Knowing God and experiencing his deep love in our hearts, not just having knowledge about him and his love in our minds, is one important way in which we grow in our relationship with him and how we receive healing.
Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus to have this deep knowledge and experience.
“[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him.” Ephesians 1:17 – The Amplified Bible
God wants you to have a deep spiritual awareness of his love and to experience his love in your heart. The source of this knowledge is God and the Holy Spirit is the channel through whom God reveals this to you deep in your mind and in your heart.
A secret to living – to experiencing – a full life on this side of heaven is to know God deeply and to experience God’s love. Spending regular quiet time with him is essential to growing in relationship with him. And, the quality of the time we spend with him is key as well. God invites us to quiet our mind and earnestly seek him and his presence. The posture of our heart during quiet time is also important. Being humble, contrite, meek, surrendered, dependent and expectant sets an atmosphere for us to sense his presence and experience him. Then, when we are like this, it’s more likely that we’ll have an encounter with the Holy Spirit and that God’s love is more likely to be felt in our hearts.
Are you yearning for a special touch from God? Do you need to experience the deep love he has for you in a personal way? I pray, as Paul prayed for the Ephesians, that you’ll set aside some time to be quiet with him. Be intentional with the inner posture of your heart as I described above. Earnestly invite God to reveal himself to you by the Holy Spirit. And then, just be with him.
As I was writing the last part of this post, this song below began to play. You may consider listening to it play softly as you sit quietly with God and experience his presence.
Almost 60% of American adults say they had difficult childhoods featuring abusive or troubled family members or parents who were absent due to separation or divorce. Nearly 9% say that while growing up they underwent five or more “adverse childhood experiences” ranging from verbal, physical or sexual abuse to family dysfunction such as domestic violence, drug or alcohol abuse, or the absence of a parent. This data was reported in the Dec 17th, 2010 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In the report, Dr. Lee M. Sanders, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine said that “There is a connection of these events to lifelong implications, not just for mental health for adults, but also for physical health.” Valerie J. Edwards, team lead for the Adverse Childhood Experiences Team at CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, says that a person who has several of these events is more likely to get cancer and heart disease. In the report, Edwards said. “This is serious and it’s not just a quirk of statistics. It’s a real relationship.”
The Faith and Health Link
As the experts have indicated, if left unaddressed, issues like these childhood traumas can likely affect one’s emotional health in adulthood. Over time, these emotional issues can affect one’s physical health. Deep-rooted emotions and beliefs associated with such trauma such as anxiety, resentment, shame, low self-worth, rejection and unforgiveness can play havoc with one’s endocrine, cardiovascular and immune system resulting in a host of chronic diseases.
In general, medical practitioners do not care for these issues of the soul that are at the root of these diseases. This is where faith in the healing power of God and his Son Jesus comes into play. Jesus’ compassion, love and power expressed through his followers and accompanied with prayer, can bring inner healing to the soul of these traumatized individuals. This inner soul healing then favors improved physical health.
The sooner a child or young adult can come to experience the deep love and healing power of God, through Jesus, the more likely they will not succumb to these long-term emotional and physical health problems. Healing and restoration is part of the life transformation that God desires that his children experience in this life on earth.
Such experiences of healing and improved personal wholeness can be a witness and encouragement to others of God’s love, grace and power. It can also enable healed these healed individuals to better give their life away in service to others. In all this, God receives glory.
It’s sad that the statistics in this report are what they are, but it’s Good News to know that God is still in the business of healing and restoration of his children. Our role as believers and followers of Christ is to be a conduit of this message and his love.
Related Scriptures
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22
A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones. Proverbs 14:30
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,because he has anointed meto proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisonersand recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19
He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” Mark 2:12
If you or a loved one are challenged by a mental illness you may want to visit this site at HopeandHealing.org for a listing of Christian resources on the topic.
“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 30:17
When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Matthew 9:10-12
This morning I visited a friend who is in the hospital the day after his surgery to remove his prostate. Mike and I were involved in a Bible study a few years ago. He was aware of my bout with prostate cancer over the the last few years so he called me several weeks ago when he learned about his positive biopsy and decision to have a da Vinci Prostatectomy. As was the case with me, early detection made all the difference in the world ensuring that his cancer was caught early on and had not spread to other organs. See these American Cancer Society guidelines.
Mike is doing well post surgery – praise God! This morning, he and I talked about the road that he’ll have ahead of him over the next few months. My prayer is that his next PSA test will be zero – an indication that there is no more cancer of that type – and that he will be spared the side effects of incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
Although none of us wants to go through really tough times and health challenges in our life, the fact is that life will brings us those types of challenges. It’s neat to be able to come out the other side and to be able to support someone who is facing the same challenges that you’d experienced and weathered.
Over the year plus that I was in my battle, I posted many blog entries about prostate cancer so others might benefit. If you’ve got a friend or you yourself have learned that you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, perhaps what I shared here over that year may be of help. Mike told me today that reading my posts were helpful for him.
I thought I’d also share again a short article I wrote about how my faith was an anchor in my battle with the cancer in hopes it might be encouraging to some.
