05/07/2019
Are you sick, lame, blind, pursued by Demons, or in any other way in need of healing? Well if so are you following Jesus and asking Him in faith to heal you? Are you going wherever He goes until your belief has at last reached its peak, and you not only believe He can heal people, but that He is the Son of God, and can heal YOU? No? Well perhaps then you are you like Thomas, and need a sign. Follow Him, pursue Him, and stretch out your hand expectantly towards Him to receive His healing touch.
“Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all”
Matthew 12:13-15 ESV
Jesus healed wherever He went, and He still heals today. Jesus healed out of pity and empathy, but not so much to relieve the physical suffering, but so that those who He touched, and those who witnessed His miracles would believe and have eternal life. He healed not only the faithful believers....
“And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; let it be done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.”
Matthew 8:13 ESV
But He healed those who, like the Apostle Thomas, needed a sign before they would allow themselves to believe...
“When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.”
John 4:47-50 ESV
Which of these are we when we come to the altar seeking Christ’s healing? Which of these are we when we present ourselves to the elders for prayer and healing? Which of these are we? Are we the desperate, or the faithful, and if you are not a believer would His healing touch allow you to believe? If you are a believer and possess faith would it increase your faith, and cause you to believe just as it is written, or bring others to faith by witnessing about what He has done?
The interesting thing about the accounts we have regarding healing is that Jesus didn’t heal all the world with a single pronouncement, He didn’t heal a region, a nation, a city, a neighborhood, a crowd, or even a synagogue... He typically healed those that followed after Him one person at a time. On only three biblical occasions did He do otherwise... he healed two men who were possessed (Matthew 8:28-34), two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31), and There is one account which borders on His healing many, and this is where He cleansed the 10 lepers, but as we follow the story further He only pronounces one as being made well by his faith...
“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."”
Luke 17:15-19 ESV
We are given these accounts of healing in the scriptures so that we too can believe, have faith, and thus receive life. Faith is an individual decision. John tells us this specifically as he writes these words...
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
John 20:30-31 ESV
We are given these historic occurrences of healing so that we will have faith, and we are healed today for this same reason, yet so many of us receive healing and then try to explain it away, or discount it by believing it to be happenstance. As a member of an intercessory prayer team I see healing; sometimes it is to reinforce faith, sometimes to establish faith, but on occasion a person will come simply looking for a miracle, and when, on occasion, it is received they explain away God’s hand in it... they chose to believe in some explanation other than God having healed them, or having solved their issue. How are we to understand healings of unbelievers such as this? Well, sometimes it remains a mystery, but sometimes it leads an observer of the miracle to faith, or strengthens the faith of a believer that encouraged this unbeliever to submit themselves for prayer... there is purpose in every action of God... healing is no exception... when it is granted, and even when it doesn’t occur.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
Miracles, and healings in specific, frighten modern society. The press is quick to cover a miracle, but then even more quickly attack it in an effort to explain it away.
A priest mysteriously appears at the site of an automobile accident, pulls a man from a burning car, prays for his healing, and then vanished into the crowd. The headlines in the morning newspaper read “Angel pulls Man from Burning Car”, but once the priest is identified they print something along the lines of “Priest identified; Not Angel at all” and go on to tell about how this was no miracle, he walks this same path to church every day. Really? Or how about the man who was zipped up in a body bag in the morgue. And a worker heard a moan and the man was discovered to be alive? His family had been praying for a miracle, but the story on the news is about “The Lazarus Phenomenon” as if the raising of Lazarus and this man were just natural occurrences. Healings, and these other miraculous things, frightened many in Jesus’ time as well. To realize this as true we need look no further than the cross.
So how is your faith today? Do healings strengthen it, establish it, or cause you to look towards some earthly reason to explain it away? Do you testify to others when you are healed, or are you afraid of being ridiculed? Do you follow after Jesus asking over and over again for healing until at last you are touched, or just say a few quick prayers and turn back towards the comfort of your disbelief? My friend... Be like the crowd and follow Him! Be like the leper and fall at His feet thanking Him for your healing. Be like the Centurion and believe. Be like Thomas and trust in the sign, and be like the leper who could not wait to tell others of this amazing man Jesus Christ, and what He has done!
“Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them." But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.”
Mark 1:41-45 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the healing that we receive from you and through the hand of your Son Jesus. Thank you for the faith that springs forth from even the slightest touch of Jesus’ hem, and the healing it brings. Hear us Holy Father as we pray ”help us in our unbelief”, and hear our prayers which follow as we ask for healing, and trust in the other provisions promised in your Word, and by our faith. Give us perseverance Father, and hear our daily cry for your mercy, and answer to our prayers. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who heals my spirit even as you heal my body. Praised be your name as you strengthen my faith, and mighty are you who heals all who would come before you in expectation. By our faith, and by your Word, we give you all glory forevermore.
Rich Forbes