S71P2 – What God heals: the body

Matt. 10:1

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.  The young man in the video was just doing some street ministry and asking people if he could pray with them.  He was approached by an older gentleman who appeared as if he likely lived on the streets.  This gentleman asked for money to get something to eat, but the young man said he had none.  Instead, he offered to pray for the older gentleman’s leg since he was limping.  As the young man knelt and prayed while touching the gentleman’s knee, an amazing thing happened.  That old man with the downtrodden face lit up and almost began to smile.  He could feel his body healing, and he had no words.  When the prayer was over, he skipped down the street as if it were indeed a new day and completely forgot that he even had asked for money in the first place.

I wish I could say that I have felt the physical healing of God’s Spirit in me, but I have not.  I wish I could say that I have prayed for another’s healing and seen it manifest before my eyes, but I have not.  There are many reasons to have these wishes.  We certainly want to see God’s miraculous works before our very eyes.  We also want people who are physically afflicted as a result of the fall of mankind to be made whole. More than that, we should want those who do not know our Savior to have an encounter with his Spirit.  When I think about the look on that older gentleman’s face when his pain and his limp disappeared, I can only smile.  He had been so concerned about getting a few dollars, but that concern completely left him when the Spirit of God overtook him. It completely changed his world in a moment.

I used to think that God’s healing miracles occurred because his grace desires that people would be made physically whole.  Although I believe that is an obvious component of healing, there is something much greater in there.  God desires to touch us.  He wants us to experience him in a personal and intimate way in which we can experience no one else.  The moment of healing is really a moment in which God’s Spirit physically touches imperfect mankind and provides a sample of the greatness available in him.  That is the greater value of the physical healing.  Father, bless us with the opportunity to witness and experience your miraculous healing power, and allow us to use the miraculous to draw people toward You.