Be Healed

On April 28, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Acts 10: 38

You know of Jesus of Nazareth . . . and how He went about . . . healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Today’s devotional is about Easter. Why do we celebrate Easter? Isn’t it because it is Resurrection Day? Our refrain is “He’s Alive!” So, if he is alive, is he still going about healing all who are oppressed or has he sat down on his laurels. I think both answers result in “I Am Healed,” or better still, “by His wounds [I was] healed,” (1 Peter 2: 24) because Jesus is either still going about doing good or he has sat down because “It is finished” (John 19: 30). Either way, you win!

You probably cannot appreciate how fervently I hope and pray that this series is impacting your life and health. The revelation that the Lord has provided has been astounding. We’ve seen that long before Jesus graced the earth, God declared Himself our healer. Then Jesus came and healed all who came to him. Even when they were not entitled, they pulled on that anointing within him and received. Some of them were just plain stubborn. Others, dared to hope.

God intended to spread His blessing across the earth. Initially, the blessing was sown in the Garden of Eden and that garden was supposed to expand until it covered the entire surface of the earth. Unfortunately, man’s insurrection allowed the curse to enter the earth. However, God had a plan. He sowed the blessing back into the soil of the earth when He buried His own son. Today’s verse capitalizes on that plan so perfectly in demonstrating God’s intent. Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were sick because “God was with Him.” Wow! That is remarkable. It seems, then, that “God with me” results in healing and the end of oppression and what is Jesus’ appointed name and title? Immanuel, which means God is with me.

Because Jesus is with us and because he and the Father have come to live within us, there is no good thing which is unavailable. They are good, they can only do good. When Christ is with us, there is health, healing, anointing, blessing, grace, mercy, peace and all other forms of goodness.

Jesus is still going about doing good and healing all who are oppressed. He is not dead. He is alive, praise God! The power and love which is reflected in today’s verse is still present and has no choice but to dwell in goodness. Jesus didn’t go about cursing people. He went around blessing them so if he is alive now, what is he doing? Is he without power now that he has been resurrected? I hardly think so.

Let this revelation cause joy to arise in your heart. Everywhere Jesus went, he healed. Where is Jesus right now? Is he not in your very own spirit? Have you not invited him to come live inside of you? I mean, let this truth go off in you like July 4th fireworks. This is the day of the Lord’s grace. This day he has healing in his hands. I pray you will be stubborn, confident, audacious and brave. If the Lord healed a Canaanite woman’s child and a Roman soldier’s servant, then why would he not heal you? It’s okay for you to demand your rights and stand on your promise. Be oppressed no longer. Be healed!

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Were Therefore, Are

On April 11, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Peter 2: 24

For by His wounds you were healed.

Does this sound familiar to you? The great prophet Isaiah foresaw the wounds Jesus would bear on his body that would redeem our every sickness and disease. We looked at Isaiah 53: 4 – 5 on March 2nd. If you would like to review, click here.

It seems obvious that Peter understood the prophecy from Isaiah and just as clear that it was fulfilled in Jesus. Isn’t it interesting that Peter wrote that our wounds were healed? Isaiah, many years before Jesus came to earth, wrote, “we are healed.” So here is an interesting question, do you think Isaiah, relying on the wounds of Jesus, could receive his healing then, hundreds of years before the scourging that paid for our healing? I would love to hear your thoughts.

It’s clear that by the time we get to Peter, we are talking about past events and that we were healed. Neither author wrote that we “will” be healed. Isaiah wrote that we are healed, Peter that we were. There is no bargain in either’s proclamation. Neither one made our healing conditional. If we were to take Peter at his word, it would mean our healing is a done deal. It was a past tense event when he wrote 2000 years ago. It is certainly a past event now. We were healed so we are healed.

“But I have this malady and that disease.” I understand that, but between “You were healed” & “I feel sick” which represents the truth? Are you sick or are you healed? The two statements are contradictory. You cannot be both. So, which is it? Is your experience bigger than your belief? This is not judgmental. It’s about growing into this reality.

We all read these healing verses, agree with them and get excited but then, when faced with a cut, bruise or more serious situation, the healing truth does not spring to our minds. It is a matter of habit, right? You have experience with getting sick, going to the doctor, getting a prescription and then getting better. You likely have less experience with hurting yourself, praying and being healed in that moment; and then, even less experience with getting sick, praying and manifesting healing. So, because we have not been taught, trained and then experienced the healing power of Jesus, it really is not within the realm of our belief system. How do we change that? How does God get His healing to be your reality? We will continue to seek this answer as we begin to wrap up this series.

