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Grace takes you from where you are, to where God wants you to be; to see life and good days, abiding in His prosperity and enjoying His peace. It is His promise to you in His word, which also gives you the procedure, the path to it, that sees you making it your experience; He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from speaking evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good, let him seek peace and pursue it. [1 Peter 3:10,11]
Peace needs to be sought after and pursued, as also holiness together with it, the word of God goes on to say, specifying what empowers you to achieve it, and also, what can become a hindrance to it. Pursue peace with all men, and also holiness, without which no one will see the Lord; looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. [Hebrews 12:14,15]
A painful experience that leaves you with a bitter taste in the mouth, unable to then relish the joys of life, is something that everyone can identify with at some point of their lives. It is when even the tastiest food, seems tasteless and sour ! But the problem is not with the food, it lies in the inner being of the person. G.K. Chesterton, the renowned Christian philosopher, was asked to write an article by a newspaper on what was wrong with the world. And, this is what he wrote, hitting the nail on the head very succinctly; ‘There is nothing wrong with the world; there is everything wrong with me. Yours sincerely, G.K.Chesterton’! In a similar vein, a question was asked of a preacher regarding where revival ought to begin; and the preacher answered the person saying, ‘Go home, draw a circle around the place where you reside, and begin right there’ !
It all begins with one’s own self ! And, God has made His resource, His grace, available to you that you may overcome. He empowers you to deal with what is wrong within you, the bitterness that can go on to yield poisonous fruit, causing trouble to one’s own self and to others. In your innermost being He brings healing; He is your Healer. He turns your bitterness into sweetness, even today, as He did to the Israelites in their wilderness journey.
God helps you to deal with the pain in your inner being, when the waters of your life, the circumstances seem bitter and unpalatable. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses saying, ‘What shall we drink ?’. [Exodus 15:23,24] The Almighty God intervened, to turn the bitter water into sweet, and revealed unto them that He was their Healer. So he [Moses], cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you”. [Exodus 15:25,26] And He still is. He is the Lord your Healer. He is also interested in revealing something much deeper concerning His nature, through the miracles that He performs in your life. For, He looks beyond the satisfying of your immediate physical or material need, whatever it may be. Making the bitter water sweet, so that people may have their thirst quenched, was not a difficult thing at all for God, the Creator of all things.
But, the God who sees your inner most being, your emotional pain and sorrow, will more than satisfy your immediate, felt need, though it may seem so very uncomfortable and threatening to you. His healing involves a total transformation of your life. Your past may have been very bitter and disappointing, but your coming days, your future, will see His healing and sweetness displayed in you. For, by what He does, He shows who He is. It is seen wondrously displayed in the lives of the Israelites, when the Lord, the Great I AM, stepped in to deliver them from the yoke of the enemy, through His servant Moses, and showed that He is a God who is in sovereign control of all things.
Each plague was targeted at a particular god of the Egyptians. The river Nile was a god to them. And by turning it’s water into blood, God displayed His greatness over the false gods, the forces of evil in the spiritual realm. And, in one night, the night of the Passover that foreshadowed the Cross, He miraculously restored to the Israelites, all that had been denied to them in their years of slavery and cruel bondage, as He made them depart with silver and gold.
He showed on that day, by what He did, that He is the Redeemer and Restorer in the lives of His people, His children, whom you and I are today. And, even as they departed, only to soon face the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptians behind them, He split the waters of the sea that they could pass through it on dry ground. By this He showed that He was, and is the Way, the Truth and the Life, for the Egyptians who bowed down to false gods perished in the same waters !
It was a fundamental, inner attitude shift, that the Israelites needed, and it was a very vital part of the healing that came as a promise to them from the Lord. For, after hundreds of years in hard labor as slaves, they needed to be healed of a slave mentality in their inner being. For, it saw them perceiving themselves as grass hoppers in the sight of their enemies. They were undervaluing their own worth, and needed healing from the Lord in their inner being, to see what God had created them to be.
