Today I heard a great sermon in church, one that resonated with my soul and gave understanding into some verses in Matthew 9.
That whole chapter is about miracle healings, from healing a child who was dead and, a women who had an issue of blood for 12 years, another child who had died, healing two blind men, and healing a man tormented with demons. Verse 35-36 says Jesus was going through the villages, cities proclaiming the gospel and healing every kind of disease and sickness. Jesus was filled with compassion for the people and their needs.
Healings have never been the same as they were when Jesus walked this earth. In the early years of my salvation I begin to seek out the why. In the Matthew 9 account of healings Jesus says nothing about any doctors or did He use any medicine to heal. He touch, spoke few and miraculous healing happened. Do I believe He could heal with just a word from heaven? Yes, yes, yes but I don't question the why not for the now.
Understanding these few scriptures put it in to context and gives hope for the future. Jesus was establishing His ministry on earth in these verses. You might think it was the ministry of healing but it was His ministry of who He is. In verse 35 tells us He was about His Father business and it was not healing. He was proclaiming the gospel which is who He is, what will happen to Him and what His death and resurrection will bring to all who believe in Him and not the healing. He was establishing His authority.
If His main ministry was healing everyone would have gotten healed to this day. Would be no need for doctors, hospital, nursing homes and funeral homes. Ever since the fall of mankind in the garden it was appointed for man to die once, so first we all are going to die. Also it was appointed for all to have trouble here on earth before we die.
God operates in the Now and Not Yet.
The model of healing Jesus used in Matthew will operate again in its fullness in heaven. He wants us to focus on Him, here and now in this trouble world. There is a bigger picture in all this and it became clearer to me when I spent some quality time with the Lord in the hospital with covid. I cannot tell you how many chances I had to witness to all who came into my room about Jesus. Nurses would send other nurses to talk to me, not because I was miraculously getting healed but because I was not. It was not one touch, or one word from any one that got me released from the hospital. It was God using doctors and nurses and medicine that got me to where I was well enough to leave the hospital. And my part was to give God the glory through it all. There was no way you were going to leave my room without hearing the name of Jesus probably more then once.
I am always humbled when God uses me to witness for Him and nothing brings me more joy then to do so. To see Him in the big picture takes my eyes off me and others and puts my trust exactly where it should be. God waste nothing is one of my favorite quotes and I use it a lot. I have to because He has shown me this truth over and over and over.
One more quote from the sermon, one I have mentioned in this post already, but deserves to be used over and over. Christ is the focus in any healing, not the healing itself. If we focus in the now, our hardships, we become hard and will not have compassion on others. Lets focus on the not yet on a daily bases. It can bring contentment for the now.
Thank you for this thought provoking post.
ReplyDelete** Lets focus on the not yet on a daily bases. It can bring contentment for the now.**
God's continued blessings on you ~ FlowerLady
thank you for your encouraging me by commenting on my post. blessings to you
Delete'You might think it was the ministry of healing but it was His ministry of who He is.'
ReplyDeleteThis is giving me cause for pause ... and gratitude for the rich holiness that defines the Lord.
That is exactly what the sermon did, several times. Understand a little about dispensations helps to rightly divide the Word of God. When I first got saved I would wish I was born back when He parted the red sea and especially when Jesus walked this earth. Then God begin to show me, Jesus still walks this earth in me which put a passion in me to know Him more deeply so I would not miss His moving in my life and others I come in contact with. We would have a healing God and not a saving us from an eternal hell is that kind of healing had continued on. Like you, these kind of understand makes me grateful for His word to read and allow the Holy Spirit to teach me. Blessing.
DeleteI love this post and your perspective on healing...and on the ministry of healing as Christ performed it...not so much for the "healing" but to reveal Who He is... wow! I love those thoughts...and it does give us insight into the true ministry of Christ. Although I do still believe in God's power to heal today, it just isn't quite like people think it is or would like it to be. As you saw in your experience in the hospital, there were many layers to your healing...and God had you there for a different kind of healing...the healing of souls around you as they ministered to you. God was using you and your illness as a way to heal others in their own pain. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing this with us. It is a marvelous vision of why we are here as God's ministers...