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Revealed and Healed

On April 1, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 53: 5               Index Card 14

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Are you beginning to notice that I have a lot of verses on healing in my private collection? I told you, there are these old injuries. Frankly, I am quite active despite the injuries but I really don’t think I would be able to be active if I was not receiving a revelation of “I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15: 26).

Peter quoted this passage of scripture in the New Testament. He says, “ … by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2: 24).  So, I am trying to let the revelation that I WAS healed penetrate every cell and membrane in my body. I don’t need to GET healed, I am healed. Jesus was wounded so that I would be whole. My healing was in the miracle he wrought for us in his scourging, the cross, the grave and his glorious resurrection. He took those injuries, sicknesses and diseases to the cross and then buried them in the grave. Then he arose, renewed and restored. We now have that resurrection power working in our bones. “By his wounds we are healed.”

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Lordly Duties

On March 29, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Exodus 15: 26        NIV    Index Card 11

I am the Lord that heals you.

There is something about the tone of this verse which blesses me. It is almost as if God is saying that healing is in His job description, like healing us is part of what it means to be Lord.

One of the key points I take from the last two days’ verses is that they are both from the Old Testament. Do you know that old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same?” It seems the same can be said of scripture. Many of us think of healing as a New Testament theology but it is not. God was into healing long before Jesus’ amazing healing ministry. We know that God is not one to change (Hebrews 13: 8). Therefore, we can have confidence that He wants to heal us today. The God of the Old Testament was a Lord who heals. Jesus healed multitudes of people; therefore, they will heal us today. I love good news, don’t you?

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Restored

On March 28, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Jeremiah 30: 17                  Index Card 10

For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds.

This is one of my favorite healing verses because it speaks of wounds. That one word expands healing in my mind. Healing is not limited to disease and sickness. God will even heal our wounds and injuries. That is an important distinction for me.

When I was young I played sports and I suffered some injuries. Those injuries have plagued me throughout my life. Imagine my delight to find out that God is able and willing to heal injuries and wounds as well as diseases, but then I guess in reality an injury causes a great deal of dis-ease if we think of the word in its most literal terms.

So, if you have old injuries or wounds, realize that God provided for your healing thousands of years ago. We don’t have to carry these injuries the rest of our lives. Isn’t that great news?

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He Has Healed

On April 18, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 107:20

He sent His word and healed them.

I recall once when I was sick and running a high fever. I kept putting cold towels and ice packs on me to try to bring the fever down. As I lay on my bed with ice packs on my head and chest I began repeating, “I am the healed of Israel, I am the healed of Israel.” I said it over and over again. Where did that phrase come from? I have to believe that God gave it to me. Interestingly enough He didn’t tell me that I was going to be healed or that healing power was coming to me. He gave me words which confirmed that He had already sent healing to me. After three or four days the fever finally broke. The doctors never did discover the cause but the phrase that God gave me stuck with me.

For those of us who are not Jewish by birth our adoption in Christ has placed us firmly in the sphere of all blessings so that we can boldly claim the blessings of Israel. Today’s verse tells us unequivocally that God has already healed “them”, which means us and it shows us the means by which He effectuated the healing. God gave His spoken Word and His written Word and the power in His Word provides for every need we have including healing. But let us overlay this Abrahamic blessing with a little New Testament glory.

The great apostle, John, reveals to us that Jesus is the Word (John 1: 1, 14). I do not believe that the church has yet to grasp the enormity and the power of that simple truth but it makes great sense when you combine that reality with today’s verse. Most of us believe that Jesus is the great healer so it is a fairly easy leap to imagine that when God sent His word it had healing power in it.  

Jesus is the fulfillment of all promises and he has come to us, to live in us and to fill us to overflowing with the miraculous anointing and power of the Father of Grace. When Jesus lives in your heart then, truly, you have everything you need in order to manifest the abundant life that he said he came to give each of us (John 10: 10). Regardless of your need today, Jesus is the answer. He is the way, the truth, the life (John 14: 6). Reach into the depths of your heart and touch the love, the love that heals all wounds, all sicknesses, all disease, all brokenness. He is your healer, your Lord and abundant grace.

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