I think a lot of people don’t realize that pain from physical illness often carries emotional or spiritual baggage too. I’m sure some of you reading this can relate and perhaps experience shame, fear of death, anxiety or feelings of rejection that accompany your physical sickness (this often happens with chronic illness). Very rarely does sickness only affect our bodies, but the church doesn’t always address this reality.
I remember when I first started learning about God’s heart for healing I came to a point where I really had to wrestle with God. I don’t know if I would say I was angry with Him, but I was really struggling. I remember not being able to reconcile what I knew about God and His ability and desire to heal, but not seeing those close to me experience breakthrough. And the pain I saw was not only physical, but emotional too. It was so hard to watch. In this place, God spoke to me about one of the weirdest miracles in the Bible and revealed some much-needed insight:
In a nutshell:
- Let’s look at this healing story from John 9: “As Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But it happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. I must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva. He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means “Sent”). So he went away and washed, and returned seeing” (John 9:1-7).
- All Jesus has to do to heal somebody is speak a word. However, in this story, Jesus healed by spitting!
- Why do you think Jesus went through all this drama? God asked me to reread the story and highlighted to me that the disciples connected the man’s born blindness with his own sin or his parents’ sin.
- Remember that under the old covenant, people who served false gods were cursed by their children being born blind (Deut. 28:28).
- In Jewish culture at the time, when people saw a child born blind, it was assumed that they were cursed for serving other gods. As a little boy, the blind man was likely spit on whenever he walked down the street. Can you imagine a life of being spit on and cursed?
- So then, when Jesus healed by spitting, he used the thing that the world used to curse the man his whole life to heal him. … He did this as an emotional and spiritual restoration!
Jesus healed the man wholly and tri-dimensionally. The man walked because he was healed physically; he leapt because he was healed emotionally and he praised God because he was spiritually restored (Acts 3:6-8). - God wants us to be whole, not just well.
Where You Hurt Is Where You Heal
The very area that has caused you pain is the very area that God wants to heal you, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually too. Just as we see in this story, God is a redeemer of all things, and He knows what we need better than we do. The blind man asked for physical healing, that he might see again. However what Jesus had in store, even though it looked crazy, was exactly what the man needed to receive wholeness instead of just a partial healing. Who knew that spit could be so powerful?
Jesus Is Compassionate
I want to propose to you that perhaps today is your day of wholeness. The kindest King wants to lavish His love on you. Don’t pull away in fear but rather embrace what He’s doing, even if it seems weird or strange. I want to encourage you that if you have a physical illness that is also causing emotional pain, God can and wants to heal you tri-dimensionally. I release breakthrough for healing over your body, soul and spirit today. Do you have any out-of-the-box stories of God healing you or someone you know? I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Let our souls make boast in the Lord. {eoa}
Kris Vallotton is the senior associate leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California and cofounder of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM). Kris travels internationally, training and equipping people to successfully fulfill their divine purpose. He’s a best-selling author, having written more than a dozen books and training manuals to help prepare believers for life in the kingdom. He has a diverse background in business, counseling, consulting, pastoring and teaching, which gives him unique leadership insights and perspectives. Kris has a passion to use his experience and his prophetic gift to assist world leaders in achieving their goals and accomplishing their mission.
This article originally appeared at krisvallotton.com.
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