I was full of hurts due to poverty and addiction but they loved me just the same and I found out later that they had this reservoir of love in them because they believed in the Lord Jesus who is the Ocean of Love and Healing.
In my early morning meditation I was just wondering what message to preach this Sunday and I seem to almost hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ ‘just tell your congregation about me and my healing power’. Here are some thoughts I will be sharing with the church and want to share with you as well.
We hear a lot about people who are gifted with the gift of healing and when we talk about healing we only think about the physical healing. But what about those hurts and wounds which are not physical. There are mental and emotional wounds which are more dangerous and deeper than physical wounds. Believe me I have seen a number of people emotionally wounded who still struggle with their wounds inflicted by insensitive and selfish people.
In Jesus times he moved among the hurting people a lot. He did come in contact with the blinds and the lames of his day and healed them. But he equally came in contact with those who were cast aside by society such as prostitutes and tax collectors, the poor and the hungry ones. While dealing with this type of the people the Bible repeatedly says he was moved with compassion and the word compassion is very powerful. In saying this, the Lord was saying to the people ‘I love you and care for you from my absolute whole being. I love you so much that it really hurts me deeply and want to heal you and meet your needs. I do not love you in a distance but want to be with you and heal you’ Beloved, at all times let us remember that He is the only one who comes to us and weeps with us and consoles. He gets into our skin and becomes one of us.
When I became a Christian it was the love of the Lord Jesus Christ visibly seen in the lives of some Christians I came in contact with. I was full of hurts due to poverty and addiction but they loved me just the same and I found out later that they had this reservoir of love in them because they believed in the Lord Jesus who is the Ocean of Love and Healing. Their love started healing me and when I found the Lord I was totally healed from my past. I am sure this is the experience of many of you. The initial interest in the Gospel was the loving and healing community of believers who shared the Gospel with me. It became easy to believe in the Healer when I experienced healing from being healed community.
In Isaiah 42:3 it is said “ A bruised reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out“ This was the prediction of the Lord Jesus who was to come as Servant of the Lord. While writing on this theme one writer writes like this “These figures that Isaiah uses, a “bruised reed,” a “dimly burning wick”, are expressive of that which is fragile and weak. They symbolize those people who have been broken, or who are about to be broken. People who have been bruised. People who have no strength left to bear up with what life has been throwing against them. Life has left them battered. Jesus always ministered to the hurting with a deep sense of compassion. He never fell on someone like a ton of bricks, (except the self-rigtheous Pharisee’s!).
Today Jesus is not with us physically but He is with us in the Spirit. He moves among us and wipes our tears and binds our wounds. Not only that but He has given the church the responsibility to minister to the people. We are called to be ministers of God’s Word which means we do not preach at people but with profound humility minister as a servant of the Lord.
As New Nepal emerges many of us are very looking forward to preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus all over Nepal and this is wonderful. But we will not be able to achieve much unless we are able to go out to the mountains and plains of Nepal with the unbounded love of Jesus. We will not be able to really have the success we desire to have unless we go with healing on our wings.
As the country opens up now the Christian community must be more involved in nation building. Like many countries there are many people who are hurting due to social boycott or ostracism, grinding poverty, lack of opportunity and many other things. Our missionaries did a lot in this area but now we as a Christian Community will have to be more involved in the lives of the people. Let us be involved with the spirit of Jesus’ compassion. As we move with the message of the Gospel and the works of compassion let us pray that many will see the glowing power of the Gospel in our lives every day. Let His love and compassion shine through us.
Here are the world famous prayer of Saint Francis of Asisi which illuminates more what I am sharing with you,
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
Let this be our prayer as we live and go out with the love and compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Republished in new layout on 8/2013
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