Believe and Be Healed?

Prayer – Lord, we know that You hear our prayers and whether we pray once or a thousand times, we trust that You are still the great physician and will heal as we’ve asked, either now or in eternity. 

Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. ... Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received! Matthew 10:1, 7-8 NLT

 

The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. ... If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. Heal the sick, and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God is near you now.' Luke 10:1, 8-9 NLT

 

Meditate. Consider Jesus authority to tell His disciples to heal.

 

The word “Heal” appears 57 times in the NLT. Jesus is the great physician—a healer both of the physical and spiritual realms. There have been many instances in my lifetime of people being miraculously healed—and then other times that thousands of prayers have been lifted up and the person was not healed. It is hard to understand why. We can only trust that God that He has a plan—and rely on Him to see us His will and His way.  In Luke 10, Jesus told seventy-two of his followers to go to every city and to heal the sick. He sent them to cities before He went there. There had to be a lot of faith in those followers and in the people that they visited. Jesus healed numerous people throughout the Gospels and those who believed were healed—or those who were healed became believers. Read through the Gospels for yourself and note all the times that Jesus healed people, physically and spiritually. There are at least fifteen occurrences of physical healing of blind, deaf, dumb, lame, and crippled with some noted in more than one Gospel, like the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law in Matthew 8, Mark 1, and Luke 4. Then there is also the miraculous raising of three people from the dead that I didn’t count as healings—although someone might.

 

One of the first miraculous healing that I personally observed was a friend of mine who had a blind spot in her eye and had been to a healing prayer service. Her vision was restored! The next experience of prayer and healing was with my own husband—just a small thing. He had food poisoning from left-over meat in a sandwich and had felt miserable at work for a couple of hours. When he got home I placed my hand on his stomach and prayed. He immediately threw up and was feeling better. Another time recently I prayed for a friend, a young believer, who was having a migraine headache while at the city park and didn’t have her medicine with her—her headache and nausea instantly went away! She was so thrilled! God is good.

 

Are you looking for healing? We can only ask and trust that Jesus hears our prayers. We can’t manipulate Him into doing our will. We can take care of ourselves by eating well and getting enough rest—but even then sometimes we catch colds or get something, like a migraine. Our bodies just wear out, too. For example, once the cartilage is gone between our joints—it is gone and only painful joints remain for which sometimes surgery is not an option. We can only trust, pray and know that the kingdom of heaven is at hand—in our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So believe…and be healed.

 

Verse of Salvation ~ O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone! Jeremiah 17:14 NLT

 

Friday’s Feast at the King’s Table

Pita bread with falafel
Caesarea Philippi, Israel

Jesus told His disciples and followers to eat what was put before them. I’ve heard stories of missionaries being fed some pretty strange foods—but when in China…eat bird’s nest soup. When in Portugal…eat chicken feet soup. When in Peru…eat hamster. People around the world have favorite foods that are delicacies to them that seem strange to those of us in the United States. With the shoe on the other foot…when we lived in Okinawa and served a traditional American Thanksgiving Meal to a group of Japanese military officers, there were some that did not care for corn on the cob. That seems tasty to most people in my family, especially those with Nebraska roots!

So—what would these followers of Jesus be offered as they traveled to all the towns and villages that Jesus would Himself visit?  Maybe a pita bread sandwich with falafel? Fish and bread seemed to be a mainstay in the diet of the Galileans. If they were welcomed into a home with little means, they may have been offered only humas and bread. What would you serve to visiting missionaries? Your favorite meal with those comfort foods that your family enjoys, or the best foods available in your community, or something that just is quick, cheap, and tasty? Think of these messengers from God and who they represent. If you were in their shoes, what would you want them to serve to you?

 

© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

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