I Seek Jesus

"Whatever action I choose in faith, I am seeking Him. I seek Jesus."

"And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick." (Matthew 14:14)

IN MATTHEW 5, THERE ARE 3 incurable healings. In the first, Jesus was sent by the Father to cast demons out of a man in the Gadarenes. This was a mental healing. The man was seen by local residents afterward seated and in his right mind. No doctor of that day could heal what afflicted this man. It took the power of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus to cast the demon horde out. Notice, Jesus heals the mind, whether that is from possession, oppression, or other mental turmoil. Notice also, this man could not go to Jesus. Jesus came to Him.

Next, we see Jesus being asked to come and heal a man’s sick daughter. This father sought Jesus out, and Jesus went with him to the man’s house. Though the specific sickness is not stated, it took the girl’s life because we see Jesus raising her from the dead. This means her body had shut down entirely. Her heart was not pumping, her lungs were not breathing. Jesus spoke to her in the Spirit and commanded her spirit to return to her body, and she arose and walked. He told her parents to feed her, so she was then able to be hungry and to consume food. Notice, she was underage (12) and could not go to Jesus. Her parents sent for Him.

The third incurable healing was a woman who bled constantly. This made her unclean under Old Testament law. She wasn’t supposed to come into town and be around people. Yet, she sought Jesus out and touched His clothing without speaking to Him first. Her faith that the anointing of the Holy Spirit in Him would heal her caused her blood flow to stop. Notice, she didn’t come to Him with questions. She, in fact, did not speak to Him at all beforehand, but did what she needed to do, despite what people would have said to her, and as a result, she was healed.

Here are three different ways of healing. Jesus WENT TO the demoniac without being asked by him to come. Jesus WENT WITH the father after being asked to heal his daughter. Jesus was SOUGHT OUT by the woman without His knowledge. All three were healed. All three ways of healing were different.

There is another picture of healing in Mark 3. Jesus was in the synagogue and asked a man with a withered hand to stand forth. Knowing the religious leaders were standing there, waiting for Him to heal a man on the Sabbath day whereby they could accuse Him of doing wrong, He did not touch the man at all, but simply told him to stretch out his hand. When the man did as Jesus said, he was made whole. Notice, the man was at the synagogue. It does not say he was there because Jesus was there, though this could be. Notice, Jesus spoke to the man, He did not touch Him, and the man did not speak to Jesus beforehand.

In each of these 4 instances, one thing caused healing to come, Jesus’ compassion, His mercy. He came to earth to do the Father’s works and speak the Father’s words, so His compassion was the Father’s compassion on display. We must know this first. Compassion is at the heart of all healing. Then, we must know that though some had faith for healing, others did not, and some chose to believe only when they were spoken to. There was no formula for healing followed in any of these four cases, but they were very different.

The woman with the issue of blood had faith because she’d heard Jesus healed the sick. She believed in who He was. The leader of the synagogue approached Jesus because He’d heard Jesus would heal and, though he was told his daughter had died while they were on the way to his home, he chose to keep silent and believe. Both he and the woman found healing through faith in who Jesus was. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes from the Word of God. But simply hearing words and not taking them into the heart does not bring faith. Many others also heard Jesus speak but, having no ears to hear (REF), they didn’t have a revelation of who Jesus was as the Christ. Both the father of the girl and the woman with the issue of blood saw JESUS’ NATURE and believed in HIS CHARACTER.

Jesus is the Healer, the Holy Spirit is the power of the Resurrection that heals, and the Father is the compassion which brings healing. The man with the demon horde had no faith, had probably not heard of Jesus, and was entirely ignored by everyone. Jesus healed Him because of His great mercy. His mercy also healed the man with the withered hand, His wisdom caused Him to speak healing instead of laying His hands on him. We see this again in the story of the Roman Centurion. He asked for Jesus to “speak the word only” and said he knew his servant would be healed. Jesus called this “great faith.” But the centurion’s faith did not require the touch of Jesus’ hands. The man with the withered hand simply stretched forth his withered limb and it became whole.

What’s my point? Healing comes because God loves people and in His love is His everlasting mercy. He heals because He desires to heal. He LOVES to heal. We find healing when we have faith, but not in faith as a series of steps or even a good sermon we’ve heard, but we have faith because of WHO HE IS. Our faith is in His mercy, whether we touch His garment, whether we stand in a line and have hands laid on us, or whether He seeks us out. It is His compassion that we are reaching for. Healing comes because He is so good.

I can call on Him by faith and He will come to me right where I’m at. No touch is required. Or I can have hands laid on me by someone anointed to pray for the sick. But whatever action I choose in faith, I am seeking Him. I seek Jesus. Healing is not a check we take to the bank, but the personal touch of a loving Father who gave His all so He could see us healed. We must determine to grow in faith by hearing His Words. His Word heals our incorrect thinking. But in this, we see Jesus. We are healed because He is the Healer. That is who He is and what He does, and He loves us.

“And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.” (Mark 5:15)

“And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.” (Mark 5:23)

“And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years … When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.” (Mark 5:25, 27)

Image by Collette Hughes from Pixabay


----------
Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com