Today I visited the dentist for a hole in my tooth and because it was a root drilling, he had to numb it (it was numb for about 4 hours). I left the dentist and started walking home. It didn't take long for me to realise that the right side of my jaw was literally paralysed. I couldn't move it or feel it at all. I tried drinking from a can (red bull, I might add), and it just spilled out the side of my mouth. So I decided that was a bad idea. I then got a text from my best girl mate, and smiled. That was when i realised that in front of the traffic passing, I had started dribbling. It was a bit awkward to say the least.
This event got me thinking about the paralysed man in The Gospel of Luke.
Chapter 5:
18 Some men came carrying a paralysed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
There's something I would like to point out - it was their faith that made him healed. God doesn't just heal every Tom, Dick and Harry (or anyone with any other names) based on them asking. Faith is essential. In the book of James, it confirms this.
Chapter 5:
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Notice how similar these two verses are. I don't mean they're both in Chapter 5 (although they
are). I'm talking about in both cases it mentions Sins Being Forgiven in relevance to Healing. It also has the key factor I'm talking about, which is Faith.
So, let's move on - say we accept that it is faith that we need, then why is there so little healing in this day and age? The reason behind this is a lack of faith. You know God Can, You Know God is Able, but do You Know God Will Do It For You?
You can Hope all you want to but Hope isn't actually Faith. Before you all think it, there is a verse in Hebrews 1 (1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen). But Hope and Faith are not the same thing. You have to Believe you have it when you pray.
Mark 11 - 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Awesome. Now I'll move onto Lack of Faith. People don't like to admit they have little faith (but I'll be honest and say I may be guilty of this). Let me explain how this happens. It starts with your attitude. If on a Sunday morning you literally have to drag yourself to church, then there's a problem. You don't want to be there. You won't be paying attention to the sermon.
Romans 10 - 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Note how it doesn't say reading, it says Hearing.
Whether that is confessing out loud, or hearing others quote it, it's still hearing.
You can't agree with a bible verse based on someone saying it, you have to read it to check it is there and they have interpreted it correctly. So let's take the next step as Reading your bible. You can Read your bible every day but if you're not Hearing the word of God, you won't build up your faith. You'll just build up your head knowledge.
Head knowledge is spoken about in The Bible. In Hosea 4, it states, 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
So you need knowledge as well as hearing, get reading. I like the word DESTROYED in this sentence. Take it in the context of healing as I'm talking about that. If you Destroy something, it's all gone. Ruined. If you destroy a building, you demolish it. If you destroy a person, you demolish them (aka kill them).
So if you're Destroyed for a lack of knowledge - If you have no knowledge, have no faith, and therefore you die, as you haven't the faith for your healing.
But, here's something I will point out. Those people who run up for prayer for healing every Sunday, every time the opportunity arises, might not have faith but might just get healed. This is the same for the guy/girl who you meet in the street, and pray for healing. Do You Have The Faith For It?
See, If you look to my first Bible reference (Luke 5v15). Jesus saw "their" faith. He didn't see "His" faith (the paralysed guy). He saw the guy's friend's faith. - and so the paralysed man strolled out the room. I'm not saying the paralysed guy didn't have faith. I'm just saying that it doesn't state his faith made him healed.
Finally, some people say "That's not my ministry" or "I couldn't pray for healing".
Let me remind you of 2 verses.
Firstly, In Matthew 17 - 20 He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’
That's amazing. A mustard seed is less than half a cm big and if you have Faith that big, you can move Mount Snowden, should you want to. Also he said "Nothing will be impossible". He didn't say Most Things Won't Be Impossible. He basically says, you can do ANYTHING with faith that big. Imagine if your faith was bigger than that ;)
Secondly, in John 14 - 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus even says it twice, in case you didn't understand it the first time. ANYTHING you ask in his name (believing) he will do it. That's an awesome promise and one to always remember. He also says WHOEVER believes in him will do Greater things than he did. He doesn't say "whoever believes in me will do greater things than me, as long as it's his/her's ministry". That's Anyone who believes in him will do bigger things than him. He raised the dead, he walked on water. You can do greater than that!
That's a thought to leave you with. Remember to read your bible. Get a good night's kip before church on Sunday and Listen to the preacher.
Be Blessed, x
