We All Could Use Some Spiritual Healing

Imagine you are channel-surfing late at night and you happen upon one of those televangelist programs.  Ordinarily, you would just skip right over it, but for some reason you decide to pause this time and watch for a few moments.  

This program is unlike any other televangelist program you have ever seen before.  Instead of petitioning people for money in exchange for healing prayer cloths, or placing his hand upon the TV screen and chanting "Heee-al!" this particular guy does something different.  

You hear the preacher say softly, "If you need healing from hypocrisy... let us pray for you today."  Suddenly, you lose your urge to change the channel.  He goes on: 

"If you need to be set free from your pride... If you need healing from gluttony... If you need liberation from intolerance, legalism and narrow-mindedness... If you need to be completely healed from envy... If you want to be cured of your church-yness...  We will pray for you right here and now."  

I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking, "That will never happen," and you're probably right.  And the reason why you are right is because almost every single televangelist you've ever encountered emphasized physical healing over spiritual healing. 

It's like they know that people who live in material bodies, often devalue the world of the spirit.  Far too many people require some sort of sign, some kind of physical healing in order to experience the spiritual.  

In the Gospels there is a story of a paralyzed man whose friends tear apart the roof of the crowded house where Jesus is teaching in order to lower their friend down to him for healing.  Jesus tells the man, "Your sins are forgiven."  When the religious people become offended at his words, Jesus responds, 

"Which is easier to say to this man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say 'Get up, take your mat and walk?'"  Then to prove his point, Jesus tells the man to take up his mat and walk, and the guy does just that.  

Philip Yancey wrote about this in his great book The Jesus I Never Knew.  He wrote, "Just as I begin feeling smug [about my own spiritual health], however, I remember how easily I feel tormented by the slightest bout with physical suffering, and how seldom I am tormented by sin."  

I believe that God is still in the miracle business.  I believe that there are still miraculous moments when people are healed of physical infirmities, but I think the greater miracle, the most powerful exhibition of God's power is the transformation of our very souls, the restoration of our spiritual awareness and the resurrection of our hope.  

May you seek today to be aware of your spiritual health, your sensitivity to the ways you need healing within your heart and soul.  May you pray that God would heal any brokenness within you and may your faith precede your sight as you experience God in new and wonderful ways.  And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always  Amen.