Читать книгу He's a Healing Jesus - Richard Roberts - Страница 4

We know from the stories recorded in the New Testament about Jesus’ life, when He walked this earth 2,000 years ago, that He was constantly healing people. That’s why I can say to you today: no matter what kind of problem you may be facing—whether it’s physical sickness, finances, trouble in your family, pain or confusion in your emotions, estrangement or separation in your relationship with God, or something in any other area of your life—Jesus wants you to be healed and whole. He was…is…and always will be a Healing Jesus!

If you’re sick in any way right now, know that you are not alone in your struggle. God is on your side. He has promised in His own Word—His revelation of Himself to us—that

•He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5),

•He loves you with a love that will never end (Jeremiah 31:3), and

•Nothing in this world, or any other world, can ever separate you from His love (Romans 8:38).

In fact, God’s love for you is so great that He willingly gave His Son Jesus to die on the Cross so that you could come to know Him in a personal relationship right now while you’re living, then spend eternity with Him in heaven.

But what God wants for you doesn’t stop at salvation, as important and as wonderful as that is. Coming to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior is really just the beginning point for what God wants for your life. While you’re living on this earth, God wants you to be healed and whole in every area of your life!

I can say that to you with absolute certainty. I know it’s true. How do I know it? Because God tells us that in His own words in the Bible…and He tells it to us over and over again.

In Exodus 15:26, God said, “I am the Lord who heals you.” Notice that God said, “I am the Lord who heals you.” He didn’t say, I am the Lord who used to heal you in the past, or I am the Lord who might heal you in the future. No. He specifically said of Himself, “I am the Lord who heals you”—all in the present tense! That means He wants to heal whatever is wrong in your life right now.

You may be thinking, “Well, that might have been true for people who lived in Bible days, but isn’t it different today? Things change…people change. Maybe God has changed, too.”

While it’s true that as human beings you and I are constantly subjected to change in the situations and people around us, the wonderful thing about God is that He never changes. He’s always the same!

Let’s look at what God says about Himself in His Word.

In Malachi 3:6, God clearly said, “I am the Lord, I do not change.” Numbers 23:19 niv says that “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.” So not only does God not change in His character, He never even changes His mind. And He has never changed His mind about you! He knows what you’re going through, and He wants you to be healed.

When you read the accounts of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you can see that He was almost constantly in the process of healing someone, He had just finished healing someone, or He was on His way to heal someone else. Matthew 9:35 tells us that “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

Matthew doesn’t tell us that Jesus healed only people with certain qualifications, or that He healed only certain diseases or conditions, or that He healed only some of the illnesses that people came to Him with. It says that Jesus healed them ALL. Acts 10:38 in the Amplified version of the Bible puts it this way, that Jesus “went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil.”

Jesus never turned away anyone who came to Him for healing…and that includes you, my friend. Jesus not only knows what you’re going through and has compassion toward you—or as Hebrews 4:15 kjv puts it, He is “touched with the feeling of [your] infirmities”—but He has the power to bring healing to your situation!

If you’ve ever wondered if it was God who put sickness, or disease, or some other kind of tragedy on you to begin with, let me assure you that He didn’t! In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth, according to God’s own Word, is that it’s the devil—the arch-enemy of our souls—who wants to make you sick, and depressed, and isolated from God in your hurting. It’s the devil who comes to “steal, kill, and destroy” your life, according to John 10:10. Jesus is the One who came to this earth to bring you LIFE…a life that is “more abundant”—meaning full of God’s blessings. And He suffered and died on the Cross—taking the punishment that was meant for our sin, and taking on Himself all of our shame, sorrows, sicknesses, and griefs—to make sure you had access to His more abundant life. “He [Jesus] was pierced for our transgressions,” Isaiah 53:5 niv tells us. “He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

If you wonder whether sickness is from God or the devil, just ask yourself this question: Is this situation I’m dealing with, something that’s giving me life….or is it stealing from my life? Is it making my life better…or is it trying to destroy my life? Is it making me strong spiritually, physically, emotionally and in every way…or is it ultimately trying to kill me?

Once you answer those questions, it’s obvious, isn’t it, that sickness is not from God. And, if you have accepted what Jesus did on the Cross for you and you have a personal relationship with Him, that sickness has no “right” to do what it’s doing to you—physically, financially, emotionally, in your relationships, or in other areas of your life.

