The Importance Of A Name
An exciting aspect of Christian life is that Jesus gives us
changing seasons .. it seems that a fresh time has begun for me; God recently
reminded me again of His names. In the Old Testament God revealed Himself by
telling the people His different names. In Bible times names meant a great
deal, they fully described a person. This is true for God too.
We even see in the Bible where God changed people's names so
that they would be in line with who God had grown the person to be; I remember
Abram being named Abraham when he was to be "the father of many
nations" (Genesis 17:5). In the New Testament Jesus called Simon “Peter”,
which means "rock". For a while it looked as though Peter was
least-likely-to-succeed as a disciple of Jesus, but as I read his 2nd letter I
am so aware of Peter’s rock-like-ness; his faith is unshakable as he remembers
Jesus love for him and their beautiful and totally secure relationship which
informs every part of Peter's life (John 1:42).
Even today we understand the importance of a person's name
as we seek to call our babies by their "right" name when they are
born .. sometimes we are certain of
what their right name is .. Trish and I had no trouble naming our six children,
mostly we felt that the names were either "right" or were God's gifts to us.
Every one of our kids names still suits them very well! This is a lovely human
characteristic common among the countless cultures throughout the world ..
God's name "Jehovah Rapha" is from the book of
Exodus. "Jehovah" derives from the Hebrew word "Havah" meaning
"The Existing One" or "Lord", or "to be",
"to exist", "to become" or "to become known";
from this we can see why we know Him as God who reveals Himself unceasingly. "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.
This is what you are to say to the Israelites: "I AM has sent me to
you''" (Exodus 3:14).
Similarly "Rapha" has a complex meaning: "to
restore", "to make whole", "to heal" or "to make
healthful", (Exodus 15:26; Psalm 103:3; Isaiah 61:1; Jeremiah 30:17). When
He first gave this name to Israel
It is the very bigness of God's healing that has thrilled
and encouraged me over all the years of my Christian walk. We can contrast it
to the healings available through our (truly wonderful) national health
services .. Our second son Frank was an adventurous Australian Rules football
player, he would go flat out after the ball; one afternoon his efforts earned
him a broken leg. His team-mates took
him to hospital where the doctors set the bones and wrapped his leg in plaster.
The healing of Frank's leg began. (This is very memorable because he and Anlia
were married while Frankie was still in plaster)! So it could be said that the skills of the hospital doctors and nurses healed Frank's broken
leg. God can do much more than this.
We each see God through the lens of our own life and
experience. From my younger years I see that He protected and saved me in the
midst of adventures which could have been disasters. I got lost trekking in the
mountains and nearly drowned while swimming in the sea when it was too rough
and there was a rip .. I didn't know God then, and had not the slightest idea
about Jesus .. even so God saved me, He brought me alive, and very
appreciative, through some memorable and scary times!
You may say that these were not really healings, and this is what I am trying to communicate
.. in the Bible "healing" is a very
big word. When God told Israel Israel Suez
When God heals us, it is much bigger than just fixing one
presenting problem .. God heals all
of us, beyond our thoughts or imaginings "Now
to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works within us" (Ephesians 3:20).
This is
what I get so excited about! God can even heal our nation (2 Chronicles 7:14).
(He asks us, God's people, to become the unified
Church, to humble ourselves together, and to pray and seek His face and turn
from our wicked ways! For some years I have believed that the biggest single
problem in the world today is the lack of unity in the Christian Church .. we
even speak as though we belong to one of 10,000 different churches ..)
In my own testimony, and those of many others, I am
frequently reminded of how Jesus heals us. (Indeed, for a season I was part of
a lovely ministry called "Jesus Heals Us" where we all saw many
miracles! "Jesus Heals Us" continues and blesses many still).
Our Spirit
Our spirit is where we relate to God; Holy Spirit can fill
us so that our spirit and the Spirit of God interact, hallelujah! We can also
relate to other people on a spiritual level; Trish and I are very aware that we
do this. I used to often feel alone. So many of us try to live busy lives to
cover up our alone-ness. Some say that we have a "God shaped hole"
inside us; this was first written about by Pascal who said that we have an
"infinite abyss [which] can be filled only with an infinite and immutable
object; in other words by God himself", (Blaise Pascal, Pensées VII, 1670). Saint Augustine of
Hippo was a wild young man, his mother prayed for a quarter century that he
would come to Jesus and settle down; in his Confessions
(around 400 AD), he said "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our
hearts are restless until they rest in you" .. so true .. God heals our
spirit when He comes to us and we can rest in Him! Jehovah-Rapha.
