Healing

Does anyone else ever struggle with the fact that you believe in healing for others, but not for yourself? Do you feel like God should choose to heal someone else instead?

I do all the time. I feel like my problems aren’t worthy enough, that I don’t deserve to be healed, that maybe my struggles aren’t actually as big of an issue as I make them out to be, and that others who have serious need for healing should get healed before I do. I sometimes feel like asking God for healing is selfish.

Lies. All lies.

Its like I doubt God’s abilities, like I’m putting limitations on who He chooses to heal or how many people He is capable of healing.

I’ve been challenged to look at healing differently. Not through my human eyes, but through a heart full of faith – believing that God cares about ME, and wants to heal me and make me whole. 

I have often heard it said, and I believe, that God has given us free will. We have a choice to live our lives as we see fit, or to live our lives in relationship with Christ – believing in Him, and following Him – living according to His rules and not our own. We have a choice to love Him. The thing is that I never thought about this in terms of our healing. God gives us the CHOICE to be healed. The choice to ask, reach out, believe, receive, be thankful, and be changed forever.

This morning in church I was challenged to look at the passages in Luke 8 and Mark 5 in a new way. In these passages Mark and Luke tell the story of a woman who is healed from 12 years of bleeding. Her case was hopeless in the eyes of all human kind – Dr. Luke even says ‘no one could heal her’. But she heard about Jesus, believed that He could heal her, reached out in faith, felt and acknowledged that change that took place in her body, and declared to the world the power of Christ to heal. She believed that she would be healed, and put action into that belief. Jesus was surrounded by crowds of people – but their reason for being there was not for the purpose of reaching out to receive healing. It isn’t enough to just be in the same room as Jesus in order to be healed, we need to be intentional about it. Go to Him and ask. Seek him out and reach to touch even the hem of His clothes. And then don’t be silent – proclaim His power and faithfulness – let His name be glorified for the changes that have taken place.

There is a big difference between healing and restoration. Healing fixes the problem, but restoration brings healing AND a change that makes it better than it was before. Yes Jesus can heal, and YES He brings restoration. But are you willing to step out in faith to ask for it, believing that it will happen? Are you willing to proclaim to the world how you have been healed and made whole – who brought that healing into your life?

I’ve been struggling with a running injury for a while and it has been so difficult. It’s been a month since I’ve been able to run on a regular basis, and it is getting so frustrating. I miss being outside for an hour or two every day – just me, Jesus, and my runners. But I’ve been too afraid to ask for healing, for prayer; Too afraid to stretch out my hand in faith. I’ve felt like I don’t deserve healing, that maybe I brought this on myself by being too aggressive in my training, or that maybe it isn’t a serious enough injury. Which when I think about it, is absolutely ludicrous. It says in scripture that God cares when a sparrow falls to the ground, so of course He wants to see healing and restoration in all parts of my life. God loves me and wants the best for me. Running is something that brings me joy – and 

He wants good things for me, so why in the world would I think that he wouldn’t heal me?

God’s desire is that we are made whole in Him… That we will come to Him to be healed, restored, and transformed. And that we will proclaim His righteousness and give Him glory for every piece of healing we receive in life. I know this in my head, but I need to let this faith be an action of my heart.

This morning I got up in church and asked for healing – in faith. And I’m writing this now to proclaim that I believe that He can heal me. I will give Him the glory for the transformation that takes place in me. He is constant. He never changes. It is my privilege to be able to come to Him, have my body and soul restored, and walk forward into peace – into the atmosphere of heaven where I will continue to grow closer to Christ as I reach out in faith for healing.