Living With Healing

To be healed by Jesus is a wonderful thing! I long to see more people across the world healed by Jesus and live in the new found freedom that His healing brings. Nobody in the whole world knows our heart more than Him who created us. And to know that He has heard our cry for healing and answered our prayer is one of the most amazing experiences in the world. I had this experience in September 1996 at an Ellel Ministries conference in Sydney, Australia. I had fallen 35 feet from a cliff and suffered crippling side effects for nearly 3 years. I had chronic pain, fatigue and depression. I was only able to work for 10 hours per week and living on a permanent disability pension. My future was filled with sadness and uncertainty, until that moment when I met face to face with Jesus, the Living Lord.

That night and the next morning I had one of the most intimate experiences I have ever had with Him. He was so close. It was like the intimacy of lovers, but even greater. He showed me how He knew my heart and how deeply He loved me. As He restored all the broken pieces within me and restored me to wholeness, my life was transformed!

Then I had to walk away from the conference and return to my home, to my everyday life. The experience I had had seemed to dissipate like smoke and I was left to decide how to live. Was I healed or not? Was it real or not? This is one of the challenges of receiving healing from Jesus. The experience goes, but does the healing remain? How can we make the healing remain? The paralytic man in Luke 5 who was healed by Jesus is a good example from Scripture of a man who had a challenge before him because he was healed. This man had a lifestyle choice to make. He had entered through the roof to meet Jesus and then he walked out the door of the house, his life changed. If he wanted to live with his healing he could no longer live on a mat and be carried around by his friends. He needed to work and live an independent life.

Such was the challenge I faced. But as I made that choice I cancelled my pension and started applying for full time work. I made the shift from dependence on others to independent living. Was that easy? No! Was it worth it? Yes! It was a step of faith that helped me to live with my healing and I believe it helped secure my healing. Had I remained on the disability pension I’m sure it would have been easy to slip back to living like I was before I was healed, and even lose my healing.

I want to encourage you today, if you’re in need of healing, to keep your heart set upon Jesus, the Healer, not just for what you want from Him, but because you love Him. Healing from Jesus is free, but also can come with a cost. The cost is the sacrifice of changing - changing your lifestyle, changing the way you think. This is what I had to do by cancelling the pension and working. There also comes the challenge of becoming a living testimony for Him amongst your family and friends, or maybe even to the world. After what Jesus did to restore my life there was nothing I would not do. So do you want to be healed?

Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank You that You love me so very much and You know every one of my needs, including my need for healing. I long to have an encounter with You. Please heal me and give me the courage to change, that I would live a life that brings You glory. In Your name, Amen.