It was an inner transformation that the Israelites needed as they came out of bondage into freedom, not a mere provision of their external physical and material needs, which of course the Lord was able to take care of, in their lives. Externally, they were entering a land that was spacious, well watered, flowing with milk and honey, but their inner being was damaged and broken after their years of slavery. Therefore, it was a fundamental and total transformation from within that was the Lord’s promise to them as their Healer. It was what He showed them as He turned the bitter waters of Marah into sweet. And, the inner transformation that heals you is what only He can accomplish, even in your life this day.
Self help is of no help when it comes to changing yourself from within; and yet you are not without hope of any change in you. It comes through a shifting of your focus, to pray in the words of Jeremiah, ‘Heal me O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved, for you are my praise’. [Jeremiah 17:14] Salvation comes to you, only from God. And, all that the Father has not planted in your inner being, it is by His mandate to be uprooted. ‘If it is not from God, I do not need it’, is a simple and powerful instruction to be followed by you, in this context.
Fear is not what the Father plants in you; therefore, when it comes, you need not be conformed to the pattern of the world to think that you have to tolerate or accommodate it in your life. You can cast it out with the enabling and empowering of the Lord.
‘See, I have put my words in your mouth’ said the Lord to Jeremiah, going on to declare the purpose for which He was doing it to be, in order ‘to uproot and to plant’. [Jeremiah 1:9,10] He deals with the root issue and not just the symptoms; and even in healing you, He deals with your inner pain, and does not merely bandage the external symptoms of it. A total transformation is the goal and purpose of the healing that is from God. And it was all accomplished on the Cross of Calvary, where the Savior laid down His life, for the sins of the whole world.
Calvary, the place of majestic sacrifice, where sin was atoned for, was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah years ahead ; Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed. [Isaiah 53:4,5] The grief and sorrow, sicknesses and pain which He has carried away through the Cross, are the external symptoms of the inner pain that each person on earth experiences. It is the painful fear of punishment; of being chastised for your iniquities and transgressions, which are also a hindrance to experiencing peace, and oneness with God.
The root problem is sin; it lies buried within each person, and is invisible on the outside. And, it expresses itself externally as selfishness and rebellion. Therefore, mere behavioral modification of a person will never be enough; the root of sin needs to be uprooted from within a person, for real change to happen in him. Behavioral change is what the world may advocate though, for there is always a system that runs parallel to the truth of God’s word, in the world. It would be very similar, but very contrary to it.
God says in His word, that He is the true Light which enlightens any man; but satan masquerades as an angel of light. The world will say that money is all that you need to be happy, and have all your wants and desires met; but God declares that He is your source, your Provider who gives you joy that is more than mere happiness that depends on the happenings of your life. And, God is your Healer, healing you from within, as the root of sin is addressed and dealt with, to bring about a total transformation in you. All that is good and right comes to you from God.
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that He cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you. [Isaiah 59:1,2] His arm is not shortened and unable to save. It is the sin in you and I, which is a barrier, a hindrance to drawing near to Him and receive His goodness and grace. And, on the Cross, Christ, the sinless one, was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Iniquity is the sinful nature in man, which leads him to transgress externally in his actions.
It is either under performing, or overshooting to miss the mark that God has established, in His plans and purposes for mankind, and for each person specifically. And, sin involves torment, and the fear of punishment. But, the chastisement for our peace was laid upon Lord Jesus, on the Cross. It underscores and establishes the truth of the nature of the fallen man; that he needs a Savior and Redeemer. The world may deny it to say that man is not inherently bad, and only needs refinement. For, the world’s theory stems from evolution of man, his refinement, to ultimately lead to utopia, or an imaginary perfect world !
But, God’s truth concerning man is creation, redemption and restoration. It does not contradict science, nor is it against it. Science tells you how a man is born, while the Bible tells you why a man is born ! It all holds together wondrously in Christ, the Source of all. Scientific knowledge can bring about many improvements that benefit you, but true transformation will come only when your inner being is touched by the Almighty God. It is why David acknowledges of the Lord, ‘You desire truth in the inner parts’.
