Jesus Heals
Watching God water the earth and feeling my brain swell and shift and tremble as my thinking framework is turned on it's head...
Saturday is recovery day for me. "Sleep in Saturday", we call it. I love being able to sleep until I can't anymore...and then I lounge in bed thinking about whatever comes to mind...looking out the window...talking with God.
I did a quick check of my phone to make sure I wasn't missing anything urgent with my family, and I saw a message from a friend we (me and another friend) prayed with this last week. I can still picture the terrible swelling in the joints of her hands caused by years of osteoarthritis. I can feel her hands in mine as we prayed for the Lord to heal her of the pain and stiffness.
She wrote this morning to report that the swelling in her right hand is gone and she can close both her hands all the way (!!)
As I stared at the message in awe, I heard the reminder "Why are you surprised? He came to destroy the works of the devil. That means ALL of it. Your entire being is free. Every inch top to bottom. Inside and out. Jesus ransomed it all."
I google to find that verse...1 John 3:8
The word "destroyed" leaps off the page - what does that word mean, exactly?
It is the Greek work Luo "loo-oh", to destroy.
But my study tool makes a point to say "compare to 'rhesso'"....So I go to see what rhesso means (also often used to speak of some sort of destruction). Why did the Holy Spirit use luo instead of rhesso??
The study tool says this about rhesso: "to break, crack, wreck, shatter to minute fragments, BUT NOT A REDUCTION TO THE CONSTITUENT PARTICLES LIKE LUO"
Woah!!!
Luo: to melt, loosen, break up, destroy, put off, to set free, to annul, to deprive of authority, to declare unlawful, to overthrow and do away with (Thayers)
Jesus came to "luo" the works of the devil. He didn't just release a wrecking ball to break it down and leave a mess behind. He utterly destroyed...melted...annulled...overthrew...REDUCED IT TO THE CONSTITUENT PARTICLES.
As I write, I think of a greasy cooking dish with a bit of spaghetti sauce floating on the surface of the water. A single drop of dish soap added to the water, and you know what happens to that greasy mess. It doesn't stay and fight it out with the soap...it practically flies in the opposite direction of the soap.
The nature of the grease and the soap are SO utterly in opposition to one another that the grease is physically unable to stay in the same space where the soap is dropped. There's no battling it out - the soap is simply more powerful.
And as we swirl the soap around in that pan, the grease has no fight to offer. It's dissolved. Loosened. Melted. Broken down to particles that can't stick and make a mess any longer. It's simply and easily rinsed away as the soap does it's job.
It's a crude example, but a good visual.
A single drop of The Blood does the same to the works of the devil. We don't have to strive and fight. We simply agree with Jesus, and invite the Holy Spirit to apply the finished work of Jesus to our lives.
"Resisting the devil" is not a striving and fighting. It's speaking out the TRUTH of Jesus's victory.
It's like a single drop of soap in a greasy pan.
We ask and plead and beg for God to heal and save and deliver...
...meanwhile, we stand at the sink with a GALLON of dish sop, wondering why the pan won't clean itself.
Apply the soap to that greasy dish, friend.
APPLY THE BLOOD!
It's fully available to us. It's infinitely powerful.
SPEAK it because the power of life and death are in the tongue.
You only need a drop, but why stop there when an infinite OCEAN of healing and wholeness is available?
God isn't stingy. He's not expecting you to use a drop, and then work the rest out on your own.
Just DIVE right into that ocean of grace, friend. Dive in and be saturated. Live in it. See how easy and light the burden is that He asks you to carry. Enjoy the peace and joy He offers.
If you're feeling like you're drowning in fear, overwhelm, shame, and hopelessness...you're simply and needlessly dying of thirst.
Come to to the fountain. Come to the ocean of grace. Watch as the work of the devil is utterly destroyed in your life as the Truth is applied.
Be saved.
Be healed.
Be delivered.
It's what Jesus came to do
