Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Today we explore the name Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals. What does that mean to you?
Scripture
Exodus 15:26
Eternal One: If you will listen closely to My voice—the voice of your God—and do what is right in My eyes, pay attention to My instructions, and keep all of My laws; then I will not bring on you any of the plagues that I did on the Egyptians, for I am the Eternal, your Healer.
Devotional
Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals
Everyone gets sick every once in awhile.
Short term illnesses
Colds
Flu or other viruses
Long term diseases like
Coronary heart disease
Diabetes
Hepatitis
Deadly diseases
Cancer
leprosy
Some of them we take care of ourselves
Some we need a doctor for help
We don’t have much of a problem going to providers when something physical is wrong with us
Hesitate to go to the source of healing when we have spiritual
We are broken people
All have sinned
No one stays pure because we are flawed
We need someone to clean us up, but only God can do that
Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals
Story after story from the Bible that shows God heals
Stories from believers about God’s intervention
Personal experience
No doubt God heals
Today, think about Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals
What is it you need healed
Physical
Mental
Emotional
Spiritual
God is able because God is Jehovah-Rapha
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 5:31-32 Jesus (answering for the disciples): Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I haven’t come for the pure and upstanding; I’ve come to call notorious sinners to rethink their lives and turn to God.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
We have done something as Christians I’m not sure Jesus would be too happy about. What is it? We cling together in little conclaves and hide ourselves away from the world when it comes to exploring God’s word. We get together with other Christians in our churches and cathedrals and we teach each other if we learn anything about scriptures at all. We build these beautiful and sometimes not so beautiful buildings, but then we put up a cross on the roof or on the side of the building or on a sign outside and expect people to come inside and find God.
But Jesus didn’t work that way when He was with us. He attended the synagogues on the Sabbath wherever He happened to be at the time. He went to the Temple whenever He was in Jerusalem. But to share the message His Father intended Him to share with the world, He went to the places people gathered and that was not the synagogues and temple. He taught in the markets and on the seashore. He picked hillsides and the homes of prominent and not so prominent people. He taught whenever and wherever people gathered to hear Him.
He went to the people because He knew people needed to hear the message and knew those who needed to hear the message most would not come to the temple or synagogue to hear it. Like Adam, they would hide from God rather than come into His presence for cleansing. If Jesus was going to help them, He would have to go to them. And unlike most physicians today, Jesus made house calls.
So we find Jesus visiting the tax collectors and prostitutes and thieves and liars and all those other savory characters that you’d never expect to find in the temple because they would be afraid others would point out their sin instead of welcoming them into God’s presence for forgiveness – just like the Pharisees did.
And we in the Christian faith, too often do the same thing the Pharisees did. We cloister ourselves in our fine buildings and sing our songs, listen to sermons, attend our classes, and if anyone comes into our churches that don’t look or act like us, we send signals that help them understand they really aren’t as welcome as we say they are. Those visitors come in and sit in the back or maybe are even ushered to a middle seat somewhere, but they never return because we treat them like lepers. They are tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, liars, sinners. God forbid that we let them into our Christian clubhouse.
Isn’t it time that we take up the mantle as Jesus taught us? He went to the places where the people that needed Him lived and worked and gathered for mutual comfort. He went to the sick at heart. He went to those that needed cleansing from the sickness in their spirit. He found Himself in those places filled with people who would never darken the door of the temple or the synagogue. But He gave the same message to those they He gave to the people in the synagogue.
Do you understand why? Because all of us are sinners. And in God’s eyes there is really no difference between the tax collector and the gossip, the prostitute and those who would cause dissension in the church. All have sinned and come short of the God’s glory they seek. We are not worthy to stand in His presence, and yet He calls us to follow Him. He calls us to come to Him for healing, cleansing, a right relationship with our heavenly Father.
Jesus showed us what we should do, then He did something none of us would probably do if we were God. He entrusted His message to us. He told us to go share His message throughout the world. Can you believe that? God put the message of salvation into the hands of sinners who have felt the touch of His redemptive grace. We were His enemies, but He still gave us the mission of sharing the message that will give people hope and a future.
