Healer

Over the next few weeks I want to share some keys to healing that can help us connect with God's mercy, grace and renewal.  People are hurting.  Obsessions, addictions, conditions, confusion ... on Thursday's we call them hurts, habits and hang-ups ... all happen in our midst.  Whether it is physical or mental illness or whether we label it as a specific condition, it happens to all of us.  So, I want to spend a sermon series talking about some Biblical ways Jesus approached healing (both physical and spiritual).  Maybe Jesus' actions can help us as we try to get out of God's way and let Him do what He does best ... heal His people.

I think this series is important for a number of reasons.  The biggest reason is that I see people in my sphere of friends, family and congregants who have experienced issues with physical and mental health, either personally or within their personal connections.  We find it easy to understand physical illness.  People get sick, have accidents and find what John Wesley called, infirmity.  We find it less easy to deal with mental and spiritual issues.  A friend gets caught up in our divisive politics and changes from a generous, positive servant to an angry, isolated and fearful activist.  Another friend drifts in and out of church connection, struggling with depression and chronic fatigue.  A promising young man commits suicide.  A hungry-for-truth Christian becomes obsessed with online prophecy videos and forgets the unveiled hope of God's revelation.  And I could go on and on.  What do we do?

We invest in the wholeness and the truth of God's Word.  So, what were the hallmarks of Jesus' ability to heal?  Jesus healed the blind, the demon possessed, the physically sick, and even some who were caught up in obsessions like greed.  How did He do it?

This week we will start with one thing that seems to accompany many of the instances of Jesus healing people.  In the story of blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), Jesus encounters a blind man who is shouting, "Son of David, have mercy on me."  Jesus asks Bartimaeus one simple question ... "What do you want me to do for you?"  Bartimaeus responds, "Rabbi, I want to see."  Lesson 1 has 3 parts ... 1) God is merciful, 2) God wants to heal us, 3) We must want God's healing more than anything else, including self.  God is merciful (Psalm 145:8-9) ... "His tender mercies are over all His works."  God wants to heal us (2 Kings 20:5) "I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you!"  We (or those who love us) must want and seek God's healing on God's terms.  Jesus tells Bartimaeus, "Go ... your faith has healed you."  And God's word says something remarkable about Bartimaeus' actions after he is healed ... he "followed Jesus down the road."

The times in my life when God has healed my hurts, my obsessions and my addictions are the times when I have come to God with nothing but a plea.  I have had to become empty of self.  I have had to place myself into the powerful, gentle and sometimes painful hands of God.  And I have had to leave it all there with Him.  For me, to stay inside His healing, I had to follow Him down the road.

God is merciful.  God wants to heal us.  We must want God's healing more than anything else.