Healing

 

Todays reading is Matthew 9.

Jesus is performing miracles of healing, recruiting disciples, and dealing with critics. I love the stories of healing. These verses in Matthew 9 remind me that Jesus is powerful and has the ability to heal. The common theme in all of the healing was faith. They believed Jesus could heal them and they showed up for it. I can picture the paralytic running home to tell everyone about Jesus. The blind man describing what Jesus looked like to anyone who would listen. The mute man telling his articulate story of what Jesus said to him while he was being healed. The woman who had been bleeding 12 years was no longer a lonely outcast. These are the stories that ignite our faith. People come to know Jesus through these miraculous stories of healing. And then they realize the real miracle….forgiveness.

I’m covicted that I forget this as I’m praying for physical healing in the here and now. I don’t want anyone around me suffering sickness and physical limitations. I want friends and loved ones to be healthy, radiant, and full of life. But I know this world is not perfect and I know God’s plans are much bigger than my own. Illness and death will happen.  God has the power to heal and we should continue asking for it in faith. But we can be thankful and rejoice in the healing of our souls first. That was the first thing Jesus offered the paralytic…”Take heart son, your sins are forgiven” 9:2. He then proceeded to heal his affliction to show the crowds that he had authority. God does miracles all the time. He can heal whatever your affliction is. But have you thanked him today for the healing of your soul to have eternal life with Him?

Shelly