It is the redemption story. On the Cross, Christ became sin, so that you may become the righteousness of God; He became a curse so that you may receive the blessing of God to Abraham. On the Cross, all that was wrong in your innermost being was laid on Him, as you received from Him, His righteousness and all that is good and right in Him. It is how He became the Lord your Healer, and remains so, even this day. It is indeed difficult not to rejoice in what happened on the Cross. For, He died in your place; and because He did so, you are now alive to live for righteousness. Not denying the pain of all that the Lord went through in His path to the Cross, it also has to borne in mind, that it was on the Cross that the devil’s head was crushed by the Lord.
And, ‘as often as you remember it’, He said to His disciples, as He inaugurated the new covenant of His Body and His Blood; His Body that was broken for you, and His Blood that was shed for you, so that by His stripes you are healed. The devil may try to put accusing and deceptive thoughts in you, but standing on the truth, you can rejoice in the miracle of redemption, and the victorious Cross ! ‘I write this, so that your joy may be complete’, declares the apostle John. God’s written word, when truly understood in your heart and mind can indeed fulfill the desire of the apostle, by making your joy complete !
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses’. [Matthew 8:16,17] The Lord healed on earth, fulfilling the promise of God in His word. Healing may be immediate and in an instant, or it may be progressive; the truth remains that God has made all thing s beautiful in His time. He cast out the spirits with a word; and His word in your mouth, spoken in faith has the same authority and power. It will see demons obey you, to flee from you. Every promise from God is like a cheque that you receive from Him, to en-cash and make it your experience.
And Jesus said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction’. [Mark 5:34] She had been suffering greatly for twelve years; but coming up behind Him in the crowd, the woman with the issue of blood, reached out to teach the hem of the Lord’s garment in faith, to experience a miraculous healing in her body. But now, Calvary’s Cross is behind you. The veil in the temple is torn. It is the time when you receive all things by grace and through faith believing in what God has already accomplished on the Cross. You need not go to Him from behind, but you can boldly to approach the presence of God.
Christ Himself is now your peace, having opened a new and living way for you to enter into His presence. In Christ you are now a new creation, when old things have passed away, and all things have become new. Smith Wigglesworth, the devoted man of God, has said that it is better to die believing, than to live in unbelief. Believing is also to believe that He is your Healer. It may be in an instant, or it may be a process, it can directly come from God, or it can come through the hand of a physician prescribing medical treatment, but ultimately God is your Healer, and no one else.
It was the blessing of the Lord upon the woman, who had touched Him and had already experienced physical healing. By saying, ‘Go into peace’, the Lord makes it abundantly clear that He heals you in all areas of lack. It may be in your finances, work, emotions or relationships. For, when you go into peace, you go into Christ, who is the Head who fills all things with Himself. May you be filled even this day with the riches of His glorious inheritance !
Suffering for doing what is right, is the suffering that you can go through, to count it all joy. [James 1:2-4] The apostle Peter elaborates on it, as he describes the experience of Christ in this context, and the fruit of it, that you and I now partake of, and experience in life. Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered He did not threaten, but committed Himself to the One who judges righteously, 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. [1 Peter 2: 23,24]
The root problem of sin has been dealt with, and righteousness has been given to you. By His wounds, you have been healed ! The verses above make it clear that the healing prophesied in the words of the prophet Isaiah, has already been accomplished. Therefore, it only needs to be appropriated, to be manifested in your life. And, there are many ways in which God brings it to pass in your life.
The Lord is near to the broken hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. [Psalms 34:18] God is present with you in your broken circumstance; it is how He brings healing in you. Even in human relationships, sometimes, all you need to do to offer comfort to a person in pain is to just be there with them; no words are needed. You may not be able to feel His presence all the time, and He may seem far away when you are in a time of trouble and pain. But it is then that you need to focus on the truth of God’s word, rather than giving in to your negative feelings. God says to you in His word, that He will never leave you or forsake you. You may feel inadequate and unable to withstand your problem right now, but God says to you, I am your Healer; the battle is Mine’. The Lord will stand with you.
