I am thankful for the gift of healing. Several times in my
life I have experienced God’s intervention to restore wholeness- a few times
instantly, many times by the amazing restorative processes He built into my
body, and often because of the skills of another who helped me find wholeness.
And, because I live in a world still filled with the Curse of sin, I have
experienced loss, too. Some of my prayers for healing have been answered with a
‘no.’ Bev’s death a little over a year
ago left me wrestling with issues surrounding healing. Did I trust God enough?
Why would He seem to refuse our requests? Those questions remain to be answered farther
along the road of life.
Truth remains that Christians are healers! A key part of the
Gospel is restoration of wholeness. The
Bible says, "God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17, NIV) The word we read as ‘save’ is a translation of
the original NT Greek word that means both ‘saved’ and ‘healed.’ “Sozo” was a word used to describe a rescue,
a restoration, and healing! The Bible, from Genesis on, tells us that sin’s curse causes affliction and death.
God’s plan is to bring His reign to us with ‘salvation’ so that we may enjoy wholeness. Jesus was not just a teacher
of morals with a mission to help people make better choices! He came to
confront evil and to defeat sin for us and in us so that we could gain eternal
life as well as life that is abundant. He came to heal! "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save
what was lost.” (Luke 19:10, NIV)
When we talk of healing, we must widen our lens to take in
God’s view of the matter. It is not just limited to broken or sick bodies. Healing is for the heart, the mind, the
soul, too. Wholeness starts on the inside, with a transformation of the
person. Charles Mayo, physician and founder of the famed Mayo Clinic, asserted that
75% of disease was rooted in emotional and/or spiritual issues! The Gospel of
Christ, when received by faith, restores the identity of the person as God’s
child and brings eternal life, the best healing! And, then there is restoration of relationships
when we learn to forgive and love. There is healing our world when we make peace.
There is wholeness in Creation when we care for the earth instead of exploiting
the planet God put in our management! And,
then, too, there is healing of our bodies through prayer.
Part of the work of every
Christian is the ministry of healing. We work under the guidance and in the
power of the Spirit Who shows us how to set wrong right, how to defeat evil,
and how to lead others to freedom from slavery to sin! Are you a healer? Perhaps
that causes you to think of the ‘divine healers’ that pray dramatic and loud
prayers over those who suffer. Maybe the ideas of ‘divine healing’ and old snake
oil salesmen are one and the same in your mind. Before you dismiss healing as
part of the Christian life because of the abuses of those who try to profit God’s
gift, consider the truth. The gift of healing is given by the Spirit to the
Church. Jesus went about healing during
His entire ministry.
In the letter of James, the Spirit teaches us that
experiencing wholeness requires authentic confession, too. We cannot divorce
our choices from consequence, but we can face the past, look at our lives
honestly, and find forgiveness and healing. "Are
you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in
the name of the Master." (James 5:14, The Message) "Make
this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each
other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person
living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with."
(James 5:16, The Message) We know that
ultimately all sickness, disease, and even death are the result of sin and the
Curse. However, we need to be careful about judging those who suffer (and even
ourselves!) by attempting to draw direct cause and effect lines from sickness
to personal sin. Only God ultimately
judges in that way. However, when we suffer, when we are sick, we do well to
ask the Spirit to reveal if there is something in us, some choice we make, that
literally is making us sick. Things like forgiveness, bitterness, hatred,
faithlessness will negatively affect our health – emotional, spiritual, and
physical. That’s why confession is so
important to healing. We deal with cause
rather than just symptom.
Remember, we are not healers in ourselves, we are given the
ministry of healing. Only God heals, and He does so in His will,
and in His time. So, full of faith (the kind that trusts radically) let’s
pray to make our world a better place, to restore what Satan and sin have
stolen, for the glory of God. Let this
word from the Word stir faith in you and lead you to become a person who lives ‘in
the Spirit,’ so that you can be a healer – of broken hearts, of lost souls, of people
consumed by hatred, and of broken bodies. The story comes from Acts, where the simple
faith of the apostles, led them to offer a gift to a man. "Then
Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he
helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped
to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts,
walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and
praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at
the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and
amazement at what had happened to him." (Acts 3:6-10, NIV)
Lord, use us as healers in a broken, sick world – for Christ’s
honor. Amen
_______________
Why
The question that is never far away
But healing doesn't come from the explained
Jesus please don't let this go in vain
You're all I have all that remains
So here I am
What's left of me
Where glory meets my suffering
I'm alive
Even though a part of me has died
You take my (this) heart and breathe it back to life
I fall into Your arms open wide
When the hurt and the healer collide
Breathe
Sometimes I feel it's all that I can do
Pain so deep that I can hardly move
Just keep my eyes completely fixed on You
Lord take hold and pull me through
It's the moment when humanity
Is overcome by majesty
When grace is ushered in for good
And all our scars are understood
When mercy takes its rightful place
And all these questions fade away
When out of weakness we must bow
And hear You say
It's over now
Jesus come and break my fear
Wake my heart and take my tears
Find Your glory even here
(When the hurt and the healer collide)
Jesus come and break my fear
Wake my heart and take my tears
Find Your glory even here
(When the hurt and the healer collide)
Jesus come and break my fear
Wake my heart and take my tears
And find Your glory even here
Barry Graul | Bart Millard | Jim Bryson | Mike Scheuchzer |
Nathan Cochran | Robby Shaffer
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Wet As A Fish Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
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