God Is Our Healer

 

The prophet, Jeremiah, said in Jeremiah 17:14(NLT), “O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved.” This verse is filled with humility and in it, Jeremiah acknowledged the truth of who God is. There is no imperfection in our Heavenly Father. He never makes a mistake, and He never has to do a do-over or back track for any reason. He is perfect in every way and all healing comes from Him. When we apply our faith to accept the healing God offers, we are healed indeed. Jeremiah understood that when people draw themselves away from God, misery will take hold and they will lack the vitality and strength that we can have through Jesus Christ. But just the opposite is true when we hold tightly to God through our Redeemer. We will increase in faith and our strength and vigor is continually renewed.

Psalm 147:3 tells us that God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Again, whether it is a physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental issue, all healing comes from God. He not only heals our broken bodies of sickness and disease, but this verse in Psalm 147:3 affirms that He heals our wounded hearts and souls as well. And to be quite honest, sometimes our emotional wounds can feel as painful as a physical wound. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t want any person to be hurt in any way, and He wants us to be confident in His healing power. John 3:16(NLT) declares, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God loves every person, and He gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross so that we wouldn’t be destroyed by sin and darkness; instead, we can have eternal life and live an eternity with Him.

1Peter 2:24(NIV) declares, “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.” Jesus Christ never retaliated against those who crucified him, instead he fully gave himself up to accomplish what God sent him to do. All of us deserved punishment for not obeying God, and Jesus took on our sins. This means that he allowed himself to endure the punishment that we should have received. Our Master Jesus brought closure to all the dysfunction, darkness, and evil patterns of behavior that people had as a result of sin’s influence. Jesus wiped the slate clean for us and paid the price for our sin that we could not pay. We were restored to God’s original intention through Christ, and because of it, we can stand before God’s presence with no sense of guilt, sin, or condemnation. God did this work for us through His Son, and we must apply our faith to walk in this victory every day.

Most people do not know about God’s love and they don’t know what He has accomplished for us through Jesus Christ. As Jeremiah declared, God’s love heals completely, but sometimes this healing isn’t instant. Sometimes it takes a combination of patience, wisdom, compassion, humility and a willingness to stay committed to faith in God. In Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica, he wrote to them in 1Thessalonians 1:3(NLT) and stated, “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” In this verse, Paul lays out a template for walking in the victory and love of Jesus Christ.

Works produced by faith
Many of us have jobs that we go to and perform the tasks that our employers assign us. Then, after a certain period, we expect to be compensated for this work. The relationship of an employer and an employee was established thousands of years ago. It is how civilizations were built. Humans didn’t come up with this concept. God set it in motion from the beginning. Genesis 2:15(NKJV) says, “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” God made sure that humans understood the importance of work, because good works for His Kingdom is a requirement.

Good works for God’s Kingdom requires faith. Conditions for some of us are very sad and challenging. We are required by God to not just help ourselves, but to help others as well. Problems today are much more complex than they used to be, and this is especially true in our own families and in the lives of many of our friends and loved ones. In and of ourselves, we can’t help them in the way that restores and heals, but Christ working through us and our faith can make all the difference.

Labor prompted by love
Love always has a target, and without it love wouldn’t be love. A person can stand in the middle of nowhere and declare, “I am LOVE!!!” all day long, but without the actions and commitment of love towards someone else, their words are of no effect. God’s love is the most powerful force of any in the universe. It creates, produces, motivates, and makes everything infinitely better. As God’s children, His love should be in our hearts, and it must be outwardly expressed towards others.

Jesus Christ taught us in Luke 10:2(NKJV), “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Labor prompted by God’s love involves good deeds and loving actions that are according to the Father’s Will and agenda. It is labor motivated by a heart that seeks only to please God. It is important that we understand that these loving acts of kindness very often begin within our own families and inner circle of friends and loved ones. Because of various reasons, some of these relationships may have been damaged or severed. Perhaps we’re estranged from some members within our families or there may be individuals that we desire a closer relationship with. Whatever the case, these issues should be addressed through the love of God, but before this can happen, we must receive His direction and guidance.

Our job isn’t to heal relationships, because we don’t have the ability to do it. All healing comes from God. As His children, we have the distinct privilege and responsibility to be conduits of His healing. This means that through us, a space can be created for His healing to be administered in a relationship and in a person’s life. We don’t control this process; we simply follow God’s lead and we must never make the mistake of getting ahead of His lead. 1John 4:8(NLT) teaches us, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Our Heavenly Father is a God of love. Love is not only who He is, it is what He does. It stands to reason that labor prompted by God’s love is spearheaded by the One that IS love.

Endurance inspired by hope
Jesus Christ is our hope, and we can have hope because of him. Without him, none exists. Romans 5:5 affirms that hope in him doesn’t disappoint because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The gift of God’s Holy Spirit within completes all our expectations, and through the Spirit, Philippians 2:13 teaches that God is working in us, giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. God’s healing is supernatural, and it comes through various channels. Our privilege and honor are to have faith in the Master’s process as we pray for His healing to be administered.

We can be confident that God takes care of the who, what, when, and where. He calls upon us to intervene, and at times, it may not appear to us that relationships, and the people they involve, are being impacted in the way we expected. We can be assured that everything God does is effectual, and He never misses a beat. It may not be an appearance of progress in our view but be confident that progress according to God’s Will is being made.

2Thessalonians 3:13 encourages and admonishes us not to get tired of performing God’s assignments and doing good things for His Kingdom. It requires time and patience, and sometimes as conduits of His love, we may need to create a space for His healing and then move on. Sometimes we are simply to pray for the situation and love the person from a distance. The thing to remember is that we are empowered by God to introduce His healing and love into situations, and He takes care of the details. There is no need to rush, be impatient, or frustrated with the situation. We must endure in patience, be led by His Spirit, and have unyielding faith in the healing our God offers as we are committed to live by the example of Jesus Christ.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“God Is Our Healer”, written for Christian Encouragement and Inspiration© 2021. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.