Our life on this earth is short. Live yours to the fullest in a God-honoring way!
Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we can enjoy health, healing and salvation.
Long before it happened, the prophet Isaiah wrote that Jesus would be beaten and whipped so that we may be healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
In Matthew 27:26 we read that at the end of the trial that Jesus had with Pilate, Jesus was ordered to be flogged, or scourged, by the Roman soldiers. This verse in the New Living Translation says that the flogging occurred with a lead-tipped whip.
Yes, Jesus experienced horrific pain and suffering so that you and I can be healed. It is only by the stripes that He received during this terrible beating that we are able to experience any degree of true inner healing and, on occasion, physical healing.
This is one major way that God demonstrates His deep love for each of us. He knew that His Son would have to experience this type of death so that we could experience the resulting life of health and healing.
Thank you so much Jesus, for experiencing the death that you did so that I might have true life.
I recently completed the reading of Making Your Church a House of Healingby Michael Gemignani, M.S., PhD, JD. (Judson Press) Our church, Harrison United Methodist Church, is looking at ways that we can be more intentional about bringing about greater healing to members of our congregation. In that regard, reading this book has been timely.
The author does an excellent job of making a case that the local church should play a major role in bringing about healing of its members. I found that this book was laid out in a helpful manner as it addressed the role that an individual plays, the role that the church community plays, and the role that the leaders of the church play in the healing of individuals. The author is not only talks about physical healing but emotional and especially spiritual healing that all of us must experience to be able to live the complete and full life that God wants us to live.
One statement that the author writes as he makes the case for the church being a house of healing resonated with me. “If we find ourselves being healed, than our most ardent desire is that others be healed as well.” Similarly, another statement is so true – “We pray that the whole world will be aflame with the love of God.”
Leaders of churches who are considering going deeper to make healing more available to their congregation would find reading this book to be helpful.
In this scripture, Luke tells us of a woman who had been crippled for 18 years. Satan had been keeping her in “bondage” and because of this, she had been unable to stand up straight. But Jesus freed her… He healed her.
Perhaps this woman had held on to deep resentment and bitterness towards someone for a long, long time. Satan could have been telling her over the years that she should not forgive someone that hurt her. He could have told her that she was fully justified to have this mindset.
Medicine shows that when a person carries deep anger inside, it can actually eat away at our body. For some people this poison, in the form of unhealthy chemicals and acids, can attack their digestive system. Problems with the GI system can prevail. For others it can attack their joints and cause major joint problems, even severe arthritis. I suspect that most people don’t make the connection between this unresolved, deep inner stress and their health problems. Often, in an attempt to alleviate the problem, some turn to taking medications or elect surgery to correct the condition.
The Bible tells us of another way, through forgiveness. It’s not surprising that Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:23 that we should forgive others not seven times, but seventy times seven. He knows that if we carry a spirit of bitterness for a period of time that we will be adversely affected, to include in our bodies.
Do you have a health condition, perhaps like the woman in this week’s scripture, that might be affected by harboring some deep negative emotion? Search your heart. Ask God to help you go deep. If you do become aware of something, prayerfully ask Jesus to take it from you and to replace that anger with His love.
Jesus is still in the healing business. It can take many forms. Sometimes, all we have to do is believe in His healing power, and cry out to Him in the most genuine way possible. Then he’ll heal your hurting spirit and your body.
Have a great week!
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This is an excerpt from Joel Osteen’s book, Your Best Life Now that speaks to this week’s scripture with an example:
When I was growing up, we had a former Methodist Minister in our church. His hands were so crippled with arthritis, he could hardly use them. They looked as though thy had shriveled up and were deformed. He couldn’t open a car door. He couldn’t shake hands or anything like that. For as long as I’d known him, his hands had been that way.
But one day, he went to my Dad (the church minister) and showed him his hands – they were perfectly normal! He could move them like any of us, almost as though he had received a new set of hands.
My Dad was surprised, but so happy for him. He said, “Man, what in the world happened to you?” – “Well, it’s an Interesting story, the former minister said. “Several months ago, when you were talking about unforgiveness. You were speaking on how it keeps God’s power from operating in our lives, and how it Keeps our prayers from being answered. As I listened, I began to ask God to show me if I had any areas of unforgiveness and resentment in my life. And God began to deal with me. He brought to light several situations that had happened to me down through the years in which people had done me great wrong. I didn’t even know it, but I still had anger and resentment in my heart toward those people.
That’s the odd part – I didn’t realize I was carrying it around. But as soon as I saw it, I made a decision to forgive them and totally let it go. And then the most amazing thing began to happen. One by one, my fingers started straightening out. One week went by and this finger would get healed. The next week this finger. As I continued to search my heart and eliminate all that bitterness and resentment, God brought complete healing to me, and now look at my hands! I’m perfectly normal!”
Knowing God and experiencing his deep love in our hearts, not just having knowledge about him and his love in our minds, is one important way in which we grow in our relationship with him and how we receive healing.
Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we can enjoy health, healing and salvation.
I recently completed the reading of 
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