Jesus Christ: The Great Healer of Our Hearts
As we discuss the topic of healing this month on the Worthy of Grace Ministries blog, the first thing that can come to our minds is physical healing. In the Gospel narratives, we read many great stories of Jesus healing ailments of all types. The stories of the blind seeing for the first time, the infirm finally walking after a lifetime of immobility, and many more miraculous accounts touch our hearts as Christians today.
The truth is that the Lord continues to perform physical healing in our day. I think of how God created our bodies in such a way as to heal on their own from many types of sicknesses when given the right environment. Or how the Holy Spirit miraculously healed my sister’s thyroid after I laid my hands on it and prayed for healing with a fellow sister in Christ. I’ve also heard many other testimonies of healing from fellow Christians, and each story brings hope and greater faith in the mighty power and love of our Almighty God.
While physical healing is something we all desire, the kind of healing Jesus came to do first and foremost, and the healing that we, as His creation, need the most is from sin’s detrimental effect on our spiritual life. The apostle Paul said, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!) (Eph. 2:1, 4-5 NLT). Our bondage to sin had made us “spiritually dead” to God, but Christ came to give us new life. He took our sin and guilt upon himself and died in our place so God could declare us innocent and right with him.
Therefore, if true healing is to occur, spiritual restoration must start at the source of our inner life, our hearts. In the ancient world of the Bible, the “heart” was viewed as the source and center of the person's whole inner life with its thinking, feeling, and volition. Healing of this kind involves touching the deep trauma, emotional wounds, mental illness, and the war-laden destruction sin has unleashed on our spiritual life. It’s an inner healing that brings salvation, character transformation, and restoration to our souls.
It’s important to remember that we are not mere physical beings. We have a body and a spirit. Our physical bodies are fleeting. When God creates the new heavens and earth, we will receive a new resurrected body, perfect and whole (2 Corinthians 5:1-5). However, our spirit is eternal. That is what Jesus truly came to heal and restore. I believe physical healing was only a pathway, a tool, to touch and soften the hearts of those He was calling to believe in his name and to display His power as the Son of God.
The spiritual battle over the control of our hearts is a war that is being fought at all times. And the damage done to humanity spiritually by sin is more detrimental than any physical harm that could come to us. As Christians, we are reminded time and time again in God’s Word how important it is to rely on the Holy Spirit and allow him to govern the course of our spiritual hearts rather than our sinful flesh…
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” 1 Peter 2:11
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:5-6
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:6
“For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” Galatians 6:8
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In this broken and sin-eaten world, we face physical ailments, temptations, and difficulties daily. These roadblocks often distract us, causing us to set our minds on what the flesh desires instead of the spiritual abundance God’s Spirit offers us daily. When we rely on our flesh, we choose to act not from the perspective of what is right but based on self-centered desires. However, when we sow to the Spirit, we are marching in step with the Spirit and producing the spiritual fruit God desires.
In fact, at times, the Lord will use our physical weaknesses to grow the spiritual character of our hearts. We can see this truth in Paul’s words to the Corinthians: "I was given a thorn in my body because of the outstanding revelations I've received so that I wouldn't be conceited. It's a messenger from Satan sent to torment me so that I wouldn't be conceited. I pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me alone. He said to me, "My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness." So I'll gladly spend my time bragging about my weaknesses so that Christ's power can rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:7-9 CEB). In today’s church, some believe that it’s God's will that everyone should be healthy and happy and that a person lacks faith if healing doesn’t transpire due to prayer. This mindset, however, is opposite compared to Paul's experience. There is no question that Paul had great faith, but his request for the thorn’s removal wasn’t answered. Now, this doesn’t mean he didn't receive an answer at all. He did, but it wasn’t the answer he necessarily wanted to hear. Yet he accepted it because his physical weaknesses would produce a “humble heart” within him and allow the power of Christ to rest on his life.
The same is true with us. While it is tempting to look at our physical brokenness with contempt and self-pity, God is looking at it as a way to call us higher… a way to show us things more incredible than this physical world… a way to focus our eyes on what truly matters: the condition of our hearts and his glory, not the condition of the body and our strength. After all, transforming us into the image of Christ is God’s ultimate desire for our lives. His primary concern is our spiritual maturity.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2
That may be the biggest problem with our broken version of humanity. We are focused all too closely on the physical—the fleshly issues, ailments, desires, and thoughts that consume our worldly existence.
But what if God calls us to stop focusing so much on the earthly things of our existence, even a desire for physical healing? But rather, calls us to turn our eyes North? To look to the Word of truth and accept the spiritual healing of our hearts instead. The command to set our hearts on things above is a divine call to pursue a complete reorientation of our lives by focusing on heavenly realities and bringing every part of our life into conformity with the sovereign Lordship of Christ. When one’s heart is turned toward God, he promises to make it sensitive to divine things, reviewed, and purified (Deut. 4:29, Ps. 51:10).
While I believe wholeheartedly in the physical healing power of our God and challenge any believer to increase their faith by believing God for miraculous healings, the truth is your physical healing may never come in this life. The Bible does not promise us complete physical wholeness until we enter heaven. However, your spiritual healing and the renovation of your heart is God’s ultimate desire, my friend, and is always available to you through Jesus Christ, “The Great Healer of Our Hearts.”