Healing should always begin in the spirit and work outward towards the body, if that is God’s Will.
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Jas 5:16 NIV
Spirit. As we confess, and as others pray, God hears and restores us. As always, He begins with our spirit, which is the most vital part of our own human trinity. It is here in our spirit, that is joined with the Holy Spirit, where our identity lies. This identity is our growing character. This is that “WHO we are in Christ” that I have talked about before. This is where we become more and more like Jesus as we mature in His Love and Grace. We go from being impatient, for instance, to being more and more patient. Since our spirit is our character which will last for all Eternity, when we confess and others join us in prayer, God will transform us by forgiving the sin and moving us to believe we are WHO God says we are. Then this truth goes outward to our soul.
Soul. Our soul is how we think, what we feel, and the things we want from ourselves, from others and from life in general. As our spirit grows, because it is in union with the Holy Spirit, we begin to adjust what we think, feel and want so that it lines up with God’s Holy Will. We go from thinking only and always about MMI, to thinking about God and others more and more. This is where confession becomes so healing. We admit we have messed up and agree that God’s Way is the best way, then we pray lifting up our short comings to God, Who begins working with our heart to mature us to the next level.
Body. Once we begin to grow spiritually, once our soul begins to align with what God says is Truth, then according to His plan for each person, we may receive physical healing too. Sadly that may not always be the case, as with my Angel Pie, Rebecca, this does not always mean healing all our physical aliments this side of Heaven, but it can mean relieving the stress that anxiety can exert on our bodies. This can mean calming our minds so that we can feel more at peace. This can mean helping us get rid of anger and the toxic chemicals that can worsen any illness. God alone knows what full healing will look like for each individual, but as we pray, we can be assured that healing is happening in us, first our spirit, then hopefully our soul, then if God has planned for it, our bodies too. Our prayers and the prayers of our brethren are heard by God because He calls us righteous.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
September: 35- Mt 16:24; 36- Isa 53:6; 37- Ps 23:1-6
October: 38- Heb 4:12; 39- Jn 15:5
40- Jas 5:16
<>< Peace, Diane
