m2oDevotionals

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

[Wednesday's Devotional] Spiritual Warfare

Do you have any experience of healing through prayer?  Perhaps you have been prayed for and miraculously healed, or you prayed for somebody and it had a dramatic effect.  Healing is a difficult subject for many Christians.  Why do we not see more evidence of healing?  Why did someone I prayed for not get better?

Jesus prayed for people, we have a record of his healing including people suffering from blindness, deafness, paralysis, epilepsy, leprosy and hemorrhaging – he even healed some people (including Lazarus and the widow of Nain's son) who were already dead.  After he had taught his disciples to do the same in the power of the Holy Spirit, they were also able to do the same including healing from the dead (Dorcas).  As modern disciples, we have the same power from the same Holy Spirit to achieve the same results.  We see evidence of healing every week on the streets of Rugby, and we also have many in church who can testify to being healed.

Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.  So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.  Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
Luke 4: 38-41 [NIV]

The passage today is interesting in the following ways:
·      The fever left Simon's mother-in-law after Jesus rebuked it, perhaps we are not familiar with talking to ailments when we are involved in healing
·      Jesus healed many (not only one type of ailment) by laying hands on them
·      Even though many of the people didn't recognize who Jesus was, the demons new exactly who he was and shouted out his name.

Lord, help us to be filled with the power of your Spirit to heal the sick and cast out demons to win the spiritual battles that are carrying on around us.  In Jesus name, Amen.


Read the Bible in a year:  Psalm 37:1-9, Numbers 15:22-16:35, Luke 4:38-5:16






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