The bible contains many accounts of Jesus healing the sick. One of them involves a leper who boldly approached The Lord after He had just finished preaching the sermon on the mount…
Matthew 8:1-4
When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Today, I just want to share with you some revelations from this man's short but powerful life-changing encounter with Jesus that are going to bless you abundantly…
Notice I used the word BOLDLY to describe the leper's action. Indeed, at a time where everybody was still living under the Law of Moses, the leper could have been stoned to death for appearing in public while being “ceremonially unclean”.
What this means is that he was actually risking his life just so he could appear in front of The Lord to request for His healing!
Imagine what must have been going through the leper's mind… If he had been focused on all the terrible things that the crowd and the religious leaders of the day would do to him or how they would perceive him (Leprosy is a terrible disease and he must have been disfigured), he would never have dared to approach Jesus. Instead, he was focused on the saving power of Jesus…
Beloved, today, are you focused on your fears, your doubts, your anxieties, your challenges, your insecurities etc. or are you focused on Jesus?
As you can see, when you focus on Jesus, your fears dissipates! (1 John 4:18)
Now, it's clear from the leper's request that he was confident that the Lord COULD heal him. He probably heard about all the miracles that Jesus had already performed and that strengthened his faith that the Lord is able (This is why I encourage you to study the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as they will only strengthen your faith)
The only problem was he wasn't sure if Jesus WOULD heal him.
I can only imagine that the devil must have planted awful thoughts of self-condemnation in the leper's mind such as “I am such a rotten sinner… I don't deserve to be healed/happy… I know the Lord is able to heal me… but I've done so many terrible, shameful things… and I'm pretty sure he knows all about it… why then would he still be willing to help a wretch like me?”
Beloved, if you find any of those thoughts familiar, you're not alone. They are just weapons of spiritual warfare used by the enemy to get you to focus on your own inadequacies rather than on your Savior's loving grace.
I want you to focus on the facts… I want you to look at Jesus' response…
Matthew 8:3
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Jesus was not only able and willing to heal the leper, He did it with such compassion. We know from other scriptures such as the account of the centurion's servant (Luke 7:1-10) that Jesus operates outside time and space and is capable of healing from a great distance. Touching was not actually necessary but why did He do that?
Because The Lord wanted to restore the leper completely.
In that day and age, as soon as you're diagnosed with leprosy, you're immediately exiled from your community. The leper must have experienced intense feelings of loneliness and depression and felt extremely unloved. It must have been a long time since anyone even got anywhere remotely close to him.
Jesus' touch was a touch of love.
We also know from the book of Leviticus that if you're clean and you touch anything/anyone unclean, you become unclean. When Jesus came, he reversed everything. Jesus (clean) touched the leper (unclean) and the leper became clean!
Beloved, I just want you to know that God loves you. Whatever challenge you're facing today, be it loneliness, depression, a pain in your body, a heartache, or a financial difficulty, you can come boldly unto His throne of Grace to receive His mercy and find grace to find you in your time of need… (Hebrews 4:16)
God is not only able, He is willing to save you, to heal you, to deliver you! All you have to do is believe and receive…
Type Amen (in the comments below) If You Believe And Receive…
Give Praise to our Beautiful and Loving Savior… Hallelujah!
To Your Success,
Yee Shun-Jian
Founder and Chief Happiness Officer,
101PowerfulAffirmations.com
P.S. Please share this (via the facebook share button) with anyone who is in need of this message today. I trust that you've been BLESSED =)
