On May 27th, I fell and injured my shoulder at an exercise facility due to sunscreen being sprayed by children on the floor. The next day I could not lift my arm above my head or to my side without excruciating pain. After taking x-rays and meeting with an orthopedic doctor, the decision was that I had a torn rotator cuff. An MRI was performed on June 3rd and a consultation took place on the 5th. It was determined that two of my tendons had been torn and was now located on the other side of my shoulder. Surgery would be required in order to attempt to reattach the tendons with no guarantee of success.
To complicate matters, as I was leaving the doctor’s office the insurance company representing the facility where the injury had occurred called. They decided they were not liable and would only offer a $5000 settlement meaning anything over that amount I would be accountable to pay.
As you may recall when I fell and injured my shoulder I stood on God’s word found in James 5:14 “Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.”
From the scripture I discovered in order to expect a healing we must take the first steps. In the past, I have called those who were sick to come forth to be anointed but the scripture clearly states that the sick should come to me and ask to be anointed. When we read of the encounter between Bartimaeus, who was blind, and Jesus it seems a bit strange. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“My rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!”(Mark 10: 51)
His need was obvious. It just needed to be verbalized. Therefore, on Sunday I asked to be anointed with oil and prayed over for a healing touch.
As the week went by, I saw no improvement. We went on our cruise and had a great time. We put the worries behind us and just found some time of refreshing. We really had a week worry free.
When we arrived home, a letter was waiting for us. It was from the surgeon informing me that I would need to pay $1100 for a pre-surgery payment. I did not have that money. I must admit desperation had settled in.
I had already done the one thing you do not want to do when you have a medical condition. I had gone on the internet. Horror stories abound. Cost of rotator cuff surgery, $25 to $50 thousand dollars. Recovery time, 7 months to a year. Unable to sleep in the bed. Full recovery rate, low. Dangers of less use, more pain, even frozen shoulder leading to complete loss of use of arm. My prayers intensified.
Monday, my condition was no better. I was thinking Monday night about how last Tuesday I was enjoying a cruise and next Tuesday I would be cut on with, who knows what kind of results. This week would be my middle of the road week.
But Tuesday morning I got out of bed. My shoulder felt different. Slowly I raised my arm over my head with no pain. I put my arm out to my side with just a twinge of pain remaining. I rotated my arm pain free. I now have about 90% use of my arm and a pain level of about one, which is good for my age.
So I ask myself this question “Why me?” Why did Jesus decide to touch me and to heal me? I thought it would be a good subject for a sermon, so I began researching in God’s word.
Healing spreads the Gospel
Mark 16:15-18
“And then he told them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.’”
Through out the Gospel we see the excitement that people shared when they were healed. Even though Jesus told many not to tell anyone about their healings, their excitement could not be contained. It was through his miracles that his fame grew.
I was healed to tell others about the Gospel. I am telling you today that I was miraculously healed. I hope you know me well enough to know I would never fake an injury to prove a point. My family surly knows of my pain. You, my church family, knows that I was incapacitated. I have been healed so you can tell others. I have been healed to booster your faith that healings are possible.
Next time someone comes to you and makes a statement like “Keep me in your prayers” or “Pray for me“ do it on the spot where ever you are. Jesus may want to show his Gospel through you by answering a prayer. Do not let this opportunity pass you. Be bold. Prayer works.
Reality is that not all prayers are answered. For example, we cannot expect God to change someone’s heart against their will. We cannot expect God to make people love us. We cannot expect God to force someone into accepting him. People have freedom of choice that God will not violate unless it is according to his purpose.
Ephesians 1:11 “ Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”
It is God’s plan that is prevalent, not ours. We wish that everything would work out our way but that is not reality. God hardened the heart of Pharaoh in Egypt because it was according to his plan.
Lack of healing reveals God’s sovereignty.
In the Book of Exodus we find Moses hiding in a crack on the mountain as God is about to pass by him. It is here that God declares his sovereignty. Let’s read Exodus 33:19 “The Lord replied, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.’”
To be sovereign means to have supreme authority. There is no one capable of having authority over God. His mercy is given at his will. His compassion is given at his will. Whether we approve or not does not change God’s sovereignty over us. He chooses to heal whom He heals. Nevertheless, that does not make him merciless or uncompassionate.
Lamentations 3:32 “Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.”
His love is unfailing. Remember Paul and the thorn in his flesh. Three times he asked for it to be removed. But God said my “Grace is sufficient.” God’s grace is enough. Paul experienced God’s grace in a way that he would have never experienced it before.
