Devotionals

Finding Hope in Times of Illness

4 Mins read

Over the course of the last couple years, it seems as though illness has been at the forefront of everything. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, many of us believed that it would be a quick phase that ended as quickly as it arrived.

Now, as we’re over three years removed from the first case, we’ve seen variants, new strains, and continued sickness and suffering on every hand. Even if you haven’t faced Covid, you may be facing another illness. If so, there is hope in times of illness, as we have a God who heals.

When you’re facing times of illness, it’s easy to become afraid. When you were a child, you probably wanted your parents, grandparents, or another caregiver to be with you when you were sick.

As we get older, we look for creature comforts when we’re sick, just to give us a little bit of relief. Being sick, especially a long-term, serious illness, not only damages the body, but it has the power to damage you mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually.

It’s hard to find true, lasting comfort when facing a serious illness. Whether you have received a bad diagnosis from a doctor, or someone close to you has, it’s important that you find some level of comfort when facing the adversity brought about by illness.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is perfectly clear about one thing: God is a healer. The same God who had the power to heal in the Bible is the same God who is actively working in your life today. When you’re facing times of illness, remember that you have a healer, Jehovah-Rapha is able and willing.

You Are Worthy of Being Healed

Matthew 8:1-3 (TPT)
After he came down from teaching on the hillside, massive crowds began following him. Suddenly, a leper walked up to Jesus and threw himself down before him in worship and said, “Lord, you have the power to heal me…if you really want to.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the leper and said, “Of course I want to heal you-be healed! And instantly, all signs of leprosy disappeared.

Lepers were the least important people in society during Biblical days. When a person was diagnosed with leprosy, he or she was forced to leave their homes, their jobs, their families, and everything they had ever known to live out whatever days they had left in a leper colony.

If anyone who wasn’t a leper walked by, lepers were required by the law to shout that they were unclean, so people could steer clear.

This man didn’t follow the law. Instead, he made his way to Jesus. Instead of telling Christ to stay away from him, he got close to Jesus and asked for a miracle. In the eyes of society, he wasn’t deserving. In the eyes of customs and traditions, this should’ve never happened. Look at the words of Jesus. “Of course I want to heal you-be healed!”

Christ wasn’t worried about whether or not the man was important enough to be healed. Instead, He saw a sick individual who needed a miracle. Today, it doesn’t matter how important you are in the eyes of the world. You are deserving a miraculous healing.

Help My Unbelief

Mark 9:22-25 (TPT)
It tries over and over to kill him by throwing him into fire or water. But please, if you’re able to do something, anything-have compassion on us and help us!” Jesus said to him, “What do you mean ‘if’?

If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the believer. When he heard this, the boy’s father cried out with tears, saying, “I do believe, Lord; help my little faith!” Now when Jesus saw that the crowd was quickly growing larger, he commanded the demon saying, “Deaf and mute spirit, I command you o come out of him and never enter him again.”

The man who Jesus had this conversation with was trying to get his son healed. Not only was the boy deaf and mute, but he also had a demonic spirit that caused him to try to kill himself.

He routinely threw himself into fires and water, but he continued to live. When he asked Jesus to heal his son, he asked if Jesus was able. Christ didn’t respond with anger, but He did tell the man that he needed to have faith. The man said, “help my little faith!”

All of us have a tendency to doubt. When we’re asking God for something miraculous, we often put some conditions in place that give us an out if He doesn’t come through. That’s not real faith. Real faith is believing for something that doesn’t seem likely. Real faith is trusting that God is able to do something, even when conventional wisdom says it’s not going to happen.

This man had some faith, but he also had some doubt. Instead of asking God for bigger faith, he asked for less doubt. If you need a healing today, ask God to help you remove the unbelief from your life. Doing so ensures that you’re asking and believing God to do something that only He can do.

God Has Not Changed

Hebrews 13:8 (TPT)
Jesus, the Anointed One, is always the same-yesterday, today and forever.

It’s easy to read the Bible and view it like we view a movie. We see all of these unbelievable miracles taking place, and we usually assume that those were for a different time, a different place, and a different group of people. That’s simply not the case.

The Bible’s accounts of healings and resurrections aren’t limited to the New Testament. Instead, God made sure that there were multiple accounts of people being miraculously healed in the Old Testament. People who were dead were brought back to life, people who were riddled with leprosy were healed, and various other miracles took place thousands of years before Christ was born.

We know that the New Testament is filled with miraculous healings. Some of them were performed by Christ, others were performed by disciples. Others were performed by Paul and the Apostles that he worked with.

We can rest in the promise that the same God who healed in the Old Testament and the New Testament is more than able to heal today. God has not changed, and we can stand on the same promises of healing that the men and women who were healed in the Bible stood on.

A Closing Prayer:

Father, help me to remember Your goodness in the middle of my sickness. I know that I am worthy of being healed, not because of anything that I’ve done, but because of Your love for me. Help me to remember that You have not changed, and You are just as capable of healing today as You were thousands of years ago. Most of all, help my unbelief. In Christ’s name, Amen.

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