Healing Power - The One Year At His Feet Devotional
Healing Power
Read: Luke 8:43-48
“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
Luke 8:48
“The same power that brought Christ back from the dead is operative in those who are Christ’s.”
—Leon Morris
IN WORD This is what we all desperately want to hear. We have a very limited and physical understanding of it; we want it to apply to all of our infirmities, especially the ills of our body. Jesus certainly doesn’t rule that out; He frequently heals physical diseases. But when He doesn’t heal ours, we tend to go to the opposite extreme, claiming that He doesn’t mean this physically at all. That’s wrong; the God of the Old Testament said He heals His people (Exodus 15:26), and He means it very concretely. This Jesus is the God of the Old Testament incarnate; He means it no less concretely.
In spite of this blessed awareness of the power of God to heal, we still know that it does not apply at all times and in all circumstances. Every human being since Jesus has gotten sick and died, without exception. Even those cultists who claim that their interpretation of Scripture precludes illness eventually get sick and die. It’s part of our fallenness in this world, and no matter how thoroughly Jesus has saved us, He never promises to perfect the body. He will resurrect it. That implies that it first must fall victim to the wages of sin.
What does His healing power mean to us, then? It does not mean that we forever avoid the decay that has befallen all mankind. It means that there is an ultimate answer to this problem. Sometimes we are given signs of it now—amazing, glorious signs of physical healing. Sometimes we die with the promise on our lips. Either way, the answer is sure. Jesus will heal.
IN DEED Yes, we are the walking wounded, it’s true. Sooner or later, all of us can relate. But there’s a Healer who walks with us. He means for us to depend on Him with everything that’s in us. He does not push us through this world simply to survive. He leads us that we might overcome. Hang on to that hope. Whether you see it today or not, His power does not fail. It cannot. Your faith has healed you, and it will always heal you. Live with His peace.
