Healed

Isaiah 53:4-5 (ESV)

4 Surely he has borne our griefs

    and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

    smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed.

I once read a story, of a 90-year-old lady, who was in every bit of good health possible. She even did housework. Her secret? When she read Isaiah 53:4-5, she believed it with all her heart.

Isaiah 53:4-5 “Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. 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”.

The word ‘griefs’ should actually be translated as ‘sicknesses’. It means all diseases. The word ‘sorrows’ should be ‘pains’ and include all types of pain – physical, emotional and mental. These are more accurate translations and closer to the original Hebrew words.

On the Cross, just as Jesus took our sin, curse, punishment, poverty – He also took our sicknesses and pains and gave us healing. He literally experienced a full load of our pains and He carried them away from us.

The 90-year-old had believed, early in life, that if Jesus bore her sicknesses, she didn’t need to bear them anymore!

She had already accepted Jesus as her Savior. One day, the Lord invited her, “Why don’t you accept me, today, as your Healer?” So, she had knelt down and accepted Jesus as her Healer. From that day on until she went home to be with the Lord, she enjoyed good health.

He desires us to live disease-free!

We don’t need to carry arthritis, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, asthma – you name it – anymore! Let Jesus be your strength.

Dear Lord, we pray for our sick family members and church members. We pray that You will work in a mighty way and heal them from the sickness. In the Name of Jesus, Amen

Do you want to be made well?

John 5:6 (ESV)

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

Jesus asked this man "Do you want to be healed?" Of course he did! Wouldn't you? Why did Jesus ask a question like this when its answer was so clearly obvious? It seems the Lord wanted to hear him verbalize his need.

In the biography of George Mueller, a strong man of God who established orphanages throughout England in the 1800's and raised the kids up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, this amazing Saint relied upon God for every single need that he faced without making any financial appeals. He laid before the Lord every aspect of these orphanages. He prayed for the locations, the buildings, the furniture to fill them, the workers to run them, and everything else he could think of. When the first orphanage was ready, Mueller realized one major thing was lacking -- orphans!! He forgot to ask the Lord to provide the orphans!

Sometimes the obvious things just smack us in the face, don't they, we just forgot to ask!

The Lord is asking us today, "Do you want to be made well?" Whether it be physical healing, spiritual, emotional or financial healing, nothing is too great or too small for our Lord! Perhaps we've just forgotten to ask Him!

Dear Lord, we pray for healing today. Thank You for always being there for us.  Help us not forget to ask You for the healing that we need. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

By His Wounds We Are Healed.

1 Peter 2:24 (NIV)

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

About 400 AD, Augustine, during his pastoral ministry, came to know a woman in Carthage named Innocentia. A devout woman and highly regarded, she tragically discovered that she had breast cancer. A physician told her the disease was incurable. She could opt for amputation and possibly prolong her life a little, or she could follow the advice of Hippocrates and do nothing. Either way, death would not be put off for long.

Augustine reports: Dismayed by this diagnosis, "She turned for help to God alone, in prayer." In a dream, Innocentia was told to wait at the baptistery for the first woman who came out after being baptized, and to ask this woman to make the sign of the cross over the cancerous breast. Innocentia did as she was told, and she was completely cured.

When she told her doctor what had happened, he responded with a contemptuous tone, "I thought you would reveal some great discovery to me!" Then, seeing her horrified look, he backpedaled, saying, "What great thing was it for Christ to heal a cancer? He raised a man who had been dead for four days."

Through Christ's wounds, we are healed from the death sentence of sin.

Dear Lord, we give thanks to You for Your sacrifice for our sins. We thank You for given Your life on the cruel cross for each of us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.