God wants to heal you and make you whole, and He has put His compassion for you inside of me. In just a moment, I want to pray with you and give you perhaps the greatest opportunity you have ever had to really know the One who made you and who has the power to set you free.

But it’s important to remember that God will never do anything to violate the free will He has given you. That’s why I want to ask you a question that He often asked people who came seeking His healing power. He said, “Will you be made whole?”

You’re Part of the Answer

You see, no matter what God wants for us, He’s only one part of the equation in our healing process. The other part of the equation is us. Sometimes we’ve gotten so used to the situation we’re in that we may never have really made the decision that we want out of it.

I remember my dad telling about a man who came to one of his crusades years ago. As Dad talked to him and found out all the things that were wrong in his life, the man said to him, “Brother Roberts, I’ve been down so long that the thought of getting up has never crossed my mind.”

The wonderful thing was that after my dad prayed for him and ministered the love of God to him, the man made the decision that he wanted to have a better life than the one he had been living. And by the end of the crusade, he had not only accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, he had reached out in faith and received healing for his physical body as well.

The first step for his recovery was giving his heart to Jesus and asking Him to save his soul and give him a new start in life. Second Corinthians 5:17 says that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Let’s Take the First Step Toward Your Total Healing

Did you know that the greatest healing miracle of all is the salvation of a human soul? Why? Because in one moment’s time, God can wipe away the sins and failures of our past and give us a brand-new start in Him. It’s as if we are born all over again. We’re given a clean, new slate, and a new heart with new desires. We enter into a personal relationship with God as our loving heavenly Father, one in which our spirits have been born anew and come alive to Him. Now we have the ability to open our minds and hearts to receiving all that He has for our lives.

If you’ve never taken that first step toward your total recovery… if you’ve never asked Jesus to come into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior and given Him control of your life, I want to help you do that now. It’s not difficult to do; in fact, it’s very simple. You can do it where you are right now. It just requires a heart that’s sincere before God.

Romans 10:9 nlt says, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I encourage you to pray this prayer out loud with me right now, and let God open your heart to all He has for you:

Lord Jesus, I invite You into my heart today to become my Lord and my Savior. Thank You for dying for me on the Cross at Calvary. I give You my life and ask You to forgive my faults and failures…every sin I’ve ever committed. I renounce the devil and I turn away from any evil influence I’ve allowed him to have in my life—whether knowingly or unknowingly. Thank You for loving me and forgiving me. Right now, I receive Your Holy Spirit and Your healing power in my life. Thank You for taking all of my weaknesses on Yourself on the Cross, which includes all my sickness and disease, and for defeating the devil more than two thousand years ago so that I can live in Your abundant life today. Help me to live for You and to be an example of Christ to all those You send across my path. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Salvation…Just the Beginning

I want to tell you about a wonderful testimony that was shared with me many years ago from a man who needed not only salvation, but a multitude of healings in his life. The man’s name is Jerry. You may have even heard me mention him on occasion on one of my television programs through the years.

Jerry was a heroin addict and had been in and out of jail for 20 years. One day, he was walking through his apartment on his way outside to find his drug dealer and buy more drugs. He noticed his television set was on. It was tuned to our program…and I happened to be preaching.

As he put on his coat to go out and buy his heroin, I was at the point in my message where I was ready to pray. Through the TV he heard me saying, “Whatever you’re doing, stop right now, and let me pray with you.”

And though he didn’t know why he did it, Jerry stopped in his tracks. He put his coat down for a minute and listened while I prayed. And as I prayed, Jerry began to pray…and that day Jerry accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. Then the Lord led me to pray for someone who was on drugs. Jerry told me later that when I did that, he felt something happen deep down on the inside of him. And instead of going out to buy drugs as he’d planned, he took his coat off and fixed himself a cup of coffee. Then he lay down on his bed and slept for about eight hours.

When Jerry got up, he felt like a completely different person inside and out. And a couple of weeks later he wrote to me and explained what I just explained to you.

You see, Jerry had been a mainline heroin addict, as well as a drug dealer himself, for many years. His family had literally turned him out because he had become a thief and had stolen everything he could steal to buy drugs. He had stolen his sister’s silverware, and even her car, in order to buy drugs. And on top of that, he had been in and out of jail over a twenty-year period for possession and selling of drugs, and for grand larceny. Needless to say, his family felt that in order to protect themselves they could no longer have anything to do with him.