But, the following night the Lord stood with him and said, “Be of good cheer Paul, for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome”. [Acts 23:11] In the night seasons of your soul, when everything seems bleak and dark, God is always standing with you, and not as a spectator. He stands with you to deliver you. The Lord who stood with Paul in the night time, also stood with him when he was before Caesar. He is your very present help at all times.
If you are in a place in your life, where you feel uncared for, and ignored by people who really matter to you, God is saying to you even now, “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds”, says the Lord, “Because they have called you an outcast; this is Zion, no one seeks her”. [Jeremiah 30:17] The devil may whisper in your ear that no one cares for you, but the Lord is saying the very opposite, that He cares for you. And it is by healing you of all your wounds, both internally and externally, that He is going to demonstrate that He cares for you. Therefore, all you need to do when a problem or trouble comes to disturb your peace, is to cast your care on Him, and leave it with Him !
And how do you do it ? It is by your proclamation and confession. Therefore, when worrying thoughts come, to fill you with anxious care, confess your faith and trust in God, to see you through. For, it is how you cast your care on the Lord who cares for you. He is your Healer !
He cares for you, by speaking His word into your life, into your circumstance. And, no one can speak into your problem as effectively and lovingly as Him to deal with it and bring a miraculous change. It is what happened to the paralyzed man lying by the pool of Bethesda for thirty eight years, who as the years went on, was unable even to drag himself to the pool anymore to be healed. But when the Lord spoke to him and said, ‘Take up your bed and walk’, in simplicity and sincerity of faith, the man got up and walked ! And, when the religious leaders questioned him he said, ‘He who made me well, said, ‘Take up your bed and walk’. [John 5:1-15] What the Lord speaks to you will bring you strength and healing that enables you to do what you were unable to do until then. When He gives you a word, the word itself has the power to heal you.
The Almighty God, to the prophet Jeremiah sets forth the process by which His healing comes to you. [Jeremiah 33:6 -14] Behold I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. [vs 6]
And I will cause the captives of Israel and the captives of Judah to return, and I will rebuild those places as at first. [vs 7] Restoration is a part of redemption. God is in the process of building you up to be a spiritual palace, where the King of Kings is enthroned in your heart. It is the health and healing that He brings to you.
I will cleanse them from all the iniquities by which they have sinned against Me. And I will pardon all their sins and their iniquities by which they have transgressed against Me. [vs 8] His Blood cleanses you and purifies you, keeping your problem from coming back to trouble you. The Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again. Other challenges when they come, you only need to cast it on the Lord who cares for you, and demonstrates it by healing you.
Then it shall be to Me , a name of joy, a praise, a honor to me, before all the nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and prosperity that I provide for it’. [vs 9] God will do good, a good thing in your life. And when God does a good work, there will be nothing left undone; it will be full and complete. You may have been through heart breaking pain until now, but the Lord promises to heal you, so that you will see joy and gladness in your life.
The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say, ‘Praise the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever’, and those who will bring the sacrifice of praise unto the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first’, says the Lord. [vs 11] This will be the magnificent display of joy and gladness in your life, as the Lord becomes your Healer! Good and auspicious happenings that you have been longingly awaiting will come to pass, making your heart swell with radiance and joy !
‘Behold the days are coming’, says the Lord, that I will perform the good thing that I have promised to the house of Judah, and the house of Israel.’ [vs 14] And, today is the day of salvation; for, He says to you even now, ‘I am the Lord your Healer’. Let Him minister into your heart to heal you. You may have through much disappointment in your life, but now He will give you a fresh start; a total transformation is what you will experience in your life, and in your family.
Give thanks unto Him, declaring that He is the Lord who heals you. May His word accomplish a work of grace in your heart, to bring a healing that transforms you from within, to reflect His glory in your life. He is your Father. He is your righteousness. He is your life in all it’s abundance. He is the Lord your Healer ! May the promises that He has spoken to you this day, become your experience in life.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen .
