The Faithful and Sensible Steward: Healing the Brokenhearted

"And the Lord said, 'Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.'" Luke 12: 42-43 NASB

We've spent the last few days on these two verses. Just as the Army is "looking for a few good men," Jesus is looking  for faithful and sensible servants. (Click the links to read the previous posts in this series.) Yesterday, we learned that "giving rations" is a little like "feed my sheep." Doing the will of the Father was nourishment to Jesus and it should be to us, as well.

Jesus used an interesting word, therapeia, translated as "of his servants". It indicates care or attention for those in the household. The same word is also used to indicate healing. It's used in Rev 22:2 and translated as "healing", found in the leaves of the trees. 

In a way, the Lord looks for the faithful and sensible steward so that they can provide therapeia, care and healing, for others. Positions in the kingdom of God involve more than giving a moving speech or collecting an offering. Authority in the Kingdom of God (even as a steward) has healing and growth as its objective. 

If we are serving God, we should be helping others live a life of obedience and helping the brokenhearted find healing in Christ alone. 

To help others live obediently we must first live obediently ourselves.

To help the brokenhearted find healing, we must first find our own healing in Christ alone.

At last we've come to the thing that must be done. We, the followers of Christ, must first turn to Him for healing of our fractured, hurting hearts. When we allow Him to peel back the layers of hurt, the decades of injury (big and small), and apply the divine poultice of His love and grace, it changes everything. 

He reveals our weakness and becomes our strength. 

He uncovers our pain and becomes our comfort. 

He removes our fears and becomes our hope.

Who wants their weakness, pain, and fear uncovered? I do. Sounds crazy, I know, but it is only with the divine uncovering that I can know the depths of His strength, comfort, and hope. 

Allowing Christ's gentle fingers to touch my hurting spots is a delicious agony that brings the greatest joy, the sweetest peace, the most overwhelming love. 

This divine love story is worth the risk. Worth the pain. Worth the cost. Once we've embraced His love story, He equips us to help others in their search for healing, for we know the Healer.

When we know the delight of being healed, being whole, we will no longer willingly settle for unnecessary pain.

Our Lord is not seeking for wounded followers who refuse to be made whole. He's looking for disciples who will follow Him. Follow to healing. Follow to service.

