Abide Devotion for December 19, 2014

Acts 5:12-16

¹² The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. ¹³ No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. ¹⁵ As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. ¹⁶ Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. ^[1]

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Today’s meditation is quite simple. This passage leads me today to pray for healing for the many people that I know who are in need of it.

Miracles of healing were a big part of the apostles ministry, and contributed to the gathering of the crowds.   But the disciples were always clear that what they were about was proclaiming what they had witnessed, the resurrection of Jesus. The healings were part of that. In the resurrection there will be no sickness and no disease and no disability and no injuries. So the presence of healing in the ministry of the apostles points to the coming resurrection and the time of complete and total healing.

In the same way, when God grants healing today – and He still does, sometimes amazingly and miraculously – it points to the resurrection. Any healing received in this life is temporary. God would have us fix our sights on the eternal healing He has prepared for us in the resurrection.

But that being said, I still pray for healing for those who suffering right now. I pray for healing for a relief from their suffering. But I pray with the confidence that when we pray for healing for those who belong to the Lord, the answer is always yes. The only question is when.   Will the healing come now? Or later? On in the resurrection? Because the healing will come. The resurrection of Jesus promises it.

So I encourage you as well, to relentlessly yet confidently, pray for healing.

What is the Word leading you to pray about today?

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^[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Ac 5:12–16). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.