ReplyDeleteIn some ways there was joy to be found while I was in the hospital. One reason was, I know where I am going which gives me freedom to witness. We work with Christian in our ministry mostly so I love getting a chance to be around the non believers. Also, I got to witness a group of nurses, people who cleans rooms, those who took blood, doctors, etc who were giving of themselves for the sake of others health. It was my opportunity to tell them how much I appreciate them. What we have in the state in health care is a far cry from a third world country. Lastly, I do believe we are God's ministers, all of us believers and that knowledge takes me out of my woe is me mindset. T hanks Pam for your encouragement.
Delete"Christ is the focus of our healing, not the healing itself." Oh how I wish people could see this and realize it! Cry out for Jesus not healing.
ReplyDeleteMe too Bill. I have several ailments that will be with me till I die and I have ask for healing. But those ailments bring me into a relationship with others that I would not have without them. To not use them for His glory would be a waste of His power inside me. The healing comes when I step over my fear to witness or help someone, not physically but healing from my selfishness and eyes on me only sickness. Blessings brother. Enjoy you last post a lot.
DeleteBetty, I love the same phrase that Bill quoted above. Our focus should be on the Lord, trusting Him to heal as He sees fit. What a blessing that you could be a witness to so many folks during your stay at the hospital. So glad, too, that you are now recovered!
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
You know i always wonder what happens to so many who prayed for a miracle in light of how Jesus healed back then and don't get it. Or they do to those who lay hands on you and say be healed and they are not. I remember once going to a women conference and having a headache before we went. It got worst and worst as I tried to listen to the speaker, I became sick to my stomach, knew I would have to leave. I ask the Lord to take it away and within a few minutes it was gone, completely gone. It's the only instant of healing I have ever had, no one laid hands on me, my girlfriend knew I had a headache and was going to leave but they did not even pray for me. So I know, He does heal but I also knew it was not about me and it was years before I ever shared it with others. He has given me more time on this earth recently. And I am gonna use it to encouraged others and spread the good news. Blessings Martha.
DeleteI am ao sorry to hear you have been sick with covid and so thankful the Lord brought you through. I trust you are completely recovered and feeling well now. God bless you, dear sister.
ReplyDeleteHello Cheryl, I was so glad to get back to reading your post, missed you. Hope all is well at your house. Blessings.
DeleteWhat a profound post, full of Holy Wisdom, Betty. Oh, the life-lessons you have learned. 'You might think it was the ministry of healing but it was His ministry of who He is.' Wow!!!! I'm going to reread your post and reread Matthew 9 in light of your revelation. Thank you and Hugs!
ReplyDeleteWe do not tape the messages at our little country church or I would send you message. It was full of nuggets of truth and insight that lifted up the Lord. What ever Jesus did while He walked this earth was to tell who He was and still is. Which is why I always struggled with those "healer", because they get the limelight on them. Just like in Matt 9, people flocked to Jesus because of the healing even though He was preaching the gospel as He healed. So He had a huge audience, healings draws a crowd. You know there had to be tons of people around but not all got healed. I think for me, I had so many why's about healings and tongues that caused me concerns. Oh I would take a healing any day God wants to give it and has done that. I shared with Martha about a time t God healed me instantly, as soon as I ask. But most of my healing has come through the hands of doctors. And in some of my ailments and I am getting more as I age, I have learned to live with them and know when I pass out of this frail body I will total healing. I love when you visit me and comment.
DeleteI've known so many people who've gotten sick with COVID-19 and though they got through it they still have lingering symptoms. I'm sure God used you as a witness while you were hospitalized.
ReplyDeleteYour post was spot on and it's sounds like a sermon that I would have loved to have heard.
Hello Regina, I am still having lingering symptoms such as get tired very easy and my memory has gone a left me. The doctor just told me it was from the Covid. Good to know it was not dementia. thanks for visiting my site.
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