In his letter to me Jerry said, “Richard, I have been off drugs now for two weeks.” And he said, “I want you to pray with me that I’ll stay off the drugs.” So I wrote him back, prayed with him and encouraged him, and gave him some Scriptures from the Bible.

A couple of months later, I received another letter from Jerry. This time he said, “I’ve been off drugs now for two months. Please continue to pray that I’ll be able to stay off.” Then six months passed, and the next letter I received was a little different. In this one he said, “Richard, since I’ve been off drugs, my life has really begun to change.”

We continued writing each other back and forth, and within the first year after he accepted Christ and got clean, some major miracles had happened in Jerry’s life. First, his family was restored to him. The relationship with his sister, whose car he had stolen, was healed.

Jerry also began giving to God and sending Seed-Faith gifts to our ministry, and God began to multiply his seeds back to him. He was able to get a new car. And the apartment complex where he lived re-established their trust in him enough to ask him to become the manager. So he was able to move into a nicer, larger apartment reserved for the apartment manager.

Jerry got a totally new lease on life…and it began when he gave his heart and his life to Jesus. I believe that can happen to anyone who allows God to take control of their life.

Friend, I believe you are standing on the threshold of miracles in your life. When Jesus comes to live in your heart by the power of His Holy Spirit, He brings with Him all that He is. And He is so much more than just the One who saves your soul. Remember how He said in Exodus 15:26, “I am the Lord who heals you.” Yes, in addition to being our Savior, Jesus is also our Healer.

He is our Provider, according to Philippians 4:19, for “my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” As Deuteronomy 8:17–18 reminds us, we do not give ourselves the ability to make money, it’s God who gives it to us, “for it is He Who gives you power to get wealth.”

God is also our Protector. When we dwell, or consistently live, in Him, He becomes our place of protection, or refuge, according to Psalm 91:1–2.

There’s a place in the Bible where it talks about God being our Savior, our Healer, and our Provider—all in one verse. Psalm 103:3,5 nlt says, “He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He fills my life with good things.”

God wants to be all those things to you and more! But He will never force you to do anything. He has given to everyone “the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3), and He wants us to use that faith to reach out to Him for what we need in our lives. I believe that even now, Jesus is coming toward you, just as He came toward a blind beggar in the Bible named Bartimaeus. And I believe He’s saying to you, as He did to Bartimaeus and others recorded in the New Testament record of Jesus’ life and ministry, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Tell Him…talk to Him like you would your closest friend. Then watch the miracles begin.

Chapter 2: God Sees Your Specific Needs…And He Wants to Heal You

Did you know that God is waiting to hear you tell Him what you want Him to do for you? There was a time in my life when I didn’t understand that. And I believe that many people think of God as someone who is too busy and too distant to care about what they’re going through. But let’s look at the life and ministry of Jesus to see how He dealt with the people around Him, and what He did when He came face to face with human pain and suffering.

In Mark 10:46–52, an account is recorded of Jesus and a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem when He ran into Bartimaeus. Let’s read Mark’s account of the story and see how Jesus responded to Bartimaeus’ need.

Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.

Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.”

And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, [or Master] that I may receive my sight.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

With Jesus You’re Never Alone

I want you to see this man for a moment because he represents many people today who feel like life has passed them by. Throughout my ministry of praying for people for more than 30 years, I have become aware that people who are critically ill, or who have been sick for a long time, especially feel that way. I hear from many of our Partners that not only are they dealing with physical illness, but the isolation and loneliness they experience on top of it just makes matters worse.

That must have been how Bartimaeus was feeling that day. Not only was he blind, but because of his blindness he had been forced to become a beggar to eke out a meager living for himself. He must have felt alone in his struggle. He must have known that he was on the fringes of society, isolated and not accepted by those around him.

That’s what Satan does to human beings. He tries to steal from you—from your health, from your relationships, from your finances and other areas. He tries to isolate you from other people, to tell you that you’re not as good as they are…that you’re not even worthy of God’s love and concern. Often he uses other people to help him do that. As Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was coming near to where he was, he must have had a glimmer of hope, because the Bible says he cried out to Jesus, “Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Wouldn’t you think that when those around Bartimaeus heard him yelling for Jesus, they might have helped him? That they might have even picked him up and carried him to Jesus, making sure Jesus saw him and had the opportunity to minister to him? But that’s not what happened, is it? Not only did they not help Bartimaeus, they actually tried to silence him by warning him to keep quiet.

