How to Heal
Imagine a sick person who won’t tell anyone about their symptoms. Without help, getting through their illness would be challenging. Whether they need help from a doctor or just someone checking to see how they’re doing—it’s much easier to heal with the help of others.
Similarly, when we don’t tell anyone about the challenges we’re facing, it can be hard to work through them. Sometimes we do things we know are wrong, but we don’t tell anyone about it simply because we know it’s wrong. This is because we’re all affected by sin—our wrongdoing and brokenness that separate us from God. It can be hard to share our wrongdoings with others, but when we keep our sin to ourselves, we’re like the sick person who won’t ask for help—we suffer in isolation rather than allowing others to help us heal.
James 5:16 tells us to share our wrongdoings with other believers so that we can heal together and pray for one another. When we share our past mistakes with someone, we are released from isolation. And when we pray together, we give God the opportunity to heal our hearts. God is our healer—He saved us from the eternal consequences of sin through His Son Jesus. And because of Jesus, we have access to a relationship with God, and we can bring our requests to Him and trust that He will hear us.
This doesn’t mean God will always answer our prayers in the way we think they should be answered. Instead, when we share our brokenness with Him, He invites us on a journey that will help us grow closer to Him.
If you’re struggling with something today, take some time to share it with a trusted believer. Allow them to pray with you and ask God to guide you as you heal.
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...