Healing is a fascinating topic in modern Christianity. Depending on who you ask, you might hear a range of perspectives from “healing is hogwash” to “oh it happens every day”
It’s easy to get emotional when discussing healing because we all know someone who has needed healing at one time or another, or we might even need healing ourselves right now.
Although the topic of healing evokes powerful feelings, it’s critical to not be driven by emotion, but allow the Master Healer to guide us in this realm… It is God Himself who identifies as our Healer, and later I will share with you some things I saw in the account of Jesus healing the paralyzed man in Luke chapter five.
When talking about sickness, many people take a hopeful cautious attitude. “It’s raining outside, and the weather is cold, I hope I don’t get sick.” – “Gee, that virus is going around, I hope I am not next to get it.”
These statements are the norm, and they may even seem logical. However, are these attitudes really the way that God wants us to live? Is this the kind of abundant life that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for us to have?
What I want to share with you today, are some thought-provoking questions like the ones I just mentioned, and some scriptures that will open your awareness and increase your perspective regarding healing and health. Because Jesus didn’t suffer and die on the cross so that you would continue to suffer and die – but in-fact He has redeemed you from the curse, and as His ambassador, you should be walking in His blessings (all of them) and bringing them to others also.
I’ve encountered many people throughout my years, whom I have shared the truth with, that God is not angry with them. And many times, their response, was “I wish I could believe that.” They couldn’t receive the truth of God not being angry with them, because they were measuring His attitude towards them using a different standard. Instead of looking at the truth in scripture, they were looking at their current circumstances, their emotions and feelings of the moment, to gauge God’s mood, instead of what His eternal word says. When things were going well, God was obviously happy, and when things were not going well, God was obviously displeased. And so for these people, thy were constantly living a roller-coaster of ups and downs. Never on a solid foundation, but always on the shifting sand of the present moment.
However, God does not want us to live that way… that’s not the abundant life that He came to give us. He paid a high and precious price to reconcile us with Himself – and that is not a maybe, or a half-hearted reconciliation. Jesus has done a complete work, one that has a sure result; one that we can be confident in, and one that does not waiver back and forth like the wind, or get tossed around by the waters of daily life. What we will be studying today is why you can be absolutely sure of your status with God today. Why you can be bold and confident in your relationship with Him, and know beyond all doubt, why He is not angry with you today.
There are many different opinions among believers today when it comes to healing. There are entire denominations today that have built complex doctrines around whether God heals today or not. People in general have a hard time believing in the miraculous aspects of God. If they can’t see it, touch it, or feel it, then it is not “real” to them. This of course is nothing new, people have always been this way, and Jesus understands that. In John 14:20, Thomas declared that he would not believe that Jesus was risen unless he saw the physical evidence for himself, which Jesus indeed gave him, but Jesus also said to Thomas, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Today we will be taking a look at the healing which Jesus provided for – specifically for your physical body. This is important because there are a great number of believers today who are suffering in their physical bodies. They are suffering with sicknesses, diseases, disorders and pains that God never intended, and He went to great lengths, suffering and dying on the cross, bearing the full punishment for your sin and mine so that we would not have to suffer any longer. As we examine this truth today, we will see how important this truth is to God, and to us as well.
When we typically think of God, we think of an all-powerful being that must be served. We think that if we don't work hard enough or perform well enough that this all-powerful being will be displeased and angry with us, raining down punishment, injury, disease or even death. Furthermore, we think that if we dare ask God for something, that the very action of asking is the equivalent of playing Roulette. I have spoken with people who are afraid that God will be angry at them for being so needy, or that He will either answer “no”, or He will answer yes, but in a way that will cause them harm like the Djinn from popular movies.
However these common beliefs actually could not be further from the truth. God is not someone who will play you out. God is not a sadist or a bully. God cares more about you than you can possibly imagine, and He actually delights in doing good to you and blessing you! This is what we will be studying today.