So who do we take that message to? Do we hold it in our churches and cathedrals? Jesus didn’t. We are to take it to work with us. We’re to take it to school and the grocery. We’re to take it to our neighbors. We’re to take it to the gas station and our mechanic. We’re to take it everywhere we go and we’re to take the message of God’s grace and forgiveness to those who need it most.
Do you remember who needs it most? Everyone. We’re all sinners. Some of us are saved by His grace, if we have asked for His forgiveness. But we all need His message. So share the hope and grace He gives to someone you meet today. Don’t invite them to church to hear the message, share it with them where you find them. It will make such a difference in how they hear it from you.
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Mark 2:17 Jesus (to the scribes): People who have their health don’t need to see a doctor. Only those who are sick do. I’m not here to call those already in good standing with God; I’m here to call sinners to turn back to Him.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
You know what they call people who continually draw on the assets of the medical community without reason? Who take up a doctor’s time and energy when there is absolutely nothing wrong with them? Hypochonriacs. Of course, that in itself is a disease. It’s a mental illness that needs attention, but by a different kind of doctor with different skills and a different array of tools.
Our emergency rooms are also full of people without emergencies. It’s not uncommon to go to an ER in the United States and wait for hours before seeing a provider for minor illnesses. Maybe they don’t seem minor to you at the time, but sniffles, bumbs and bruises, even a low grade fever isn’t an emergency. But those folks fill the emergency rooms across the country taking up resources that should be reserved for true life or death emergencies. We got ourselves into this mess with the high cost of medical care, our insurance debacles, and a host of other factors that as a nation we did not control very well. So here we are.
The point is, though, that sick people go to see a doctor. Whether a primary care doctor for those routine illnesses, an emergency room for something severe and urgent, or a specialist for something else, we go to a doctor when we’re sick. And usually, if we’re not sick, we avoid those places. I don’t know anyone that enjoys sitting around in doctors’ offices or emergency rooms or hospitals just for the fun of it. They are not built for fun. I don’t have any hospital addresses on my vacation list. You probably don’t either. But guess what? I also don’t know any doctors that make house calls any more. If you don’t go to the place they practice, you won’t get the care you need. House calls are out of the question now days.
Jesus tells the scribes when they complain about the company He keeps that it’s time to make house calls again. He goes outside the temple and the synagogues and reaches out to the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the thieves, the beggars, the lepers, the outcasts of society. He doesn’t wait for the sick to come to Him, He goes out to the sick to shorten the distance the must go to reach Him.
So what does that tell us today? Too often we get comfortable sitting inside the four walls of our churches, temples, and synagogues waiting for someone to come in to hear the gospel. As we sit in the pew and sing praises, we wonder why the world is in such terrible shape. But we refuse to take a step outside the door to share the message to those who really need to hear the good news that Jesus will forgive them of their sins and live in them to help them live the life for which He created them.
We don’t want to go where the sick are, but expect them to come to us. In medical practice, we have come to believe we need all the equipment and lab tests and support personnel in order to treat patients adequately, so we no longer make house calls. I’m afraid we’ve adopted that same philosophy with our outreach to others spiritually. We have somehow come to believe that without the trappings of the sanctuary, the altars, the pastor, the sermon, worship service, we cannot lead someone to the Savior.
Of course neither is really true. Good doctors generally have a good idea what’s wrong with a patient before all the tests and x-rays and labs are done. Most have honed their skills and use those instruments to confirm what they already suspect from their diagnosis. And good Christians don’t need the trappings of the sanctuary or the grounds of the church to lead someone to Christ. They know the Savior. They know how they came to Him in humility and repentance. And with just that much understanding, we can help someone else find Him. It’s not that hard.
So how do we get our brothers and sisters to start doing what Jesus asked us to do and share the message with those outside the four walls of our place of worship? There’s a really easy way to start. The best way to get people to do something you want them to do is to be an example. So if I start sharing the gospel to those that need to hear it, my co-workers, my neighbors, the cashier at the grocery store, taxi drivers, just anyone I happen to meet. If I start sharing the gospel, and my brothers and sisters see me sharing the gospel and see the fruit of my labor by the new Christians I invite to join me in fellowship in small group studies, maybe they will follow my example.
Actions always speak louder that words. So why don’t you be an example today and share the good news of salvation with someone who needs it?
