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Making the connection between divine healing and walking in love.

When it comes to using our faith for divine healing it can be incredibly frustrating to continue to experience symptoms of pain in your body. One thing that I have found that has helped me in the process of believing God for healing is keeping the right perspective.

Many times we get caught up in the actual manifestation part instead of focusing on what is most important in our lives and that is walking in love. When we are restored in our minds and able to see people through the lens of God’s love and able to see God through the lens of his faithfulness in our lives then it is easier to combat frustration and discouragement when we aren’t seeing the manifestation of our healing in the natural just yet.

Another tendency I have noticed in myself is the tendency to place my hope and faith in people instead of in God. Even though God is very interested in us being WHOLE SPIRIT, SOUL, and BODY, we have a part to play. I am now a definite proponent of going to the doctor if you are sick and going to counseling if you need it, however there is a right and wrong way to go. If you are counting on the Doctor to heal your body and the counselor to fix all your problems you may be in for a rough ride.

The truth is if we are not trusting God to fix our problems –  the only one that really can, then we are setting ourselves up for failure. So whatever we use to help us – medicine, doctors, counsellors we must go with faith and assurance in our hearts trusting that God will use them to help us and giving us wisdom to know when to rely on others help and when to simply trust God.

Trusting God seems like a simple and straightforward phrase but sometimes it is easier said than done. What do you do when you don’t see the manifestation of what you are believing for? Do you continue to proclaim your healing when in the natural you are not experiencing it? This is is where real faith is tested! For me personally at times I am tempted to not invest the time in God’s word and subtly buy into the lie that it’s not worth my time and eventually I will end up disappointed. We must fight against these lies and meditate on the faithfulness of God in our own personal lives to stir ourselves up to continue the race God has given us!

For me personally when I remind myself of how God has already healed me in my mind – which for me was a miracle – when my thoughts were heavy and negative and I didn’t see any reason to go on or any way out – God sent people across my path to encourage me and restore my hope. He met me where I was and brought me out of the pit of discouragement that I was living in for so long. If he can do that then I believe he can heal my body and certainly he can heal and restore others as well!

Like I said before keeping the right perspective in times of difficulty is immensely helpful. Many times while we are trusting God and believing for healing maybe we aren’t focused on the big picture! We get caught up in supernatural manifestations and things we would see as miraculous like a man’s hearing being restored when in reality the restoration of fellowship and love in a broken family (in a neighborhood filled with hate and racism or in a persons mind that has been driven to the point of crazy) that seems incurable, is just as miraculous. God wants to bring healing and restoration to every part of our lives.

At the end of the day LOVE is ultimately the answer – the reason I am free today is because of the many people that prayed and encouraged me when I didn’t see any way out. God heals us body and soul because he loves us and we in turn we choose to share that love with others because he first loved us.

We can’t truly love without the help of the Holy Spirit – we can’t even love ourselves the way he loves us. We must rely on Him for this divine love that crosses natural boundaries and limitations and reaches into the heart of man. He knows where you have been broken by life and he seeks to put the pieces of your life back together.

I heard a statement recently by a renowned and amazing black minister who experienced horrible abuse at the hands of white men during a time when prejudice was at an all time high. He said that “Passion causes us to enter into others pain. ” He shared that white men abused him but it was also white men who nursed him back to health in the hospital and that he wouldn’t be where he is today without them.

His perspective of love and forgiveness is astounding. And yet what we need more than anything in this day and age is that kind of heavenly love that doesn’t look past the injustices and offenses of our day but sees the pain and seeks to enter into that pain with the help of the Holy Spirit. In a day and age where people are proclaiming BLACK LIVES MATTER – we must not ignore the brokenness of our world but engage in the pain and become redemptive in true LIFE the life that only Christ brings.

We have made God too small – he desires to enter into our broken world with creative answers and restoration. I have come to appreciate the various ways of showing love that express the variety of our creator. We must not just tell people about their sin – but engage them in loving and creative ways. For example our agape ministry to the clubs and strippers is not one where they go in preaching that they are in sin but they give them love baskets. A simple act of love can go a long way.

So not only are we meant to bring security peace and love to those of the household of faith we are meant to engage in our culture and go into the dark places and bring light. We are to become reconcilers of Christ’s love. A love that reaches into people’s pain and loneliness and says – it hurts doesn’t it? I know I am sorry. You are lonely aren’t you? I know I love you, I am lonely without you. I died for you? Why won’t you love me? This is Christ’s love.

God is not afraid or our questions or even our anger. He understands. We were not created to deal with the reality of death but the fact is every day we are decaying. Christ came to bring life, restore hope and bring creative solutions to the problems of our world. He does that through us- he uses our courage and creativity to bring LIFE and HOPE to our world.

There is a song I have been listening to on the new Jesus Culture album. It is a song that declares God a God of miracles and the main singers sing this after sharing that they lost a child. This is a tragedy – as well as a miracle- the fact that God can heal restore and strengthen someone enough in their faith to be able to declare God for who he is in spite of tragedy is quite a miracle! They share that they were able to walk through this season with those in their faith community – this is the beauty of the Christian walk – that in the midst of deepest tragedy and loss we are not alone and we are not without hope.

To miss out on sharing this truth with the world would be to miss out on our calling. Perhaps that is the greatest tragedy of all.

Much Love,

Ashley