God heals today

God heals today! The power of God for healing is being seen across the world as people put their trust in Him.  He has been intensifying this healing witness in the church over the last century.  We live at a time when powerful testimonies of miracles from all sections of the globe are at our fingertips.  Even the medical community is becoming more aware of His power through recent studies linking healing with prayer.  He is still the Lord who heals us!

Healing was a major part of the ministry of Jesus.  It seems that whenever Jesus met sick people, He was moved to heal them.  Jesus continued His ministry through His disciples.  Jesus told them that they would see greater things if they only had faith. The book of Acts is filled with instances of powerful healings following Pentecost.  In addition, healing was widespread in the early Church as evidenced by James 5:14-15.  Did you know that for the first three centuries the church expanded primarily through conversion as a direct result of miracles?  Healing is just meant to be a part of the believer’s experience in Christ!  Why does God heal?  There are three words that come to mind: compassion, covenant, and condition .  God heals us because He has compassion.  He heals us because of His covenant.  He heals us because He is conscious of our hurting condition.

Compassion

God heals people because of He has compassion on human suffering.  Matthew 14:14 reads, "When He landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, and healed their sick."   We read that when Jesus saw crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless.  He said that they reminded Him of sheep without a shepherd.  Once, Jesus saw two blind men near Jericho.  In Matthew 20:34 we read, "Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes.  Immediately they received their sight and followed him."   

Healing and God's compassion are linked throughout Biblical history.  In James 5:11 God's Word says, "The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."  Psalm 103:13 reads, "As a Father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those that fear Him."

There are a number of words for compassion in the New Testament.  The word most often associated with the compassion of Jesus with healing is the Greek word  spanchnizomai, which speaks of being moved to the point of an inward sensation.  These are not words that describe an insensitive bystander, but an intimate Lord!

God has compassion on our lives as well.  He cares about our problems and illnesses.   When we are hurting, it often moves Him to touch our lives.  Although our outward bodies must someday be let go in order to put on the eternal, we are called to come to Him to heal our diseases while on earth.  We can ask God for healing, because He cares for us.

Take a moment to consider that God has compassion for you.  Sometimes this is hard.  We often think that He is angry and alienated from us.   He loves us, because He is our Father.

Covenant

Secondly, God heals because of the covenant.  A covenant is an agreement between two people, or in this case, between God and us.  In biblical history, God entered into a series of covenant agreements, each time broadening their impact.  God said in Jeremiah 31, that He would make a "new covenant" with His children.  When Jesus raised the passover cup at the Last Supper, He declared it to be this cup of the covenant. The New Covenant is God’s agreement with us through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice.

This covenant provides for healing in the atonement.  In Isaiah 53 we read, "He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, and was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed."   Healing is a covenant privilege.  It is for this reason that Jesus went throughout the land healing those who were sick.

In Matthew 15:21-28 we read the story of a hurting woman.  One day she came to Jesus begging for help.  Her daughter was demon possessed.  The woman was a gentile.  Jesus first told her that His mission was to the lost sheep of Israel.  Jesus said it was not right to take the children's bread and feed it to dogs.  The term dog was a slang word for Gentile.  Jesus wasn't putting her down, He was affirming the prior covenant with the children of Israel.  The woman was not finished.  She told Jesus that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off the table!  In other words, the blessings of the covenant fall in many directions.  Jesus told her she had great faith, and the daughter was healed.  Imagine, even the crumbs that fall from the children's bread can create a powerful healing!  How much of the children's bread do we need?  Just a crumb, if it is bread from the hand of Jesus! 

God tells us He can take away despair.  He can sweep away the ashes of our lives, and anoint us with the oil of gladness.  He came to set prisoners free, and to release those in captivity!  

Our approach to prayer for healing should be based upon covenant promises.  If we are not sure of the basis for healing, then our prayers are not based on the facts of His Word. We are just hoping that He does something, and not knowing why.  We can learn from the Centurion who came to Jesus one day.  He understood that Jesus had the legal and spiritual authority to heal (Matthew 8:5-13).  The authority was based upon a legal agreement between God and His children. 

 His children are healed on the basis of the covenant!  It is the children's bread!

Condition

The third reason God heals is simple.  It is because He absolutely loves us!  He wants to extend His care to our lives. Although sin brought disease and death into the world, God wants to redeem us from its effects.  Jesus cares about His sheep!  As a shepherd He is intimately aware of our condition.  This is what shpeherd's do!   As the 23rd Psalm states, He restores our soul. This is a healing term!  Whether we are children or adults, Jesus just loves us!  He cherishes His time with us.  He reaches out to develop a relationship with Him.

Jesus healed because He was moved with compassion.   It was based upon the hurting condition of the children of Israel. The healing of Father’s children then came through the legal benefits of covenant promises. This is why God heals.