Our Soul
Our soul is the uniquely "you" part of who you are
and includes our thoughts, memories, our will and our emotions. I guess our "soul"
is our "personality". My lovely Jesus has healed my soul in so many, many
ways .. For a long time I lived in fear; fear for my family and especially for
Trish and our two daughters, but also of random violence against any of us, and
fear of financial collapse, and fear that my many weaknesses would become known
and I would be ridiculed .. Trish and I were at a healing meeting when the
leader said something like: "Jesus wants to heal people from fear .."
I immediately knew he meant me! I was one of the first to walk to the front to
be prayed for. I may even have run, I was so sure this was for me! Jesus healed
me instantly from fear; I can now trust Him to protect all my family .. when I
get a hint of fear I mentally (spiritually?) look over my shoulder and there He
is .. Jesus has our backs, He also walks beside each of us, and is always before us (Matthew 28:20) .. "Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my
redeemer" (Psalm 19:14, and all of Psalm 62). Jehovah-Rapha.
Our Body
Our body is our physical presence, the part of us you can
hug (though our spirit and our soul definitely benefit from hugs too)! Jesus
can heal our bodies and delights in doing so, Scripture tells us that He was
tortured and died so that we can be healed (Isaiah 53:5). After decades of
prayer, study and practice in supernatural healing I confess that I understand
little of it. One of my conclusions is that healing is a sovereign act of God.
Sometimes is seems that not every prayer is answered in a timely way, while at
other times people who appear to us to be much less deserving are miraculously
and spectacularly healed. I am at an age now where I go to funerals; if the
person is Christian these are always celebrations .. we all "know"
that Jesus "took them home" at just the right time. This is a
beautiful form of faith in action! We see that our friend was not healed on
Earth but has received "ultimate" healing and now lives gloriously with
Jesus. Jehovah Rapha.
I have seen hundreds of healings, (probably thousands),
which science cannot explain; these were miracles where the laws of nature were
suspended while God did something only He can do, supernatural events. Some of
these miracles happened to me. That I am alive today is the result of several
miracles .. I live in a state of deep gratitude to Jesus and day by day I can
rejoice in the loveliness of His Creation, within my family and the tiny part
of the world He has placed me in. Not everything in me is healed; doctors and
specialists; hospital clinics, medications and physiotherapy are part of my
daily life, but it's ok .. I rest in peace and joy in the palm of Jesus' hand
(Isaiah 62:3).
Sometimes I will be reading my Bible and come upon a
miraculous healing. This gets me to pondering about the power and glory of that
moment way back in Bible times; natural processes were suspended and God in His
love and compassion reached down and brought a change beyond nature. Somebody saw this and wrote it down for us to
celebrate again all these centuries later! I smile to myself as though to say,
"John why do you act surprised? You read the Bible and see the vast array
of healings there .. you rejoice at the many reports of Jesus healing "all"
who came to Him, now here you are seeing the same thing happening in our world
and in our time .. Jesus never
changes (Matthew 4:24, 8:16, 12:15, 14:36; Mark 6:56; Luke 4:40, 5:15;
Acts 5:16, and Numbers 23:19, James 1:17).
The Bible declares that God is at work in the world and in
the lives of those who believe in Him. This is just so clear to me .. Bless
you.
Favourite Scriptures
"If my people,
who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and
turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive
their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).
"But he was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought our peace was on him, and by his wounds we are
healed" (Isaiah 53:5).
"Do you not know?
Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of
the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can
fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the
weak" (Isaiah 40:18-29).
"But they who
wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings
like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be
faint" (Isaiah 40:31).
"Bless the Lord,
O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all
His benefits: Who forgives all your
iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with
lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who
satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the
eagle's. The Lord executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed" (Psalm 103:1-6).
"News about him
spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various
diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having
seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them" (Matthew 4:24).
"Crowds gathered
also from the towns around Jerusalem
"Every good and
perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17).
"Humble
yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due
time. Cast all your anxiety on him
because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:6-7).
Amen.
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Praise Jesus.
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