A Day of New Beginnings. Part [10] 01/09/2024 (Evening thought)

Matthew 9:2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

[The Desire of Ages pp 823] Christ came to heal the sick, to proclaim deliverance to the captives of Satan. He knew that those who petitioned Him for help had brought disease upon themselves; yet He did not refuse to heal them. And when virtue from Christ entered into these poor souls, they were convicted of sin, and many were healed of their spiritual disease, as well as of their physical maladies. The gospel still possesses the same power, and why should we not witness the same results today?

This leads us to our fourth and final takeaway from the narrative of the man with the infirmity, who was healed by Jesus: [4] The warning against a relapse. The man in the story had brought adversities upon himself, as the natural result of wrong-doing, and it would be critically important for him not to fall into a relapse, by again indulging in the very same things that did him in originally.

 Whatever it was, that had caused the infirmity, the Bible does not say, but what it does say is that Christ found it necessary to go looking for the man to issue a personal caution, against relapsing into his former errors. And it came with a specific warning, that the second time around will be very much worse than at the first. Persons who desire healing, whether it be physical, or spiritual, will really need to understand the grave import of what Christ is saying to the man. Relapse, in and of itself, is never good, ask your doctors, and they will tell you.

2nd Peter 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

May God add His blessing to the study of His word. “Good night” and God bless!

A Day of New Beginnings. Part [9] 01/08/2024 (Morning thought)

1st Corinthians 6:19 What? know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? 20 For you are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's.

The man with the infirmity in this instance headed straight to church, even though he knew not that it was The Savior of the world who had healed him. In other words, he must have felt a natural gratitude to God in his heart, and as a result, he gravitated to the nearest church, not only to thank God but hopefully to continue the journey of complete recovery. Sadly, in our day, there are wannabe faith healers to be found, who only address the physical aspects of man’s well-being, and as a result the root cause and the spiritual aspects of the person’s problem are not addressed.

Thus, many faith healings are advertised for all who so desire, and persons attend these meetings, with no intention of making things right with God. Once the body is healed, many go right back to those old habits, both physical, and spiritual, which triggered the adverse consequences in the first place. In other words, persons take the husk, without the kernel and leave Jesus holding the proverbial bag of salvation, with no interest whatsoever in giving their lives entirely to Christ, so that He could do His good work within them, and save the entire person.

Whenever God may heal you and me, and any other person for that matter, the first thing we should do is to follow the infirm man’s lead, and head straight to the nearest true church, so that God could finish the great work He started, when He first healed the physical body. This is enjoined without doubt, in the following passages of Scripture.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

May The Lord add His blessing to the study of His word. God bless!