Matthew 9:22 "But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, 'Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.' And the woman was made well from that hour."
"If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." The Apostle Matthew revealed in verse 21 the thoughts of the dear lady who came behind Jesus that day. She had been ill for a long time, and had spent all she had while visiting physicians of the day. No one had helped, but she believed without any doubt that Jesus's inherent power could heal her. Amazing faith.
I personally have witnessed that faith. While visiting Iraq a few years ago, a woman brought her son to the hotel where we were staying because her son's eyesight was so poor. The boy's left eye was severely crossed and his vision in both eyes required glasses, and the pair she owned did not do the job. He could barely read large text. As we prayed for the son of this dear woman, it was evident that she believed God was going to answer our prayers. As we prayed the boy's left eye straightened. We continued to pray and the boy blinked several times and looked up with a smile on his face. We handed him a page of text in Arabic and asked him to read what he understood. He began to read without hesitation, and without his glasses. God had answered his mother's prayer of faith.
God can heal anyone of anything. He does, however, not always heal our physical body. But He will always provide grace to go on through physical body deformities, sickness or mental stress. We are reminded by Scripture (2 Corinthians 12) that the Apostle Paul requested in prayer three times that God remove the "thorn in the flesh" that was, as Paul said, a harassment to the body by Satan. God did not heal, or remove, this physical harassment, but answered Paul this: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
All of these Scriptures are precious to my wife and me at this time. We have learned in the last couple of weeks that my wife has cancer in both her upper gum and lower gum. Though she has never smoked and been meticulous with keeping her teeth clean, her weak immune system and other genetic weaknesses has left her body vulnerable to this particular cancer. We are now in a fight for her life, with the one and only resource available to us to combat this need: Faith in God.
We trust God and know absolutely that He can heal her completely. We trust God and know that He can heal her through the medical resources God enables us to use. And we trust God that He can choose to heal her with a "thorn in the flesh" as a reminder of His grace. We also trust God that He can heal her completely by taking her to heaven to be with Him. Of course, our choice is complete earthly healing, and we are asking Him for that, and most likely more than three times. Whatever His answer, we trust God!
What God does among us is always for His glory. It is always that Christians must bathe in His glory and grace through whatever earthly trial He permits us to walk, so that those who know not Christ will see Christ in us, and want Him in their life as well. Pray for us that we will indeed, bathe in the Glory and Grace of Christ that others may know Him. We thank you for your prayers.
•••
Editor's note: Jim Duncan is the pastor of Mountain Bible Church, Mountain, Mo. He may be contacted at P.O. Box 146, Pea Ridge, AR 72751; or by telephone at 417-341-8504; by e-mail at [email protected]. His Web site is www.jamesduncan-writer.net.
Religion on 03/05/2014