Just had one of those "light bulb" moments!! Ever since I've started studying about healing in the Bible back in March of 2012 I have constantly struggled with the concept that in the Bible, when Jesus healed someone, they were healed. Plain and simple. End of story. The woman was healed from her issue of blood and you never hear four chapters later that the issue returned and He had to "re-heal" her. Or the blind man's sight dimming and becoming dark again. So healing should be a "done" deal. And if "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8) then His healing today would be as strong and effective as it was then. It says in I Peter 2:12 that we are healed by His stripes.
Yet it hasn't been exactly that way for me. It hasn't necessarily been a constant battle, but definitely an ongoing one at times. This has been a nearly constant source of frustration for me, trying to match what I know from God's Word to what I experience. I've prayed about it, struggled over it and searched in the Bible trying to find out the "whys." Reading Sheila Walsh's book (The Heartache No One Sees) tonight I discovered the answer!!
Luke 4:13 "When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came."
The emotional and mental healing that we may have experienced can be bombarded by doubts and temptations from Satan. And we may resist, and he may leave..BUT he is waiting until the next opportunity to tempt us. Which is why we were given the armor of God (Ephesians 6) to battle it. I believe it crosses the realm to include spiritual warfare. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not discounting the wisdom God gave to men to create medications. But Satan had used this questioning to wiggle and worm his way into my thinking and whisper things like 'Jesus didn't really heal you' or 'if you were a better Christian you wouldn't ever have to battle this again' or 'your faith must not be real since you still have to keep praying about it.' There is no way I can describe the relief to realize that it isn't that I have this great lacking of faith, or God has bigger things than to deal with me and my issues, but I am battling a cunning enemy! "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy..." John 10:10a
AA puts it this way, "Remember that we deal with alcohol, cunning, baffling, powerful! Without
help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power that One
is God. May you find Him now!" We can easily substitute alcohol here for Satan. He is cunning, baffling, powerful, but we have One, Jesus Christ, who has ALL the power we need.
May 2013 be the year that I put on the armor and prepare for battle and not be discouraged when the battle rages thinking that God has not healed, but realize that this battle is most often one fought in the mind and when a battle is won, not to discard my battle gear and let my guard down to merrily go on my way, but to realize he is waiting until the next opportunity, so I need to stay "prayed up" and prepared for battle.
And the rest of the verse from John 10:10? "My (Jesus') purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." I'd say that's Good News, wouldn't you?!
Definitely, Good News!
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