In this episode, we look at Jesus healing on the Sabbath Day. Since Jesus operated under the Old Covenant, the question invariably arises, why did He minister this way?
In April 2000, a boy named Nathan was in a near-fatal car accident while trying to avoid a deer. When he arrived at the hospital, he had a broken leg, spinal cord damage, numerous lacerations, and a collapsed lung. To stabilize him, doctors put him into a drug-induced coma. Nathan was in a coma for four days, but when the drugs were discontinued, he didn’t come out of the coma. That night Nathan’s father prayed and read the Bible to him, repeating the words Jesus said to Lazarus: “Come forth.” You’ve got to fight. You’ve got to wake up.” The next morning he came out of the coma. The parents were beside ourselves with joy. But the spinal cord damage was a major concern. Nathan had a fracture in his neck, the same vertebra that actor Christopher Reeve had injured several years ago. The doctors gave Nathan a protective neck collar to prevent further separation of the vertebrae. He was in danger of full or partial paralysis.
For two weeks Nathan prayed earnestly for healing. One night as he was falling asleep, he heard and felt a popping in his neck. The next morning physicians performed three sets of X-rays to see if the vertebrae were continuing to separate. Instead, the tests showed that the vertebrae had fused back together. The doctors were stunned; there was no medical explanation for the healing. Three months after the accident, doctors cleared Nathan to resume his participation in athletics, including football, wrestling, and track and field. 1 Our God is a healing God. He is a miracle worker and He will do a miracle for you.
In the USA, at the declaration of independence, only 5% were Christians. By the Civil War, the figure rose to 12%. At the turn of the century, 1/4 of the people included Christians. Billy Graham told reporters in 1977 that 40% of Americans claim they have been born again, and 95% of young people believe in a personal God.1 The number of people who claim to be religious is staggering. But there’s a difference between being religious and being divinely, supernaturally spiritual. Jesus was never religious. He didn’t act religious. He didn’t talk religious. He didn’t have a bumper sticker on His camel. He didn’t have rosary beads hanging from His donkey’s neck. He was not a pious prophet. He was uniquely spiritual and highly effective in His ministry to the sick. And here’s the marvelous truth. You can be just like Him.
This is a special edition of the Light on Life podcast because it’s Season Two, Episode 52 which means two full years of Light on Life. And so that’s what we are going to celebrate today. We will look at year two in Review. We will detail the most downloaded episodes and posts for this past year as well as Season One. And finally, we will go into some direction for Season Three’s edition of Light on Life.
Ran across this poem this week on the subject on faith.
Doubt sees the obstacles
Faith sees the way.
Doubt sees the darkest night
Faith sees the day.
Doubt dreads to take a step
Faith soars on high.
Doubt questions, “Who believes?”
Faith answer, “I.” 1
We are teaching on the subject of Real Bible Faith and how it works and we are honing in on the aspect of words. How important are words in the life of faith? The world was never conquered by intrigue; it was conquered by faith. 2 You are more than a conqueror. That’s what the Bible states. So as the world over comer that you are, it’s vital to continually hone your use of words. More How to Release Your Faith with Words. That’s what we are looking at in this week’s Light on Life.
Although the first Pilgrims established a peaceful relationship with the natives in America, the following generation struggled with bloody warfare. The war between Pilgrims and Indians, known as King Philip’s War, began in 1675 and lasted fourteen months. In March 1676, a group of nearly fifteen hundred Indians attacked the village of Rehoboth. Nathaniel Philbrick writes, “As the inhabitants watched from their garrisons, 40 houses, 30 barns, and 2 mills went up in flames. Only one person was killed—a man who believed that as long as he continued reading the Bible, no harm would come to him. Refusing to abandon his home, he was found shot to death in his chair—the Bible still in his hands.” 1 What is the point here? Reading the Bible is not enough. You have to believe it. You have to act on it. We’ve been talking the last month on the subject of divine healing. The linchpin required to make healing a reality in your life is faith in God’s Word. In this weeks’ Light on Life we are going to begin to take a look at the subject of Real Bible Faith.
In the previous four podcasts, we have endeavored to hone the point that you need faith in order to receive healing from heaven. We have tried to get you to see you need to go the Word route first before you go the prayer route, the medical route or any other route. Putting God first in all things is good Bible order. This is a striving for the highest kind of faith. The highest kind of faith takes God at His Word. You will find this is the best way to receive. Why? Because it’s one thing to receive from God. It’s another thing to hold on to what you have. It takes faith to receive anything from God but it also takes to hold on to the blessing you’ve received. We will see how all this works together in this week’s edition of Light on Life.
When the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, noisy office. In the background a telegraph clacked away. A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. The other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. Why had this man been so bold? They muttered among themselves that they hadn’t heard any summons yet. They took more than a little satisfaction in assuming the young man who went into the office would be reprimanded for his presumption and summarily disqualified for the job. Within a few minutes the young man emerged from the inner office escorted by the interviewer, who announced to the other applicants, “Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has been filled by this young man.” The other applicants began grumbling. Then one spoke up saying, “Wait a minute—I don’t understand something. He was the last one to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not fair.” The employer said, “I’m sorry, but all the time you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse code: ‘If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. So the job is his.” 1 Godly results come from hearing God. Are you tuned into God’s Morse code?
The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook says “In the Bible it is God who brings salvation from temporal as well as spiritual ills. Thus in the Gospels, referring to his miraculous healings, Jesus sometimes says, “Your faith has saved you,” meaning “healed you” (Luke 18:42 KJV). Characteristically, the term refers to salvation from sin (Rom. 1:16; 1 Thess. 5:9). Salvation means the decisive defeat of sin on the cross, but also victory over evil in a believer’s daily life.” 1 Why is this so? The answer can be found by an exhaustive look at the famous redemption chapter of Isaiah 53.
The Bible is meant for your everyday life. It’s meant to be used and applied. It’s not just a collection of short stories for entertainment. Are you hearing me Hollywood? How can the jump be made from narrative to vibrant faith? One way is to learn to put yourself into the verses in the Bible. The truth is God wrote this book especially for you. Putting yourself into the Word, into the stories, into the truths found within it’s pages will lead you out of defeat and into victory.
At roughly 11:05 PM on Christmas Eve, in the year 2001, while at work my wife Sharon suffered a brain aneurysm. You can find Sharon’s account of her anguishing life changing trial in this post “How God Miraculously Brought Me through A Brain Aneurysm.” This podcast is my version of that same day, the same ordeal, the same life changing distress. The same miraculous deliverance.
Healing is God’s divine intrusion into suffering humanity to let us know, “Yes, I understand the hurt, I understand the pain, I understand the money that you have spent trying to get well. I understand that there are many things that you would like to do for me, but yet are unable because your body won’t let you. I’m touched by the feeling of it all. But, I am not only touched by it, I’m going to do something about it. I’m going to extend my healing power and I’m going to do undo what Satan has done. I’m going to reverse this curse. And when I do, you’ll know that the kingdom of God has come unto you. Because in my kingdom, there is joy and peace.”
It is hard to be at peace when your body is hurting. It’s hard to have fullness of joy in the midst of an oppression that has come into your body. Here are some healing scriptures from the Bible. Meditate on them. Quote them out loud. Soak in the Word of God until you know in your spirit you are healed. Location is critical here. You have to know it in your spirit, not in your head. Many mentally subscribe to God’s will for healing. But, healing is spiritual not mental. You have know that you know that you know in your heart. Then, the manifestation comes. When you are ready to pray, there is a healing prayer at the bottom of this list of scriptures. Be healed in Jesus Name.