It’s as if they were saying to Bartimaeus, “Don’t bother Jesus. He’s too busy to be concerned with the likes of you.” It’s as if they were actually trying to kill any hope he had of getting out of the situation he was in and someday having a better life.

Maybe you’re feeling like that right now. Perhaps someone, even in your own family, has discouraged you from thinking that you could ever be healed and whole again. Or maybe you’ve somehow gotten the mistaken idea that God doesn’t even know you exist…and if He does, He doesn’t really care about you anyway.

My friend, I want to declare to you right now that based on what God shows us in His Word, that simply couldn’t be further from the truth. He not only knows about your situation, but He’s ready and willing right now to help you get out of it. Let’s look at how Jesus dealt with Bartimaeus…and the people around him who were trying to keep Bartimaeus down.

Jesus Responds to Our Cries of Faith

When Jesus heard Bartimaeus crying out to Him, the Bible says that Jesus “stopped,” or as The Message version puts it, “Jesus stopped in His tracks.” That’s right. The God of the universe put on hold what He was doing when He heard someone in need calling out to Him. He could have just kept walking. In fact, He could have walked right past Bartimaeus, patted him on the head, and gone on down the road. But that’s not what Jesus did…and it’s not what He will do when He hears you crying out to Him in faith, either!

To the very people who had tried to shut Bartimaeus up, He commanded them to tell him to come to Him. At that point, they suddenly changed their tune with Bartimaeus. Now they even encouraged him to cheer up! They said, “Hurry. Get up! Jesus is calling you.” And they were ready to help him come to Jesus.

And it’s very interesting what Bartimaeus did next. The Bible says that he “threw aside his outer garment, jumped up, and came to Jesus.”

Even before anything else happened, Bartimaeus took off his beggar’s robe and threw it on the ground. And that’s a very important thing to remember. Because in those days, people who were beggars—who had permission from the local government to beg for a living—wore a certain kind of outer garment. I don’t know if it had stripes. I don’t know if it had checks. I don’t know what color it was, but it was a certain type of garment that showed that they were legally a beggar. When they had the garment on, it identified them as being at one of life’s lowest stations.

When we have a problem, or a serious sickness—maybe one even called “incurable”—or some other kind of failure in our lives, how easy it would be to just “park” there. How easy it would have been for Bartimaeus to do that…to park beside his blindness, and his station in life as a beggar.

But the message of the Gospel shows us that he didn’t do that. It says that when Bartimaeus heard that he was going to stand before Jesus of Nazareth, he threw off his beggar’s robe before even meeting Jesus. It was as if he threw down his old life in preparation and expectation for receiving something new from Jesus. He must have heard about Jesus, and the miracles He was performing!

As soon as Bartimaeus came before Jesus, Jesus said something to him that was very important…and something that shows what the true nature of the Lord really is. Jesus could have said, “I’m very busy. What do you want?” in a surly way, as people sometimes do.

But Jesus looked at Bartimaeus with kindness and compassion, and He asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus was used to people coming to Him. He could have just said some kind of quick “blessing” over Bartimaeus and been on His way. But Jesus saw Bartimaeus…He saw him as an individual, and He was interested in Bartimaeus’ individual needs. And that’s how Jesus feels about you. He cares about your individual desires and needs.

It appears that Bartimaeus was certainly ready to tell Jesus what he needed from Him. Can’t you just see him throwing down his beggar’s robe with the full force of his faith, standing before Jesus, and answering Him clearly, as He declared, “Master, I want to see!”

And Scripture shows that there wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation with Jesus. He immediately said to Bartimaeus, “‘Go your way; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he [Bartimaeus] received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.”

Now, wouldn’t it have been sad if Jesus had said to Bartimaeus something like, “Well, Bartimaeus, you’ll have to come back some other time. I already healed one person this week and I’m fresh out of healing power right now.” Or what if He’d said, “Maybe God made you blind in the first place, and maybe He wants you to stay that way.”

