Jesus came to provide both bodily and spiritual healing:
Have you ever been sick or do you know anyone who is sick? Well, in Mark Chapter 2, verses 1-12, there is a story of a man who was paralyzed by sickness. He was too paralyzed to stand, walk or sit. He was bed- ridden, and he could no longer take care of himself. The scriptures tell us that this paralytic man, was brought to Jesus by four men on a stretcher.
The story goes as follows:
“1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
6 But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”
Due to the crowd, the four men could not get the paralyzed man to Jesus. The house in which Jesus was, was full beyond capacity. However, these four men, who had most likely walked several miles bearing the dead weight of their invalid friend, were not about to be deterred to get him to Jesus, by lack of room in the house. They took a calculated risk, unroofed part of the house, and lowered the stretcher with the paralytic man into the house. Verse 5 states “When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Can you put yourself in the shoes of these men for a moment? They had risked everything to get their friend to Jesus. When against all odds, they finally got him to Jesus, Jesus momentarily ignores the obvious and addresses the not so obvious, the spiritual condition of the paralytic, by saying “…. Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” The four men are probably thinking, “misdiagnosis”. However, Jesus identified a deeper rooted and far dangerous problem in this man, than the man’s physical disability, his spiritually dead spirit. Satan works outside in, God works inside out. You may say, “how do you know that?” In the Garden of Eden, Satan drew man’s attention to the fruit on tree, God had forbidden man to eat of; “6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Genesis 3:6. On the contrary, God begins his work by focusing on what is on the inside of man; “ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees;[a]for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”’ I Samuel 16:7.
When Jesus pardoned the paralytic’s sin, the religious order of the day became upset with Him. They said “ Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?” But Jesus’ next move was to leave them utterly amazed; “…. (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”’. Jesus clearly demonstrated that sin and sickness are evil twin brothers, and they are to be addressed in the same transaction. Jesus could have said to the four men, “carry the paralytic man home, after all his sins are forgiven”. No sir. Jesus came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. Jesus took both our sins and sickness on his body on Calvary. Matthew 8:15-17 records “16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Please note that Jesus carried both our infirmities (sins) and sicknesses in his own body on Calvary.
Please Check my next blog for the continuation of this message.
Model Prayer: Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord. I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. Dear Jesus, come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. I am sorry for my sins, and I ask you to forgive me, wash me with your blood, and give me your Holy Spirit to teach and guide me. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
If you believed and prayed the above prayer, you are now a born again child of God.
I would love to hear from you and will be more than glad to be of further spiritual assistance. Feel free to email me at: info@heavenlyspringschurch.org
Please use the button at the bottom of this article to share it with your social media friends.
Authored by: Pastor Godfrey Twahirwa
Thank you for visiting Heavenly Springs Church Blogsite. I hope that you subscribe to this Blog.
Please visit our regular website at: http://www.heavenlyspringschurch.org’. You can also access more of our free resources on YouTube by typing in “heavenly springs church” as a key word.
This article can be distributed, printed copied, and stored, without a need to secure written permission from the author provided it remains unaltered, is not sold, and credit is given to the author.
Note: Unless otherwise indicated all the scriptures used are from the King James Version of the bible.