According to your faith...(Part 1)

My daily devotion this morning brought me to Matthew chapter 9 and I was especially drawn to the healing miracles of Jesus. In chapter 8, we read that everyone who came to Jesus were healed - from minor sicknesses all the way to major ones like raising the dead and cleansing from leprosy.

But what amazes me was Matthew 9:29 where the Holy Spirit recorded for us the miracle of healing of sight for two blind men. You see they came to Jesus and asked Him to healed them; when Jesus asked them whether they believed that He is able to heal them and they said in the affirmative, He gave them their sight "according to their faith". Probably the two blind men only had healing in their hearts and minds and nothing else and so they kept their faith simple.

In Luke 17:11-19 we read that ten lepers came to Jesus and asked for healing; Jesus pronounced them healed and instructed them to go and show themselves to the priest that their leprous condition had been cured. On the way to the priest, one of them, a non-Jew, realizing what had happened turned back to thank Jesus and worship the Healer and Jesus did something more for him - Jesus made him WHOLE. I believe that meant that the stubs on his hands where his fingers used to be began to grow back into fingers and likewise his toes were re-created in an instant.

Today Jesus invites us to come to Him and to draw from Him. What level of faith do we have? According to our faith whatever we are believing Him for, we will receive - if a miracle is what we need, a miracle we will get. Which leads me to an interesting observation. More than twenty years ago I had a very severe attack of spondylitis of the 4th and 5th lumbar. I recalled asking the Lord for a miracle of healing but deep down I kind of was not willing to be completely healed for a simple reason - that condition gave me a passport to the army medical board and 'guarantees' me a downgrading of medical fitness for the balance of my reservist liability. I cherished the thought that finally I could have my NS liability reduced or even have a prematured termination. Even when it became painful, I endured it and found ways to alleviate the pain and this went on for a while (honestly I could not remember when the pain stopped when they finally did) until I received my official medical downgrade to PES C2 which meant no more strenuous exercises or even field deployments.

So what am I saying? that I could have enjoyed my complete healing on the first day itself but because of my level of faith, there was no instant healing in my case. Having learnt from that incident, I will now believe upon Jesus that His finished work gave me divine health and that is what I have been enjoying for some time now. My last major sickness (besides an irritating cough and cold) was more than 10 years ago and I have not even gone for any medical examinations since 1998 when I went for a pre-employment medical checkup. In fact I would say that Deutsche Bank actually saved a lot of money from me not having gone to the doctors throughout my 8-1/2 years there.

According to your faith... what is your level of faith for your healing?