Knowing the Father (Part 4)
Healer
God can use anyone as a conduit for healing, and I am one of those He occasionally calls on to lay hands on the sick. I have seen the Lord remove cancer, lower blood pressure, heal a damaged vocal cord, repair an ailing foot, smooth out inflamed skin, disintegrate a troublesome nodule and turn back the effects of diabetes. Our Father in Heaven still heals today. However, in order to activate supernatural healing, we must believe God is a Healer. In Part 4 of “Knowing the Father” we will delve deeper into this aspect of God as Jehovah Rapha, our Healer.
The Father heals disease– There are almost thirty-seven miracles of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels and most of those supernatural events involve some form of healing.
When God calls me to pray over someone, I often refer to the story of the Centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant. When Jesus said he would go to the Centurion’s house to conduct the healing, the Centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8). Jesus saw that as a show of great faith, and through faith in the Word that became flesh, Jesus, we can also claim the healing Word of God over ourselves and others, verses like: “Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3) or “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed, save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise” (Jeremiah 17:14). Whether it’s emotional or physical healing on Earth or restoration in Heaven, every Christian will experience miraculous healing.
The Father heals our broken hearts– Has human love ever let you down? While I am happily married, I still remember an earlier relationship where my heart was shattered by a boyfriend. It took time and many boxes of Kleenex to pick up the pieces and move on. But God promises in Psalm 147:3 that he “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Through the Pearls of Promise ministry I have found that many women who have endured relationship wounds over the years will place a padlock on those pierced areas of their hearts. Throw in a few more hurts and padlocks, and you have a closed-off heart where the love of God cannot flow in our out to others. In all of these cases, it’s important to turn the pain over to God and let Him do heart surgery. Only the Lord can fill the holes left by rejection, angry words or betrayal. Claim Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” And 1 Chronicles 28:20: “Fear not, nor be dismayed: for the Lord God will be with you; He will not fail you, nor forsake you!”
The Father heals our sinfulness– As hard as we try to be righteous women, there is still that sinful nature lurking in the shadows. Whether it’s anger, judgmental thoughts or coveting, this sinfulness is something we’ve all inherited and there’s only one answer for healing of the human condition, belief in Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53:5 says, “By his wounds we are healed.” Jesus loaded up all of the wrongs we’ve committed on his shoulders when he went to the cross. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “’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.’”
There is no sin, no shortcoming, and no crime that the Son of God can’t heal because of His sacrifice.
If Jesus can take away the grievous sins I committed in my younger years, He can heal you from your past as well. I don’t want to ever return to the sins of yesteryear, do you? In order to avoid repeating history, almost every morning I pray, “Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
In addition to healing us from our sins, God also gives us the strength and joy to move forward as healed children of God, glorifying our heavenly Father in our work and ministries (Philippians 4:13).
Won’t you claim God’s healing today?
He desires to make you whole again.
He wants to clean your wounds.
He longs to erase the pain of the past and hand deliver a future, not filled with regret, but with hope.
Do you have a father wound? We want to help you know your heavenly Father in a deeper way through Lisa Burkhardt Worley’s new book, “The Only Father I Ever Knew: How a Fatherless Child Finally Found True Love.” Get your copy today on Amazon.com.