Let's not stop short. Let's invite Him into our pain, into our struggle, and allow Him to do the unimaginable in our lives. Let's allow him to heal. Every single hurt.

~~~~~~~

Our Father, we bring your our broken, hurting hearts and invite you to uncover, snip away the rottenness, and heal our wounds. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Teach us to pray, part 63: The Manifestation of Healing

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" (Luke 11:13 NASB)

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:7- 9 NASB 

*** As a physician myself, I feel compelled to insert this caveat. I am not recommending that we should abandon all medical treatment. I am not recommended that we should only pray and not seek medical care. Please do not use this post as an opportunity to stop taking medication that has been prescribed for your medical problems. Please do not use this post as an excuse to avoid seeking medical care.***

--------

Today, we continue our study of the manifestations of the Spirit in the lives of believers by looking at the manifestation of healing. In our society, there is a tendency to think that all physicians have the "gift" of healing and that only physicians have the spiritual gift of healing, but this is not the case at all. One of the best surgeons I know readily admits that he has the gift of hospitality, not healing. (Healing is not my spiritual gift, either.) This manifestation of the Spirit in the form of healing is not the ability to learn a vast store of medical knowledge, understand the workings of the human body, recognize its disease state, and choose appropriate treatment, although God can and does work through this knowledge.

The manifestation of healing is also not a divine treatment that brings a measure of improvement or controls a physical problem with a medication. In this verse, the manifestation of the Spirit is "a healing", a divine resolution of the physical problem. When Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood, she received a divinely imparted healing, as did the lame, the blind, the deaf that He healed. That same risen Lord, working through the Holy Spirit, still heals.

Why, then, do we not see more healings? Let's read what James has written. 

Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. (James 5:14-16 NASB)

In this passage, the Scripture is very clear. Is anyone sick?  Confess our sins, pray for one another. Call for the elders to pray over them. 

These verses give some very clear steps in the process of seeking a divine healing. First and foremost is the recognition of sin in our own lives, without which we cannot confess it, repent of it, or relinquish it. A request is to be made of the elders of the church and they are to pray over the sick person and anoint them with oil. Because Jesus said that some things only come out by prayer and fasting, the discipline of fasting should be a part of any search for healing.

More than a decade ago, a woman came to see me for a significant problem of her lower legs due to venous disease. She had first taken her physical need to the elders at her church. She had confessed, they had prayed and fasted, but she had not experienced the healing she expected. Instead, one of the  elders had recommended that she make an appointment with me. The elders committed to pray for us both, and they did. The problem was clear, treatment was instituted, and the problem resolved. She was fitted with compression stockings which she wore with excellent control of her problem and very rare exacerbation. In this case, her acute problem was healed, but not at all in the way she expected. It was still a divine intervention, and resulted in her underlying problem being controlled.

A ministry I deeply respect had an intense prayer time recently, (preceded by a time of fasting). They reported that a man who required a cane even to walk with difficulty was there and requested prayer. He was healed and able to walk with no difficulty afterwards. He experienced a divine intervention and dramatic healing.

Many years ago, I had an overwhelming problem with headaches. When medical treatment failed to improve the condition, I requested a "healing service". I agonized at length before asking for a healing service, mostly because of pride and fear. It seemed unprofessional and irresponsible to seek a divine healing, rather than a medical one, and I held back for months. Finally, I requested the healing service and I was healed. 

When I fractured my finger, shattering the bone, I prayed nonstop and went for an x-ray. I did not have a healing service before surgery (I still wish I had) but, when the post-op healing did not go as hoped, members of a local church (not my own) prayed for my hand. In the end, the problem was resolved.

I've written more words than I intended trying to make the manifestation of the Spirit through healing clear while balancing my profession of medicine. The take-away point here is that God still heals. When we are healed, it is always a divine intervention. In places where medical care is less readily available, divine healing is seen more often, probably because it is requested more often. Healing is no less available in this country than in the "third world" countries. Our lack of miraculous healing may simply be due to the failure to ask for it. 

Do we want healing? Scripture says it begins with humbling ourselves, confessing and repenting of our sins, and requesting the prayers of our elders, who are to not only pray but anoint us with oil and pray with expectation that God will move. The decision to request that healing is ours to make. When we are willing to confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) We can count on spiritual healing every time we humble ourselves and ask for healing. The decision to heal physically belongs to God alone, but it is more common than we think. 

Do you long to experience the manifestation of the Spirit through healing? Scripture is clear. The possibility of healing begins with one step. Just ask. 

Teach us to pray, part 16: Jehovah Rapha and the quest for healing

And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 'Give us each day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" (Luke 11:2-4 NASB)

(Note: This is not what I intended to write, but I've left it to stand because it is true.)

Jehovah Rapha'

We began a look at Jehovah Rapha, the Lord Who Heals, in the previous post. As we discussed, Jehovah Rapha is the Healer of wounded bodies, distressed land, and overwhelming illness. It is easy for us to believe that God healed in Bible stories, but there is a tendency to assume that He no longer heals today. If He is "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (and He is), then God still heals. He does still heal, and I know that because I have been healed and have seen others who have been healed.

James 5 has some important information about the subject of healing, and it is worth a closer look.

"Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray.

Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.

Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, 

and pray for one another so that you may be healed. 

James 5:13-16 NASB

I'm not sure how much clearer this could be written. The first point that must be understood is that James was not writing to the world at large. He was writing to "the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad", the church of Jesus Christ. This letter was written to people who believed in Christ, many (but not all) of whom had been persecuted and had left their homes as a result of that persecution. He was writing to people who had done more than walk an aisle, join a church, or experience baptism. James was writing to people who had an ongoing, personal relationship with the risen Lord and were empowered by the Holy Spirit. He was writing to disciples, and, were we describing them today, we might call them fanatics.  

This business of healing requires some obedience on the part of the elders in the church as well as on the part of the sick person. Don't forget that Jesus said some things can only come out by prayer and fasting. Not only do the elders need to be obedient in prayer and anointing, but they likely need to be obedient in fasting, as well. In addition, the prayer that is offered must be "in faith". The elders who pray for healing have to actually believe that God can and will heal.

The person who is sick is not without responsibility, either. First, by the intended recipient of his letter, we know that James was speaking only to disciples of Christ. Second, the person who wants healing must "call for the elders" and submit himself/herself to the authority of the elders in his church. 

Now comes the hard part. Confession of sins. This is not describing a general confession of ourselves as sinners saved by grace. "Confession of your sins" is confession of specific sins and specifically asking for forgiveness. It requires repentance and a desire to be done with the sin. I admit that I don't love confessing my sins to other people. I'd rather just tell God and let Him deal with me, because I know His grace and I know I can trust Him. Other people? I'm not always so sure about them. The problem comes when I read this scripture. 

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed." James 5:16. 

It appears that, If I want the "so you may be healed" part, I have to be obedient to the "confess and pray" parts. Although confessing my sin to someone else is hard, there are times when confessing my sin is easier than the "praying for one another" part. James did not say to pray only for those people who please me, like me, or enjoy my company, nor did he say to pray for only those people whose company I enjoy. He simply wrote, "pray for one another," and (according to Jesus) that includes praying for our enemies. 

There is also an interesting point about this section of Scripture that we don't often seem to notice. When we do what is said, the result is that the one who is sick is restored, the Lord "raises up" the one who is sick, and our sins are forgiven. What about healing? That happens, too, but sometimes, the restoring of relationships and forgiveness of our sins are the parts that are most important and pressing to God. 

This is outrageous, and I admit it, but there are times when I just want God to heal someone. Maybe you feel like that, too. I don't want to worry about their sin, or about restored relationships. Just heal the sickness! How unlike God that attitude is! God was concerned enough about our sin that He sacrificed Himself on the cross to cleanse us from it. Dealing with sin is always going to be a priority for God, and it should be for me, as well.  

You may be wondering, "What about healing?" That is possible, too. Does it happen every time we pray for someone? Yes. Sometimes they are physically healed in this world, and sometimes their healing is delayed until they enter eternity. Why? We often want to ask why God doesn't give us what we want when we want it, and I don't have the answer to that. He is God, and I am not. 

Jehovah Rapha is still in the healing business and if we are sick and in need of healing, we should do exactly what James says. We should ask God for healing. Sometimes, we will have physical healing this side of heaven, but even when we do not, the restoration of fractured relationships and forgiveness of our sins makes it worth the asking. 

How do we hallow, or honor, the name of Jehovah Rapha? We turn to our Healer when we, or those we love, need to be healed, and we do it exactly as Scripture has said, confident that the One who Heals, still does exactly that.

(tomorrow we will look at the healing of the brokenhearted)