusting our leaders, connecting in relationship, and believing for miraculous transfer of grace and healing between us when we touch one another.

5. Christ was resurrected from the dead, literally, and we will also be resurrected, literally and not figuratively. In 2 Tim. 2:18, Paul refutes the arguments against the coming resurrection. Romans 6:5 makes it clear, 1 Peter 1:3 explains more about it, and even John sees it in Revelation 20:5. We are not living a Christian philosophy or mythology that will blend with other religions one day. We are promised the literal resurrection from the dead with Christ if we follow Christ through his suffering an