Tag Archives: healing

Do You Know Him? – YAHWEH-Rapha

Leave a reply

In the Epistle of James we are invited, and even encouraged, to turn to God with our request for healing. James gives this word of instruction:

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

James 5:13-14, NKJV

What a grand and glorious word of instruction this is! We are told here that it is proper for the child of God to go to Him in times of sickness and suffering. And to this we could add the invitation found in Hebrews 4:16:

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16, NKJV

These are encouraging, uplifting words for the believer to hear. As we learned from the study of the name YAHWEH-Shammah, God is our very present help in times of trouble. He is always there, by our side, bringing encouragement and hope, comfort and consolation, in times of need.

But the name YAHWEH-Rapha gets a bit more specific. It speaks directly to the matter of YAHWEH being our healer. It is found several times in the Bible, specifically in the Old Testament as God progressively revealed more and more about Himself through the descriptive names He used to make Himself known more fully to His people.

YAHWEH- Rapha – I am the LORD who heals, is found for the first time in the Bible in Exodus 15:26.

If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in HIs sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.

Exodus 15:26, NKJV

It is here that God is saying very pointedly and assertively to the people of Israel that they could depend upon Him, trust in Him, and turn to Him in times of difficulty. In this passage He is assuring the nation that He will protect them from all the diseases He has just brought on the nation of Egypt in delivering them from Egyptian bondage. But notice, please, the conditional word, “if”. This promise of divine protection was contingent upon their commitment to do what is right in the sight of God.

God proved Himself to be true to this promise time and again in the Old Testament. However, we need to understand that this name of God is used to describe God’s willingness to heal in manifold ways. Consider the following verses and the different ways His healing power was experienced in the lives of these individuals.

In 2 Kings 5:10, God healed physical needs; in Psalm 34:18 He healed emotional needs; in Daniel 4:34 He healed mental needs; and in Psalm 103:2-3 He healed spiritual needs. Clearly, the Bible attests to the fact that God is a God who heals.

When we come to the New Testament it is just as clear that Jesus proved Himself to be the God who heals. In Matthew 4:23 we are told that He went from town to town, “healing every disease and sickness among the people.” So many other places in the Gospels tell us that Jesus is the great healer. He is the God who heals.

This name of God should be great encouragement to all who call Him Father. He will be present with us in every situation, every sickness, every infirmity. He invites us to cast our cares upon Him because He loves us with an unconditional love. Let’s take time to thank Him for this amazing aspect of His being, and be quick to turn to Him in our times of need.

Until next time:

Blessings!

Guest Blogger – Luke Stewart

Leave a reply
Luke Stewart, Mesquite, TX

The following was written by my grandson, Luke Stewart. God has truly gifted him with the ability to put his thoughts into words. He is an exceptionally committed young Christian whose writings convey a deep understanding of some of the complexities of his Christian faith. I asked his permission to print this post on my blog page so that others could be blessed and encouraged by his words of wisdom. I trust that you will enjoy reading his words as much as I do.

One evening, as I was praying, I asked God if He would heal someone that I knew of a condition that they have had for some years now. This was nothing that I had never prayed about before. But, as I was praying, my prayer started to change. I prayed that God’s will be done. God’s will—God’s plan—is better than our plan.

A woman once told me that, when she is praying for someone who is sick or injured, she doesn’t simply pray that they be healed, but she prays that God’s will be done because it is better to be sick under God’s will than to be healthy outside of His will. Man, that is so good. It reminds me of one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible:

For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 1 Peter 3:17

God’s plan is the ultimate authority that we should be submitting to. And we have seen in God’s Word that, sometimes, poor health conditions are under the will of the Father.

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” John 9:1-3

Amen. The disciples are assuming that, in one way or another, the man’s blindness is a result of sin (whether the blind man’s or his parents), and sin is, obviously, something that goes against God—something that is outside His plan. But, Jesus told them that this was not the case. In fact, the man’s blindness was a part of God’s plan, “that the works of God should be revealed in him.” God did not create sickness, weakness, or blindness, but He can still use those things for His good—for the ultimate good. If you are familiar with the passage, you know that the man was healed of his blindness by the Lord Jesus Christ, so you might accidentally come to the conclusion that we only have sicknesses and infirmities for the purpose of being healed by God. But that is not what Jesus said. Look back at exactly what Jesus said was the purpose of the man’s blindness:

“. . . that the works of God should be revealed in him.”

No where in that verse does Jesus mention healing! Of course, the man being healed of his blindness was a huge revelation of God’s work, but let us not diminish God’s power to say that the only way He may be glorified in our trials and tribulations is by taking those things away from us. God can be glorified in anything. God is capable of anything.

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Amen. I hope you realize how powerful this passage is. It is not always in God’s will for us to be relieved of those things that burden us in this world. It is in His will that we would put our faith in Him, trusting that, one day, all of those things will forever perish and we will live a new, burden-free, everlasting life with our Father. That is a promise, and that promise will be fulfilled in due time. But this life that we are in right now isn’t about that. It’s not about receiving that. It’s about acknowledging it and proclaiming it and worshipping the God who gave it to us. It’s about glorifying God. And sometimes God will be glorified in healing us and removing our infirmities. Sometimes, He has other plans. But we must remember that those plans are always good. Those plans are always better than our plans. In Jesus’ name.

Luke Stewart, December 2023

Thank you, Luke, for allowing me to share your words. And thanks to all my readers who will read and be encouraged through this message. Please take this message to heart, store it in the recesses of your mind so that the truths of Luke’s message will continue to bring encouragement in the future.

Until next time:

Blessings!