God wants you well

 

God wants you well!

I am reminded of a miracle Jesus did for a leper:

40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”

41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. Mark 1:40-42 (NKJV)

It is so assuring to know that Jesus wants us to be healed - while on earth,  He healed people and cast out demons.

“Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons;” Mark 1:34 (NKJV) 

One of God’s Names are Jehovah Rapha - which means God our healer. 

If this is one of God’s names is Healer, if Jesus said to the leper: “I am willing to heal you, and when we read that Jesus healed many who were sick, we cannot but believe the same - for ourselves, for our family, for our friends!

1 Pet 2:24 says “when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed.”

When Jesus instituted the communion, it was for this purpose - that we would remember Him for what He has done for us! He has died for our sins, paid in full with His blood, and by His wounds we are healed!

I want to encourage you to have communion often, and content for your healing, for your family member’s healing , for your friend’s healing - by believing God’s Word, by remembering Jesus’ deeds while He was here on earth and by remembering that one of God’s names are “Healer”, even in times when the breakthrough is not seen nor experienced!

Supernatural Meal

 

Two supernatural meals

Nothing was wrong with the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Bible even said that the woman “saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious.” (Gen 3:6) The problem however was that there was a command with consequences coupled to eating those delicious fruit… 

So, when Adam en Eve ate of the fruit, something supernatural happen to them - they sinned against God, had to bear consequences and was banished out of the garden of Eden.

When Jesus was on earth, He instituted another supernatural meal - the communion. And with us just eating the bread and drinking the wine in faith to what Jesus did for us, something supernatural happen to us…. healing is restored, salvation is restored, sins are forgiven, our youth is renewed, provision breaks forth…

Both meals with supernatural outcomes, but the latter instituted by Jesus as meal to remind us that it is because of what He did!

Let us have communion and do it in remembrance of Jesus as often as we eat and drink.” ( Luk 22:19 & 1 Cor 11:25) 

Expect the supernatural to happen in our lives!

Remember me

Remember Me…

One of the ways that Jesus asked his disciples, and us, to remember Him by, was when He served communion to them. Luke tells us: 

19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Luk 22:19 (NLT)

25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 1 Cor 11:25 (NLT)

And the reason Jesus asked us to remember him in this manner is found in verse 26 of 1 Cor 11:

“For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.”

So, every time we partake of communion we are announcing the Lord’s death. It reminds us and help us to focus on what He did, and not on what we have done.

It help us to realise that nothing we do, earn anything with God when it comes to our salvation - only faith in Jesus. 

It help us to realise that no sickness can be healed, if it wasn’t for Jesus! 

He paid for our salvation, He paid for our health, He paid for our wholeness - not with money, but He paid for it with His life!

In times when we trust God for specifics in our lives,  I want to encourage you to have communion often - it helps us to get our focus on Him and what He did for us! 

And in other times, when everything is going well with us, let us also have communion often, because Jesus ask that we remember Him…

Miracles

One of the miracles that Jesus did, was to give sight to a blind man who was born blind. The whole of chapter 9 in the book of John is dedicated to this event. 

Firstly, the question on everybody’s mind, was asked: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents?” (John 9:2), because surely there must be a root cause for this problem? But Jesus answered, “Neither this man, nor his parents sinned, this happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” (John 9:3)

Secondly, Jesus used an unorthodox way to heal the man - He spat on the ground, and made clay with his saliva, and the Bible said: “He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay” (John 9:6). On top of this, Jesus told the man to go and wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam. To crown it all, the miracle was done a Sabbath.   

Thirdly, an entire drama unfolds as the neighbours ask the man how his eyes were opened, then he was brought to the Pharisees who asked the same question twice, the pharisees called his parents to confirm that he was blind and just to make sure, they asked him again, because they could not believe that a man, Jesus, a sinner in their eyes, could do such a miracle. 

And then John writes in verse 32 “Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind.” And this statement perhaps, shed some light as to why the people could not believe that such a thing could happen. 

For me, there are two timeless truths we can learn from this event:

1. When we are in an unfortunate, sometimes perhaps an extraordinary situation, sin might not be the cause, but it might just be a setup for God to work in our lives so that He can get the glory…

2. God wants to do miracles in and through our lives so that “Ever since the world began, this miracle has never been seen…” 

May we be a people of faith that expect the unexpected, dream the impossible, and live with faith-expectancy. After all, it is only faith that can please God…

Doctrine or heart?

 

When Jesus went into a Jewish place of worship - the temple in Jerusalem or a synagogue somewhere else - the people's reaction were found to be at two opposites of his words and teachings:

Firstly, people were astonished at his understanding and answers of the Scriptures (Luk 2:47), and also marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth (Luk 4:22).

Secondly, we also read of how people, after hearing some contradictory words,from Jesus, towards their belief system, were filled with wrath, they threw him out of the temple and even tried to kill him.

One such event occurred in John 7 where the people again marveled at the fact that Jesus known the Scriptures, but "having never studied" it (v.15), but their reaction after some further teaching were that they sought to kill him... 

What amazes me, was Jesus' words in the midst of this encounter: 

"My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent me." John 7:16 

For us today, not surprisingly, when we are confronted by the truth, it brings the best and worst out of us... 

On the one side, the truth will liberate us, set us free, and on the other side, the truth will also confront our current beliefs.

And sometimes our current beliefs are well intended - it was formed from experiences, passed on from generation to generation, received from listening to teachings... and all of the above causes a belief to be well established and settled in our hearts and minds.

And yes, we will defend it - just like the Jews defended their beliefs and didn't want to be confronted by Jesus' teachings when He was on earth. 

My challenge to all of us today is to constantly have a soft heart towards God and His Word.

Before we stake our claim to a belief or a doctrine, before we fearlessly defend and protect it, let us... 

🌟 Abide in the Word of God and filter it though the Word of God, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples". (John 8:31) 

🌟 Test it with this free-making promise:

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shake make you free" (John 8:32) 

🌟 Remember Jesus' words:

"My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent me." (John 7:16) 

Am I willing to let go of mine, and accept His?