Dear beloved: As we approach the end of our fast, many of you should be feeling much better physically, that is to be expected as we know that Daniel and his friends fared much better at the end of the ten day test period than did the servants of the king who were eating the king's choice food. Daniel 1:15 And at the end of the ten days their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youth's who had been eating the king's choice food. v16 So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables. God cares about our physical bodies, and he wants our bodies to be healed and whole and ready for service in the Kingdom.
Psalm 103:2 Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget none of His benefits v3 who pardons all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases. And Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. ...and again in 1Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed...and again in James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; v15 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.
Jesus declares in Mark 16:18, that one of the hallmarks of us as believers is that ..".they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover". And again when Jesus sent out the disciples in Matthew 10:7, he told them " and as you go preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. v8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you received freely you give." So Jesus fully expected us to pray for healing not only for ourselves, but for others, and for us to receive the healing that he appropriated for us by His shed blood.
Healing is in the atonement, the shed blood of Jesus. In Mark 2 we see an interesting example. Mark 2:5 And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic "My son, your sins are forgiven. v6 but there were some of the scribes sitting there reasoning in their hearts, v7 why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone? v8 And immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? v9 which is easier to say to the paralytic" your sins are forgiven; or to say to the paralytic, Arise, take up your pallet and walk?" v10 but in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, He said to the paralytic, v11 "I say to you, rise, take up you pallet and go home". v12 And he arose immediately and took up his pallet and went home in the sight of all; so that they were all amazed and were gloryfying God,saying, "we have never seen anything like this." ...So Jesus said, it is all the same, forgiveness of sins, and healing of our bodies, minds, and soul. His blood does it all.
A few years ago I was in a remote part of Costa Rica ministering to the Cabecar indigenous people, and God put me in a situation to pray for the pastor of the village church who was very sick unto death. When we started to pray for him, he had no breath and no pulse (dead). We prayed in faith for about 20 minutes and God put His breath back into him, I saw it come in and raise up his chest and he began to breathe. The next morning the pastor was up at 5am (he had been in bed for several days) with the rest of us to pack up the horses and see us off. No trumpets or fanfare, just the power of God moving in our midst exactly the way he promises us in His word. Believe for healing, beloved, and you will be healed. May God bless you this day for healing, in Christ, Jim
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