This quarter, we focus on healing in our weekly devotional series. This week’s devotional comes from Luke 20 through John 3.
It is amazing how many healings we have witnessed while ministering in the most unlikely places. We often say, “Whenever God begins revealing, He begins healing.”
We might be tempted to think that when Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple, it wasn’t a particularly good time for Him to heal. But leave it to Jesus to show us that we don’t have to wait until circumstances are perfect to minister to the sick. Matt. 21:12-14, a parallel passage to John 2, reads: “Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them” (Matt. 21:14, NKJV).
Jesus is always ready to meet the needs of those who are sick or in pain. He didn’t wait until all the money-changers’ tables were put in order. In fact, part of the temple may have been more like a smelly barnyard than a nice carpeted sanctuary.
After the healing, Matthew describes the indignation of the chief priests and scribes because of the “children crying out in the temple and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ” Jesus healed the sick in the midst of chaos, His anger over the proper use of the temple, and even the subsequent indignation of the chief priests and scribes.
Praying for the sick can happen in the midst of chaos, during a theological debate, in a barnyard, at the grocery store, at the mall, and especially at church.
Let’s be ready and expectant to obey the Holy Spirit whenever an opportunity arises to heal. Jesus has already authorized and empowered us to heal the sick and cast out demons—don’t wait, just obey Him and get ready to see the sick healed.
By: Sonja and John Decker, Foursquare teachers, authors, missionary evangelists and founders of Christ’s Ambassadors International and Ministry Training Centers based in Bend, Ore. You can find John’s newest book, Healing the Sick Like Jesus Did, here.
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