Part 8 - Matthew 8:16-17 - I Prayed For Her, Lord, And She Died! Why? Series

Part 8 - Matthew 8:16-17 - I PRAYED FOR HER, LORD, AND SHE DIED! WHY?

The children of a lady with cancer invited us to pray for her. We did and she gave her life to the Lord before she died. We prayed for her healing as well as for her to come to know Christ personally. The Lord answered only one of our prayers. When I took the funeral service we celebrated her life and her decision to come to Christ. It was a great time to witness to her family.

But Matthew 8:16-17 (NLT) says that when people came to Jesus, "HE HEALED ALL THE SICK. This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, "He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases." EVERYONE WAS HEALED!

DID JESUS DIE FOR OUR HEALING? The only answer that I can see in the Bible is YES! Is it for now? Yes! Will everybody be healed? No! What kind of answer is that? Truthful. Because Jesus chose to heal everyone who came to Him THEN doesn’t guarantee He chooses to do that today. That’s obvious. Not everyone is healed today. Why?

The best I can come up with is this - NOT EVERYONE WILL BE SAVED AND NOT EVERYONE WILL BE HEALED. Not everyone will receive eternal life and not everyone will have a full life. Some will die in war in horrible ways. Some will be murdered in terrible ways. Some will die of diseases such as AIDS and waste away. Some will die of starvation in inexcusable ways - not because God allows it, but because we do! So are you encouraged so far?

The Bible never says that God will intervene into every situation and fix it for us. But He does say that as Christians we can offer to others a taste of eternity and make a difference in this world. It says that this world is winding down, not up. It is not getting better, but worse. We are the "SALT" AND "LIGHT" (see notes on Matthew 5:13-14). We give the world opportunities to respond to Christ.

One day He will wrap things up. The earth as we know it will not exist. In the meantime, He allows us the opportunity to repent and come into right relationship with Him and do something of significance for Him.

Sometimes, I admit, I would like God to have stopped the murderer and rapist with a lightning bolt? When it concerns my sin, however, I have slightly different desires of God. I’d rather not be struck down, but I would love it if God would stop my sinful behaviour from taking it’s course? From any consequences.

I don’t want the Lord to mess with my mind so that I become God’s robot, but I don’t want to admit that I might be responsible for the mess the world is in either? Forgive me, Lord. I admit it! I am responsible! I have messed things up! And I do need You in my life to get things right! I do need a renewed mind, not a robotic one, so that I can make a difference for You. I like the way Ephesians 4:21-24 (NLT) puts it. "Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. (NASB says "be renewed in the spirit of your mind") Put on your new nature, created to be like God-truly righteous and holy."

It’s not about me and what I would like You to do, Lord. It’s about seeing things from Your point of view and choosing to come under Your authority, even when it comes to healing.

The Bible says that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. Does it mean I will not sin anymore? No! Hopefully I sin less but I am not sinless. Not yet anyway. Someone said it like this "I AM SAVED FROM SIN. I AM BEING SAVED FROM SIN. I WILL BE SAVED FROM SIN." All those statements are true. Yes Jesus dealt with my sin on the cross but the total realisation of that will take place in the future. He killed the root problem. The tree is still there and it still has bad fruit, but it’s dead and like the fruit, is beginning to rot. I like it less and less. One day the council worker will come and that tree will be gone forever and burned at the rubbish dump.

When Jesus died on the Cross, He defeated death itself! Am I still going to die? Yes! The total fulfilment of death’s defeat is in the future for me. I have eternal life but it doesn’t mean I won’t die physically (unless God chooses to take me like He did with Enoch. Genesis 5:23-24 (NLT) says "Enoch lived 365 years, walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.")