Sounds like the way some people think about Jesus, doesn’t it? I know people who think that way and you probably do too. That’s why we can’t make people our Source. God may use them as instruments in our lives, but we must never make them our Source. Only God can be our Source. People will let you down. That’s just part of our human nature. We need to remember that, and always make God alone our Source.

If you’ve listened to people who aren’t sure about Jesus’ healing power, or they aren’t sure if Jesus really wants to heal you, I want you to remember what Jesus said as Bartimaeus stood before Him. He said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

What Will Your Answer Be?

I believe Jesus is asking you that same question right now: “Carol…or John…or Mary…or Jim…what do you want Me to do for you?”

Is it cancer that you need Him to heal? Is it arterial sclerosis? Is it arthritis? Is it a problem with your knees…or pain in your back…or a heart problem…or some other physical problem?

Is it a problem in your family that needs restoring? Is one of your children on drugs? Is someone being abused? Are you going through a separation or a divorce?

Maybe you’ve lost your job and you need employment. Or you’re wondering where your next house or rent payment is coming from.

Or do you need to get back on track in your relationship with the Lord? Maybe you’ve backslidden and need to go back to church. Or maybe you’ve hurt someone, or someone has hurt you, and there needs to be repentance and forgiveness, and you need healing for the hurt.

Whatever it is, Jesus is asking you, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He’s asking you, just as He asked Bartimaeus in the Bible, because He’s still a healing Jesus. He hasn’t changed. And He wants to heal you and make you whole. Acts 10:34 tells us that God is no respecter of persons, which means He doesn’t “play favorites.” His healing power is not just available to certain people at certain times…but it’s available to everyone. If He ever healed anyone—and we know He did because many healings are recorded in the Bible—He’s still healing people today.

I know people who question whether or not it’s God’s will for us to be well. And when they pray for someone who’s sick, or they are sick themselves, rather than just asking God to heal them, they say words to this effect: “Lord, if it be Your will, please heal this person.” I think possibly the reason why some people pray that way may be because they’ve interpreted a couple of Scriptures in the wrong way.

The first Scripture that may be misunderstood is in Matthew 8:2–3, where we’re told about a leper who came before Jesus. Leprosy was a slow death sentence in those days, and people who had it were generally ostracized and separated from the rest of the population. You can imagine that if you had it, you’d be desperate for healing if you heard of someone, like Jesus, who had the reputation of having the power to heal the sick.

This particular leper came to Jesus and said, “Lord, You can heal me, if it be your will”—in other words, if you want to. Notice that Jesus didn’t hesitate. He didn’t have to think about His answer. He didn’t have to stop and wonder, “Do I want to heal him, or don’t I?” He immediately said to the leper, “I will…or “It’s my will to heal you.” Today, He would say it like this, “Yes. I want to heal you.”

The second Scripture that is often misinterpreted, or wrongly applied, is in Luke, chapter 22, when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing that He was about to face torture and death, and He prayed to His Father, “Lord, if it be your will, let this cup of death pass” (v. 42).

In that instance, Jesus wasn’t talking about anything to do with healing. He was talking about how, in His human flesh, He didn’t want to go to the Cross to cut a new covenant in His shed blood, because He knew He was going to have to suffer and die to do it. Though He didn’t want to, He was still willing to obey His Father. He knew it was God’s will. He knew that’s why He came. He knew He came to die that you and I might have life and have it more abundantly. He knew He was going to have His back bloodied and striped that we might be healed from the crown of our heads to the soles of our feet.

He wasn’t talking about whether or not it was God’s will to heal. He was talking about His own humanness. He didn’t want to do it. Finally He said, “Nevertheless, at your will, I’ll do it.” And aren’t we glad He did? Aren’t we glad He went to the Cross? It’s exactly because of Jesus’ suffering and death on the Cross that you and I can be healed today. First Peter 2:24 says, By whose stripes you were healed.

Scripture leaves no question that it is God’s will to heal us, in every area of our lives. In fact, He calls it His highest wish. “Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers,” is what 3 John 2 tells us.

It’s very important for you to know that it’s God’s will to heal you—that He wants you to be well—or you may never exercise your faith to receive His healing power in your life when you need it most.

If you’re sick, or if you need to be set free from any kind of dis-ease in your life, and have wondered if God really wants to heal you, I believe He’s stirring your faith right now. As you’ve read these words, you may have felt something different in your spirit than you’ve felt before. Maybe you didn’t have the hope before to believe for healing…and now you do. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:1 that hope is the very thing that our faith is built on, for faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

I encourage you right now to reach out to the Lord for the healing you need. I want to pray a prayer of agreement with you, and become your partner in faith to believe God for the miracle you need.

Let’s Pray:

Father, thank You for telling us clearly in Your Word that You want to heal us…that You sent Your Son Jesus to die on the Cross in order to bring us healing in every area of our lives. I join my faith now with the one reading these words, and together, we claim Your healing power for whatever sickness, or family problem, or emotional stress, or other situation has been trying to destroy his or her life.

Friend, right now, I speak directly to that thing that the devil has been bringing against your life…and I command it to be gone, and never to return, in Jesus’ mighty name. Lord, we give You all the glory, and thank You for the miracle You’re performing. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

I encourage you to begin checking yourself to see if there’s something you can do now that you couldn’t do before. If you couldn’t bend your leg, try bending it now. If you couldn’t lift your arm up above your head, try lifting it now. If you’re believing for a financial healing, begin looking in the mail or answering your telephone and expecting to find God’s miracle provision for you. Every day, continue exercising your faith and expecting God to continue the process of your total healing.

If the miracle you need didn’t happen instantly, that doesn’t mean God’s answer isn’t on the way. Once when Lindsay was sick and needed healing, she had my dad pray for her to be healed. When their prayer was over, Lindsay seemed just the same as she was before. But my dad told her not to be discouraged. He told her of the story in Luke 17 where two lepers that Jesus had prayed for were healed “as they went” (v. 14). Meaning, they were healed as they left Jesus and went on with their lives. Dad told Lindsay not to be concerned about not being healed instantly, and he encouraged her that she was “went-ing”—or being healed as she went about her life. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Before long, as she went about her life, Lindsay was healed and feeling as good as new.

Instant miracles are wonderful. That’s what we all want…and I’ve seen many of them through the years in my ministry. I’ve experienced a few myself. But most of the time, it seems that healing comes to us more gradually. And it may be that way because God knows we need healing in another area of our lives, as well, for us to really recover and hold onto the total healing He wants us to have.

Whole Person Healing

Have you ever noticed how a microwave oven heats food so hot that sometimes you can’t even touch it without burning your hands? When we expect a “microwave”—or instantaneous—miracle, maybe God knows that sometimes it would also be too “hot” for us to handle. We may need time to allow Him to work in other areas of our life so that we can hold on to our healing, and not lose it as soon as our faith is challenged in some way.

God doesn’t want us just to feel good emotionally one moment, and lose our healing in the next. He wants to heal us in our whole person. I believe that’s part of what He’s telling us in 3 John 2 when He says that He desires us to be healed, even as our soul—our mind, will, and emotions—prospers.

In Jesus’ ministry, a blind man was brought to him once in a town called Bethsaida. In Mark 8:22–25 we’re told that after Jesus touched the man and prayed for his eyes, He asked him if he saw anything. And [the man] looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” In other words, his eyesight was improved, but he wasn’t seeing everything clearly. Then [Jesus] put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.

I think it’s very possible that the blind man needed more than just his physical sight healed. He needed his spiritual sight healed, as well…or perhaps the way he looked at life. Notice that the second time Jesus touched his eyes, it says that He made the man “look up.” Maybe the man was used to looking down in his life. Maybe he had a down outlook about life and even the people around him. But when Jesus touched his eyes a second time, notice it says that he was restored and “saw everyone clearly.”

Lindsay explains it like this: She says “sometimes we need time to press into God and allow Him the time it takes for our complete healing, inside and out.”

No matter how our healing comes to us, God knows best what we need. And often when it requires us to use our faith over time to become an active participant in our own healing, it may be the best healing we ever receive.

I encourage you to stay in a state of expectancy for your miracle. I believe that miracles are coming toward us or going past us all the time. Later in this book, I want to talk to you more about how important it is for us to “pull down” or put a claim on what we want from God. But for now, just remember that when we stay in a state of expectancy, we are much more able to be aware when God is working a miracle in our lives, to receive it when it comes, and thank Him for what He has done…and we’re much less apt to let it pass us by.