Sermon Central
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Revive Us As Our Healer - Revive Us Part 5 Series
Contributed by Emile Wolfaardt on May 8, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: PowerPoint slides freely available by emailing Emile@Wolfaardt.com) Positioning ourselves where God can powerfully revive our hearts.
Revive Us - Part 5
Revive Us as Our Healer
This morning I want to provoke your thinking with the profound power of truth. Jesus says that you will "know the truth and the truth will set you free." How many of you know that if the truth is going to set you free you have to do more than hear it? That’s right. As a matter of fact, you have to do more than agree with it. You have to embrace it. You have to imbibe it. You have to embody it. Then it will set you free. I believe we are going to see some people set free this morning. Is anybody in the building ready for some ore freedom?
Please open your Bibles with me to the book of Exodus - and the 15th chapter. The title of our series is "Revive Us!" We are convinced that our walk with God can rise no higher than our knowledge of God, and that "Those who know Your name will put their trust in You." [Psalm 9:10]
Believing that knowing God is key to going deeper, we are looking at the names of God. So far we have explored together at Yahweh Ra’ah - Our Shepherd, Yahweh Tsid-Kenu - Our Righteousness, and Yahweh Jireh - Our Provider.
Are you ready with your Bibles open?
"I, the Lord, am your Healer."
Revive Us as Yahweh Rapha - The Lord our Healer.
The word Rapha means to restore to a place of wholeness, purity and blessing in mind body and soul.
Listen up folks - God wants to heal you! Let me say that again - God wants to heal you. One more time for emphasis - God wants to heal you. He wants you whole, pure and blessed. Where? In your mind, body and soul! Why? Because He is your Healer. He wants every one of His children whole, pure and blessed spiritually, emotionally and physically.
Some of you grew up, like me, being taught that either God no longer heals or that He may or may not want to heal - and you and I have just got to try harder and somehow see if it is His will or not. This morning I will show you from Scripture why that thinking is wrong. God wants to heal you, He always wants to heal you and He always wants to heal you now.
Healing is not only part of God’s nature, it is expressed in His promises, illustrated in His dealing and contained in His covenants.
When you pray for healing you do not need to say, "if it is Your will." You do not pray, "Lord, help me stop snorting heroin - if it is your will" or ‘Lord, help me stop looking at pornography - if it is your will." You only say ‘if it is Your will’ if you are not sure it is God’s will. Well I will show you from Scripture that it is God’s will to heal you - and He wants to heal you spiritually, emotionally and physically. He actually wants to do that. You don’t need to convince Him that it is good or right. I used to pray like God really didn’t want to heal - I had to somehow try to twist His arm - if I could prove that it was a good thing, or nab Him with a promise He would reluctantly concede. But here is what I have learned - prayer is not about overcoming God’s reluctance, but about laying hold of His willingness. God wants to heal you, He wants to heal you mind, body and spirit, and He wants to heal you now.
On what basis do I say that? On the basis that this mind, body and soul healing is based in the Atonement, demonstrated by Jesus, imitated by the Apostles and taught throughout Scripture.
1. Is There Healing in the Atonement?
Go with me to Isaiah 53 - I want to show you the biblical basis for what I am saying
Isaiah 53:4 ". . . our griefs He Himself bore" - The word griefs means sicknesses, weaknesses and diseases.
Isaiah 53:5 ". . . by His scourging we are healed." - this includes physical, emotional and spiritual healing.
Isaiah 53:10 "The Lord . . . put Him to grief." - That word ‘grief’ has a sense of sickness or illness about it. The Amplified version says, "He has put Him to grief and made Him sick."
2 Corinthians 5:21"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
In the same sense that Jesus became sin for us that we might be righteous, He also became diseased and sickness for us that we might be healed and made totally whole.
