Jesus the Healer

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Matthew 8:17

Mark 8 emphasizes Jesus as the Healer. A simple survey of the chapter yields these insights about how He heals:

• Jesus heals a leper - Emphasis: Jesus wills it so (Mark 8:1-4).
• Jesus heals a centurion’s servant - Emphasis: Jesus has authority at a distance (Mark 8:5-13).
• Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law - Emphasis: Jesus meets needs before we even ask (Mark 8:14-15).
• Jesus casts demons from many - Emphasis: Jesus fulfills scripture (Mark 8:16-17).
• Jesus calms a storm - Emphasis: Jesus commands the physical world (Mark 8:23-27).
• Jesus heals two demon-possessed men - Emphasis: Jesus commands the spiritual world (Mark 8:28-34)

Lord Jesus, 

You are the Great Healer. You have borne all our hurts, our sorrows, our pains, and our illnesses. You have the will to restore us and make us whole. You have all the authority so that nothing… not time, distance, our emotional responses, our fears, or any opposition can change what You will to do for us or what You will for us to be. You see the need we have before we even come to You. You fulfill all that has spoken in scripture concerning You. You command the forces of nature. You command even demons to flee from us.

There is nothing broken that you cannot fix. There is no distance You cannot by grace and power bridge. There is no evil stronger than Your power to command it to cease. My life then is Yours to heal. My broken relationships are Yours to renew. My anxious and weary heart is Yours to calm and mend. My oppressive circumstances are Yours to break. My storms are Yours to still. You are always my Healer!

Amen

From wicked to righteous

The wicked are estranged from the womb;

they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

Psalm 58:3

All people are born wicked. We are born in sin. From the womb we are sinners through and through. Our sin will lead our first steps astray. Our first words will be lies. That is our natural state. This is why we are answerable to a holy God before Whom we deserve to be cast in judgment. This is why we need Jesus to save us. All of us, each of us, every one of us is wicked at birth.

Scripture is clear that this lost condition is endemic to us all. And we are held accountable before a holy God. We are born into sin. We do sin. We need a Savior. None of us, born as we are in this desperate and depraved condition, have the capacity to please God or make amends for our wickedness. We remain estranged. We walk further away with each lie we speak, each disobedience we choose, each sin we selfishly commit in disregard of a holy God.

God judges wickedness. There are two methods for this. One is in a life that ends in eternal punishment by a just God. The other is in faith that trusts that Jesus bore that punishment for our wicked nature on the cross, and then rose from the dead that we might eternally live cleansed by His redeeming blood. And this is the “reward for the righteous” from the “God Who judges on earth” (Psalm 58:11). In Jesus we know the forgiveness for sin, the restoration of our estrangement, the righteousness that holds us close to a loving God, and the truth that erases all the lies! Praise Him for the way He turns the wicked to be His holy ones!

with all I am

Awake, my glory!

Awake, O harp and lyre!

I will awake the dawn!

Psalm 57:8

With all I am

I will praise You

With all my mind

I will seek You

With all my soul

I will worship You

With all my heart

I will love You

Glorious God You deserve

All I have

With all I am

I begin today

With all my mind

I take in the splendor of the dawn

With all my soul

I entrust my life to You

With all my heart

I will feel You near in glory

Saving God I am Yours

With all I am

far from sand

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

Matthew 7:26

Lord,

My prayer today is simple: Let me live solidly built on the rock secure foundation of hearing AND doing what You say. May Your authority not only pique my interest but also control my choices. May Your wisdom be more than a thought, but also in my actions. Will You please help me to do what You say?

Your own warning tells me that just because I read Your Word does not mean my life will be stable. Just because I say I am Christian is no guarantee. I must be a man who does what I say I believe, lives what I trust, and puts into practice what my Lord preaches.

The expectation from You, my Lord, is that saving faith is a living faith. This I know, my God. And I will seek to be among Your wise “doers” of all that You say!

Amen

lip service failure

And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Matthew 7:23

On a future day

some will say

     “Lord, Lord…”

Surprise declaration

of rejection:

“Depart from me!”

“Workers of iniquity!”

“You said what you do

but I never knew you!”

It isn’t enough

to say verbal stuff

if with the will of the Father

you never seem to bother.

Many can falsely claim

to believe in The Name

while living such a lie

will fail them when they die.

In the now

it has to be how

     Jesus is Lord.

Obedience shows

more than I know.

I seek to obey

what Word and Spirit say

“Well done!” I want to hear

from the Lord I love and fear.

careful inspection

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Matthew 7:18

Jesus began this section of the Sermon on the Mount with a warning against judgmentalism (see Matthew 7:1). Then he asks His followers to live by a clear criteria that cares about how others wish to be treated… the famous Golden Rule: “…whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them…” (Matthew 7:12). This is a standard by which we evaluate our actions and motives and a standard that people may use to evaluate Christians.

But Jesus does NOT teach that actions are neutral. He links what we do on the outside with who we are on the inside. He uses the analogy of fruit and tree to help us understand that nothing we do is motive-free. And the fruit shows the health of the tree. Jesus thus encourages analysis of the fruit… good fruit = good tree… bad fruit = bad tree. Discernment and judgment are to be practiced by Jesus’ guidelines. This is far different than judgmentalism where “my criteria” is the standard. In a context on this kind of careful inspection Jesus Himself called certain people “dogs” and “pigs” (Matthew 7:6) and warns that others might be false prophets (Matthew 7:15). He calls us to recognize fruit and make the determination ourselves (Matthew 7:16). Thus the command to “judge not” in Matthew 7:1 isn’t about making determinations, it is about being careful HOW we do so.

It is important to protect out hearts from the sin of judgmentalism. That means we realize that “how” we look at sin, starting first with ourselves, is key. We don’t forget our own real need to pull logs out of our own eyes first. We realize judgment begins with us and is God’s to do ultimately. We treat others with respect and love as we would want to be treated, wanting to repent of our own sin, and hoping our loving words can convince others to repent of theirs. Yet if bad fruit is clearly in evidence we have to recognize it for what it is. First in our own hearts… then in helping others get to the root of their own diseased tree and stunted fruit. It is wise to evaluate the fruit of our lives by Jesus’ standards.

thin path

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:14

O Keeper of the narrow gate I come to You today. I have chosen to follow You just as You have chosen for me to follow. And the path I have been on has been hard. There is more ahead that will be narrow and rugged. I look to You. I know this is the path of life, and I will hike it to the summit!

Some men tell lies about an easy way. They stand at a wide gate and convince a crowd that coming to You is about a gilded path of wealth and happiness, no sickness, no trials, and no difficulty. They walk a wide road to hell and destruction, all the while invoking lies and producing blindness. I’ll have none of that!

Give me the climb. Give me the steep rocks. Lead me through the canyons, into the valleys, across the raging waters, and up the cliff faces as necessary. The thin path strengths my trust in You, Jesus. And yet it is nothing like the road You took up Your hill, to die for me! You created this path to my life by Your dying. I will live on it even as it means I climb with difficulty and with desperate determination and purpose. When I am weary, be my Guide, O Holy Spirit. Be my hope, my Leader, and my companion, Lord Jesus. Urge me on, Father. I will hike with the few.

Amen