Our response shows our faith
Let me read to you the story about King David. He has committed a grave sin by taking another man’s wife, getting her pregnant, and having him murdered. Unlike many of us when he is caught, he confesses and asks for God’s forgiveness.
2 Samuel 12:13-23 “Then David confessed to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’
Nathan replied, ‘Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the Lord by doing this, your child will die.’
After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused.
Then on the seventh day, the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. ‘He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,’ they said. ‘What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?’
When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. ‘Is the child dead?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ they replied, ‘he is dead.’
Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.
His advisers were amazed. ‘We don’t understand you,’ they told him. ‘While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.’
David replied, ‘I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, “Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.” But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.’ ”
David prayed fervently. He fasted, not only from food but also from comfort. He refused to let others interfere in his efforts to reach God. He continued to pray until he reached the point that he knew his prayer would not be answered. But when his prayer went unanswered, he worshiped God. He accepted the inevitable without hostility and anger. That is walking in faith. That is accepting God’s sovereignty.
A famous pastor once said, “It’s easy to have faith when the healing comes and the bills are paid. But true faith comes when you pray for a healing and you get death, when you pray for your bills to be paid and you lose your job. When all this happens and you still worship God, that’s true faith.”
Had I not been healed I would be facing surgery Tuesday. I would be facing a lot of pain and discomfort. I would be facing many expenses. I would be facing possibly legal actions. But I would have still remained as your pastor. I would not have given up on God because his grace is sufficient, is enough.
Three touches of healing
I want us to discover the story of a blind man that Jesus touched three times to restore his sight. I have read this story many times and taught on it a few. But this week I discovered it in a new way.
Mark 8:22-23 “When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village.----”
The first touch was a leading touch.
The village represented something in the man’s life that would hinder his healing. We know from other accounts that the only time Jesus was ineffective was when there was unbelief. The village represented unbelief. Jesus felt compelled to lead him from that condition.
Perhaps some of you have unbelief this morning in your life. Many mainstream dominations teach that “signs and wonders”, as they call it, are not for today. I stand on the verse found on the wall of our building. Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Perhaps you believe I was not injured as bad as I thought. I saw the MRI. The specialist showed me where the tendons were supposed to be attached and where it was currently laying on the other side of my shoulder. I know the pain I was going through.
All I can say to doubters is the same thing that the blind man said in John 9:25. “I know this: I was blind, and now I can see.” I know this: I could not raise my arm and now I have full range of motion.
The second touch was an anointing touch.
Mark 8:23“ Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, ‘Can you see anything now?’”
As we discovered in John 5:14, when we are sick or hurting we ask to be anointed for healing. Jesus does a curious thing here. He spits in the man’s eyes. I researched why we He do this.
Since ancient times, one's spittle has been valued as a charm against all evil. Spitting is a way of consecrating or anointing. To spit on anything has been accepted as a method of success in an undertaking for so long that no one can determine when the practice began.
Even today, some people who are about to undertake a difficult physical task first spit on their hands to make the job easier.
Jesus was sending a message to the man who could not see. The feel of the spittle on his eyes would have informed him that he was being anointed against the evil that had caused his blindness.
The third touch was a healing touch.
Mark 8:24-25 “ The man looked around. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.’
Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.”
This was the part of the story I had missed before. There was a time lapse between the anointing touch and the healing.
With the anointing touch, he received partial healing. He could have run back to the village with his cloudy vision, rejoicing every step of the way. Or, he could have returned to the village complaining that God was not able to heal him completely but reluctantly willing to live with what sight he had.
Sometimes our healing does not come right away. For the woman who had a constant menstrual flow it lasted for twelve years before she saw her healing.
Too often, we demand immediate results to our prayers. When we do not get the results we want immediately, we surrender. We decide that God wants us to live in our present state, or that He does not care about us. The Bible tells us not to grow weary in prayer. That means don’t give up. Like David, we must pray until there is no reason left to pray. I would have prayed until the day of my surgery and only then would I have stopped.
And like David, I would have accepted God’s refusal to heal me and still worshipped him.
Don’t step back
The last verse about this blind man is Mark 8:26 “Jesus sent him away, saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your way home.”
Remember the village? It represented unbelief. Jesus is telling him not to go back to his unbelief. Jesus, through this passage, is telling me not to go back to my unbelief. Jesus is telling you not to go back to your unbelief.
Reality is not every prayer goes answered. Sometimes in fact God is silent. But your true measure of faith, of belief, is when you still trust him when He is silent.
Praise him for answered prayers. Lean on him when prayers go unanswered. But in all things, worship him.
