Healed
Reading Time: 9 Minutes
By His Stripes We Are Healed
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 NKJV
Jesus took our sin on the cross so we could be reconciled with God and have a loving relationship with Him. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God they chose death over life. But Jesus willingly went to the cross and took that entire curse of death upon Himself so mankind could be given the gift of life again. That gift includes healing all sicknesses and disease. (1 Peter 2:22-24)
Those who receive Jesus as their Redeemer are seated with God in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 2:1-10) The riches of God’s grace are beyond our comprehension, but He wants to unveil His goodness to us as we are transformed by Him through Holy Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18) Healing and wholeness of body, soul and spirit are part of the grace He has provided for us.
No one can earn God’s healing by being sweet or doing good works. It is by faith in the Blood of Jesus that we receive wholeness from God. That is why the Lord receives all the glory! As we yield every area of our lives to God through His Word and His Spirit, our faith grows.
God Heals All Our Diseases
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5 NIV
King David, who wrote the Psalm above, was known as a man after God’s own heart. His faith was based on an intimate relationship with God! David understood that just as sure as God forgives those who put their faith in Him– He also heals all our diseases. Praise flowed from his heart!
The Holy Spirit Gives Life
And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Romans 8:10-11 NLT
We were brought from death in our sins, to life in Christ through the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead! Rivers of Living Water flow in and through those who follow Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Even though one day our bodies will die and the Lord will give us a new one on our way to Heaven, we can enjoy the life-giving power of Holy Spirit who lives on the inside of us. He brings life to our bodies!
Pray For One Another
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much. James 5:14-16 NASB
A righteous person walks according to the Spirit because they know that Jesus has seated them next to their Father’s heart. Their number one goal is to love like their Father loves. That can only be done by knowing Him, listening to Him, obeying Him and allowing His Spirit to flow through them. Some people want healing but they don’t want a submitted relationship with the Healer. (Mark 8:36) But we can have both healing and a loving relationship with our Healer!
We, the Body of Christ, need one another just as a physical body needs all its parts. When one part of the Body of Christ is hurting the other parts come to bring healing by the power of the Holy Spirit. God heals because He loves. We pray for one another to be healed because we love, and this love comes from the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Guard Your Heart With the Word
The Holy Spirit wants to heal our hearts and minds because so often that is where our physical issues originate. He is our Wonderful Counselor and is always ready to guide us to a place of wholeness. It is our responsibility to respond to the Holy Spirit, seek His counsel and do what He says. If we’re heading down the wrong road we must turn again toward the One who loves us and wants to guide us back to the straight and narrow road where we are safe.
We can also avoid future physical ailments by guarding our hearts from lies of the devil that bring anxiety, offense, jealousy, anger, blame, etc. The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom through God’s Word and through His voice. If we follow Him closely, our bodies will reap the benefits!
My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:20-23 NKJV
God Cares
We know that God places our tears in a bottle. He doesn’t ignore our pain– mental, emotional or physical. The Lord cares more deeply than any human possibly can. God is love and wants to heal us!
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [healing their pain and comforting their sorrow]. Proverbs 147:3 AMP
God Himself wants to heal our broken hearts and bodies. He wants to be the One that brings us back to a place of wholeness. God is not the cause of our pain but the solution. Obviously, we have to want God to heal us and let go of our excuses. (John 5:6-9) Nobody loves us more than God!
Don’t Give Up
Jesus told a parable about a persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) that kept pestering a judge to grant her justice against her adversary. He finally solved her problem so she would stop bothering him. Jesus was emphasizing that we should not to give up praying about anything the enemy tries to put on us. He didn’t explain in detail why we should keep praying, but ended the parable by saying:
But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith? Luke 18:8b NLT
Giving up is a sign of unbelief but continuing to pray is a sign of our faith. Our faith can grow as we seek the heart of God in prayer. And some healing comes through spiritual warfare and deliverance. So don’t give up! Fight through prayer from the heavenly realms of victory where you are seated with God! Get your healing scriptures out and meditate on them, but don’t let scriptures become a substitute for your relationship with Jesus. Allow the scriptures to draw you closer to Jesus and His love. Stay close to Him by walking with the Spirit. He guides us into His truth and His truth sets us free! (John 8:31-32)
Faith
The Hem of His Garment
Then He said to her, “Daughter, your faith [your personal trust and confidence in Me] has restored you to health; go in peace and be [permanently] healed from your suffering.” Mark 5:34 AMP
Jesus said that it was this woman’s faith in Him that allowed her to be healed of a flow of blood she had suffered with for 13 years. She believed if she only touched the hem of Jesus’ robe she would be healed, and she was. This woman knew she had to get close to Jesus!
Ten Lepers
And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:19 NKJV
Ten men with contagious leprosy stood at a distance begging Jesus to heal them. Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest. On the way to the priest they were all healed, but only one turned around and went back to worship and praise Jesus for what He had done. He was not Jewish like the others, but a Samaritan whom the Jews despised. But this is the man Jesus said had faith– the one who wanted to be close to Jesus, his Healer!
Perhaps the other men were schooled in the law, knowing they had to show themselves to the priest. In their rule-keeping mindset they missed their perfect moment to worship the High Priest of Heaven! False faith focuses on methods, requirements and doctrines, fearing that they might do something wrong. Real faith focuses on relationship with Jesus Himself, full of thanksgiving for all He has done in His love.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 NIV
What kind of faith pleases the Lord? It’s the person that will do anything God says just to get closer to Him, believing that He is who He says He is– a good and loving God!
Those Who Believe
Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mark 16:14-18 NIV
Jesus says we can lay hands on sick people and they will be healed! What a beautiful way to share God’s love! Let’s draw closer to our Healer and be transformed by His presence so we can share the Good News in His power! (Acts 1:8)
