From Helpless To Healed

Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze? No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.

Job 6:12-13

The story is told of Dr. A. B. Simpson, preacher and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, who had extremely poor health. At only thirty-eight he had already experienced two nervous breakdowns and suffered from a serious heart condition. Doctors told him he would never live to see forty. Although he loved to preach God’s Word, it took grueling effort. Even climbing a flight of stairs left him breathless and faint.

Eventually this young man’s physical weakness and illness drove him to lose heart. Like Job, he felt utterly helpless with no chance of going on to do God’s work. Yet he believed the Bible, so he began searching for himself what it said about disease and healing. The more he read the Scriptures, the more he was certain that physical healing and restoration were a part of the gospel.

Soon after this realization, Simpson was taking a stroll in the country. Gasping for air, he could walk only a few steps before having to stop and rest. As he sat down on a log, he poured out his total physical helplessness to Christ and proclaimed that though he was weak and helpless, he still believed in God’s healing power. He then humbly asked the Lord Jesus to become his physical life, strength, and energy for everything his body needed to do until his work on earth was completed. A few days later, Simpson climbed a three-thousand-foot mountain, and when he reached the summit, joy unspeakable filled him. From that day on, he never felt exhausted. In the next three years, he preached more than a thousand sermons, at times delivering twenty messages in one week. In his seventy-six years, Simpson produced volumes of literary works and passionately preached the gospel—work that continues to have an impact on countless people today.

Lord, I am helpless in this area of my life: ___________. I need your empowering grace, healing, and health. We are inadequate, but you are more than adequate. We are weak, but you are strong! Hallelujah!

When we are powerless to do a thing, it is a great joy that we can come and step inside the ability of Jesus.

Corrie Ten Boom(1892–1983), Dutch author, speaker, and concentration camp survivor