DAY 2 - HEALTH

In 2014, my wife Rach and I travelled with a group of church friends to a province of the Philippines called Bulacan for a short mission trip. It was an incredible experience, and the people there were surely some of the most warm and welcoming on the planet! Our time was mainly focused on helping run a conference for local Christian leaders, and assisting at the region’s Christian school. As you can imagine, the healthcare in the area is nothing like what we experience in Australia, and there were many people with health conditions that in our society would be completely avoidable. We had several opportunities to pray for the sick, and saw God heal a number of people miraculously. 

I vividly remember one day when we were leading the congregation in worship while an altar call was happening, and a lady in her thirties or forties near the front began crying loudly over the music. She was moving around quite unusually, and seemed completely overwhelmed. I was concerned that perhaps she was experiencing some sort of emotional breakdown or demonic oppression, so I began to sing more loudly and fervently than before, hoping that someone would soon go over to pray with her. No one did, and she continued writhing and crying for the rest of the song, until the local pastor closed the service. 

She gradually seemed to calm down, and so we went over to see what was going on for her as people began filing out, assuming that she would be in a bad state. Instead, she explained that she had been suffering with extreme back pain for quite some time, and that out of the blue as we worshiped, God had instantly healed her back! She had been moving around strangely because she was testing her back out, seeing if it could move freely in all sorts of different directions, and had been crying because she was simply overwhelmed with gratitude and joy for what God had done for her! We were speechless. She hadn’t expected healing, and no pastor had prayed for her—she had simply been touched by the power of God.

God’s power is not limited by geography. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When He walked the earth, He went around “healing every disease and sickness among the people”, and “people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed; and He healed them” (Matthew 4:23-24). If He did it there and then, He can do it here and now!

Whether it’s cancer or a headache, muscular dystrophy or a muscle cramp, it can be healed in Jesus’ name. God heals in many ways—sometimes instantly, sometimes over time, sometimes through skilled hands—but always with perfect love. Every single one of us either has health issues that need a touch from God, or we know someone who does. Today, let’s lift each other up in prayer, that sickness, disease, and injury would be overcome by the healing power of Jesus. Pray for anyone that the Holy Spirit brings to mind, and those you know are unwell in our families, communities, and wider world.

Our God who heals, we pray for restoration, strength, and full health in mind and body, both for ourselves and those in our community. According to the words of 3 John 1:2, may each person “enjoy good health, that all may go well with [them], even as [their] soul is getting along well.” Amen.