So many of us today are struggling with physical
infirmities and the issue of health care has brought the problem to the level
of a social and national crisis. Failed
health or the fear of it seems to dictate or control much of our focus and accounts
for a lot of our monthly budget.
The Holy One speaks a gentle truth in my ear, “I am not a distant Master, but your
ever-present Lord”.
His words open up this
morning’s counsel session and I wonder what He is about to show me relative to
health issues and His Lordship over them?
When Jesus walked the earth, healings made for most of
the miraculous works He did in the lives of the people He encountered each day.
Infirmities are nothing new for humans
living life in a fallen world. But His
power over the infirmities vexing people’s lives in His day should cause us to
wonder what, if anything has changed?
The Holy Spirit reminds me of the recorded account of
one Roman Centurion, whose servant was sick and about to die. No doubt all had been done to help this
servant yet we read in Luke 7:2 that he
was ready to die.
The Centurion had heard about this man called Jesus
Who had a reputation for healing the sick, so he sent a delegation of “elders of the Jews” in his behalf to petition
for the healing of his servant. Jesus received
their plea and agreed to go to the home of the Centurion. But before He arrived, in a display of
humility, the Centurion sent friends to meet Jesus with a message.
The message reflected a grasp of the authority he believed
Jesus had and in his knowledge of the structure of authority the Centurion told
Jesus that he believed the healing could be carried out by a word from Him and
that he was not “worthy” to have Jesus come to his home. This Centurion was a link in the structure of
Roman military authority and was both over and under others in rank. He
understood that his word would be carried out by the soldiers under him and gave
all honor and respect to the like kind authority that Jesus represented over
all.
Just as the Centurion expected, the healing power of
Jesus touched his servant even while Jesus, Himself was at a distance and the
servant was healed.
In case there is any doubt that our Lord is the same
yesterday, today and tomorrow, I can personally testify that Jesus is not
limited by geography when it comes to His healing power. Out of the cache of testimonies I have
gathered over the years of my life, one involves a long-distance healing that
happened in my life one Saturday morning:
That fateful Saturday, I was in attendance at a prayer meeting in Southern
California and my husband was 1500 miles away in Baja, Mexico. He had been battling alcohol addiction for
many years, but seemed to have no interest in stepping away from his beloved “mistress”. Even as a woman of faith I had confessed to
the Lord that I had no faith for healing /deliverance from addictions. I had lived too long with the insidious bondage
of flesh to chemicals and felt that the victim of addiction had to be co-operative
in their own deliverance, and if it depended on my faith then all was lost.
I heard my Lord say, “Watch Me” but did not know at
the time all that it meant.
My longstanding agreement with that lie was about to
be blown out of the water as the pastors in the prayer meeting undertook and
made the petition for his healing. 1500
miles away with no knowledge of the prayers of the saints being offered in his
behalf (and mine) my husband was delivered by the Healing Power of Jesus.
Comparing notes on that day, my husband
confirmed that at the same hour that the pastors were praying, the “craving”
for alcohol just “left” him and from that moment he could and did choose to not
drink.
Back to this account of the Centurion, there is much to be
gleaned as we grow in the knowledge of our Lord. From the actions of the Centurion, I see:
His love for his servant pressed him to go to One
he believed could help.
His humility before an authority greater than himself.
His hope turned into action.
His faith in the structure of authority to accomplish
the commands of authority.
His ability to see the Heavenly (supernatural)
with application to his temporal (natural) circumstances.
This Roman Centurion saw and called out from Jesus
what so many of us who (claim to) believe fail to see AKA the Lordship (Sovereign
Authority) of Jesus over all the situations we may face in life.
As I am pondering this and my own life testimony, the
Lord draws my attention to another lesson and precedent found in God’s Word: The blessing pronounced to Abraham and the
promise that God would bless those who bless Israel. The elders who were sent to solicit the help
of Jesus, reported that the man whose request they were bringing was “a friend
of the Jews” and had even built them a synagogue.
The Centurion was a man who must have believed in the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and saw Jesus as the One who had the power and authority
of their God. Jesus then, according to
his faith and in keeping with the promise to Abraham, blessed this man with the
answer to his petition.
When I read about this man and his exemplary faith, I
am humbled and ashamed. With so great a
privilege as to have the Holy Spirit of Christ within even as Christ Himself is
seated at the right hand of the Father, to doubt His authority or question His
good will for my health and well-being is tantamount to a betrayal of His Compassionate
Lordship and indwelling power to heal.
When Jesus executed His Sovereign authority over all
the conditions we may face on earth, He did not condemn or judge the infirmed. All
eyes were on Him as the Healer not on the victim or the cause. Our Salvation brings Holistic healing from
the soul out.
The physical tent that
houses the soul is not exempt from the same healing power that saves it. One day our physical body will return to the
dust; our “tent” will fold and our Soul/Spirit will be provided a new house, one
that will be imperishable and immortal.
But here and now, we have the hope for healing of our
temporal bodies until He calls us out to possess our eternal one. Jesus is our ever-present Lord and therein He
is our ever-present hope for healing.
The Spirit is calling.
Can you hear Him?
