Today’s Scripture: For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Acts 17:28).
Confession: In him I live . . . and move . . . and exist in power. In him I live a rich and satisfying life! I am his child. I am God’s property. I am his representative. What a vast storehouse of power he placed in me! In Christ my Savior and Lord I have life . . . energy . . . healing . . . and strength for impossible tasks!
The Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
COVID-19: In the world today, disease and sickness are claiming a terrible toll on human lives. In spite of the fact that medical science is demonstrating its greatest achievements, disease persists to ravage human lives all over the world.
The tragedy is that these sicknesses and diseases affect the bodies of thousands of people, while too many stand by with little more than words of sympanthy and pity, assuring the sufferer that it must be God’s will; that it will work out for the best; that God is teaching us some lessson in humity; that possibly it is God’s chastisement; or that by it, we are being drawn closer to him who often works his will in our lives through sickness. These are lies.
We Christians do not have to be sick, any more than we need to be sinful. It is always God’s desire to heal us, which is why we stand with our doctors, nurses, and anyone else who is fighting sickness and disease. God wants us well, and he uses a variety of tools to help us be better off. In Heaven, there is no sickness or disease, so when we pray, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven, we could use my paraphrase, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in our earthen vessels as it is in Heaven.
Scriptures on Healing
Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant (Hebrews 9:14-15).
My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins – and not only our sins but the sins fo all the world (1 John 1-2).
Note: There is no better way to know the will of God than by reading the gospels, which record the teachings and the works of Christ. Jesus was the physical expression of the Father’s will. His life was both a revelation and a manifestation of the unchanging love and will of God. He acted out the will of God for all of us to see.
Then I (Jesus) said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God – as is written about me in the Scriptures (Hebrews 10:7).
For I (Jesus) have come down from Heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will (John 6:38).
Note: After a three year study by a commission appointed by the Episcopalian Church, they reported:
“The healing of Jesus was done as a revelation of God’s will for humanity. . . No longer can the church pray for the sick with that faith-destroying phrase, If it be your will.”
Only one place in the Bible was Jesus ever asked if it was his will to heal. In Mark 1:40-41 the Bible says,
A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. ‘If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,’ he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he said, ‘Be healed!
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Pastor Ted Haggard, DD, CHBC, is a Bible teacher with an emphasis on New Testament solutions to the human condition. His Bible teaching is informed by biblical scholarship, Choice Theory (Glasser), Attachment Theory (Johnson), and Behavioral Studies using DISC (Rohm).
This and other blogs by Pastor Ted Haggard are available at http://www.tedhaggardblog.com as a ministry of St. James Church. If you would like to strengthen the ministry of St. James Church and Pastor Ted Haggard by giving, please use the “give” tab at http://www.saintjameschurch.com.