Jesus, My Healer – Volume 4, Part 4

Review

This fourth volume is continuing to look at the healings of Jesus in the gospels.

Last week, we looked at the moment when Jesus attempted to heal people in Nazareth, his hometown. He was limited in what He could do because of their unbelief.

• Mark 6:5-6 (ESV): ⁵ And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And he marveled because of their unbelief. . . .

We then looked at the remedy for unbelief.

First, we distinguished unbelief from doubt:

• Doubt means to be double minded.
• Unbelief means to refuse to trust.

Then we looked at the relationship between offense and unbelief:

• Offense is an obstacle to belief.
  • Offense makes the soil of your heart unsuitable for spiritual growth.
  • Offense prevents the Word from taking root in your heart.

Then we looked at the relationship between the Word and faith

• We cultivate faith when the Word abides in our hearts
  • When God’s word abides in us, it is actively penetrating our hearts and shaping our thinking at the deepest level.
  • Your trust in Jesus is only as deep as the Scripture abiding in your heart.
• If you want to develop the faith to be healed, (or the faith to receive anything from God), you need the discipline to mediate on the Word daily.

Jesus Addresses Doubt with the Word

Luke 24:13–16 (ESV): ¹³ That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

Luke 24:17 (ESV): ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad.

Luke 24:18-24 (ESV): ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

Luke 24:25 (ESV): ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

Luke 24:26-27 (ESV): ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:28-31 (ESV): ²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ³¹ And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.

Luke 24:32 (ESV): ³² They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Luke 24:33-35 (ESV): ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Luke 24:36-38 (ESV): ³⁶ As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” ³⁷ But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. ³⁸ And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

Luke 24:39-40 (ESV): ³⁹ See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Luke 24:41-43 (ESV): ⁴¹ And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ and he took it and ate before them.

Luke 24:41-43 (ESV): ⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Jesus’ expectations for them were reasonable based upon what God commanded His people to do when He founded the Jewish nation:

• Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (ESV): ⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  

• Joshua 1:8 (ESV): ⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

• Psalm 1:1–3 (ESV): ¹Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

• Psalm 119:15–16 (ESV): ¹⁵ I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. ¹⁶ I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

• Romans 10:13–17 (ESV): ¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

What is Scriptural Mediation?

Reading, Talking, Listening, Pondering, Reflecting Day and Night

Healing Resources

Healing School with Creflo Dollar – April 25, 2019

Wednesday Service – How to Take Possession of Your Healing

What Happens When Fear Becomes Bondage – Sunday Service

My Testimony of Divine Healing from Multiple Sclerosis

Nona Jones: Persistence in Prayer Strengthens Your Faith | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

Healing School with Andrew Wommack – April 20, 2017

You’ve Already Got It | Andrew Wommack | LW

Healing Scriptures with Dodie Osteen EXTENDED VERSION | April Osteen Simons

Healed of Cancer! The Testimony of Dodie Osteen (1987)

Dodie Osteen & Joel Osteen: Whatever You Need From God, Ask Him | Praise on TBN

Purchase Kenneth Hagin’s Healing Classics in downloadable form or CD form. Discs 3-6 are particularly valuable.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023