Life Can Hurt But God Can Heal Series

[2] Life can really hurt sometimes, can’t it? Whether it’s something we bring on ourselves or it’s something that just happens, theirs times when life really hurts.

[Lucy’s hand, Kenny’s business, dad’s daughters stories.]

At times, life can really hurt. But even though we know that life can sometimes be a painful struggle, we also know that there is help for the pain. [3] Life can hurt but God can heal! He can! God can do amazing things in our lives and heal us from our hurts.

All through the Scriptures we see example after example of God miraculously healing someone from their physical ailments. And probably most of us here could attest to seeing someone we know and care about who’s been miraculously healed from their physical ailment. We’ve read about healings and we’ve seen them with our own eyes.

But you know what? I think that many times we miss the point of the miracles that God has done. We seem to think that the miracle was just about freeing someone of their physical discomfort. But we need to understand that when God works a miracle of physical healing it’s mostly to present a picture of spiritual healing. When God works a miracle of physical healing it’s mostly to present a picture of spiritual healing.

We know this to be true for several reasons. First of all physical healings are selective. Not everyone gets healed of their physical problems. The Apostle Paul himself said that several times he asked the Lord to heal him of his disease but the Lord kept saying “no”. Obviously there was a bigger purpose for his pain other than immediate healing.

Also, physical healings are temporary. Every person in the Bible who was miraculously healed in some way eventually died. People throughout history who have been miraculously healed by the Lord have eventually died. Physical healings are temporary.

But when the Lord does choose to physically heal someone, the reaction of everyone who saw it or experienced it shows us that when God works a miracle of physical healing it’s mostly to present a picture of spiritual healing.

Too often we focus on the miracle while we should be focused on the message of the miracle – the message that spiritual healing is available to us.

Now, we should pray for miracles to relieve the suffering of the sick. It’s biblical, it’s right, and many times the Lord works as a result of our prayers. But when He does work a miraculous healing of the body, let’s make sure we see it as a picture of how He can heal our souls. If God can heal the sick, if God can raise the dead, then God can surely help me!

Some of us here this morning need a physical healing of our bodies. We do. But even more so, some of us here this morning need a spiritual healing. Our souls, our spirit, our lives are plagued with sickness and even death. Life can hurt, but God can heal.

Go with me to Acts 9 where we’ll continue to learn how we can truly [4] be the church in this world. Here we’re going to see that since God can heal the body from sickness, He can heal the soul’s diseases as well.

[Read Acts 9:32-35.]

The apostle Peter is traveling throughout the region visiting and encouraging the different groups of Christians that were spreading out all over. He came across this man who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. By the power of the Lord Peter spoke healing into this man’s legs and he got up and walked.

This miracle is much like the one that’s talked about in chapter three where Peter spoke healing into a cripple’s legs at the entrance of the Temple.

In both cases when the people recognized that a true miracle had taken place, they turned to the Lord who was the source of the miracle. You see the miracle validated Peter’s message that Jesus was the Christ and so when he preached the people listened and believed. When God works a miracle of physical healing it’s mostly to present a picture of spiritual healing.

You know when you are sick, your life isn’t what it could be. Pain changes our perspective. Ailments slow us down. Injuries can even paralyze us and prevent us from living like we should be.

[Lisette’s favorite story – breaking my foot 3 days before we were moving.]

Injuries can paralyze us and prevent us from living like we should be. The man in the passage, Aeneas, his life was put on hold for eight years because of his disease. But once he was healed he was free to live as he was born to live.

You might be here this morning and you are in perfect physical health – but you’ve got some spiritual sickness that’s keeping you from living as you were born to live. Maybe you’ve allowed sin to take over in some area of your life and because of it you have a spiritual sickness that you just can’t shake on your own.