Jesus is pushing His way through the crowd and a women who has suffered with bleeding her entire life touches the hem of His cloak and is healed. A young boy that was beset by demons was brought to Jesus and fell on the ground convulsing in front of Him. Jesus reached down and took his hand and lifted him up and he was healed. There was a crippled woman that was bent over for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her He “put His hands on her” and she was healed. By the pool of Bethesda a man was crippled from his birth. Jesus says, “Pick up your bed and go home,” and he was healed. When Jairus, a man that Jesus did not know, came and told Jesus that his daughter was dying Jesus left and went with him immediately. When they told Him that His best bud Lazarus was dying, he waited two more days before He went. (Healed them both by the way.) Bartimaeus the blind man yells for Jesus, “Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus says, “Go, your faith has healed you,” and Bart can see. Another blind man comes and Jesus spits in the mud, wipes it on the guys eyes and says, “Go wash this off.” When he does, he can see. Still another blind man, (Where did they get all of these blind people?) comes to Jesus and Jesus spits directly on his eyes. They guy says, “I can see but not clearly. Men look like trees.” Jesus touches his eyes again and 20/20.
Jon-Mical, my grandson, goes to a Methodist church preschool. I take him every morning and pick him up at noon. One day someone had painted a big cross on the parking lot. Jon-Mical said, “Look PoppyC. Jesus painted a cross on the parking lot.” Then he said with all the innocent affection and admiration that a three year old can muster, “That crazy Jesus.” Now whenever Jesus does something special for us, (and He does a lot!) we all say, “That crazy Jesus.”
Jesus used a lot of different ways and words to bring about healing. In fact, it hardly seems He ever healed any two people in exactly the same way. One time He speaks, another time He touches, and sometimes they even touch Him. Once when the disciples were in the boat and it was stormy He spoke, “Peace, Be still.” Another time He just decided to walk out to them…ON THE WATER.
It seems to me that if Our Lord was not confined to one treatment pattern, if He did not stick with one single modality, then it behooves (I love to be behooved) us to, as Paul says, “become all things to all people so that I might save some.” God seems to make a point of variety, look around you, and He may desire that we be willing to be creative and varied in our attempts to bring healing to others.
Listen, I am as much a rut person as the next guy. I go to and from work the same way every day. I park in the same place. I eat the same oatmeal for breakfast every morning. I have one really comfortable pair of jockey shorts (but let’s don’t go there.) I’m just saying I can get very comfortable with my routine. And that’s okay. When I do the same thing over and over I know it better. I am prepared for all eventualities inside my routine. I can explain it better to others. And I have faith that my routine works. Someone comes in for counseling, I do an intake, I ask them about their family of origin, we go over their APS Temperament profile, and we’re off to the races.
But maybe, just maybe, God is saying that we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made,” that we all bring unique and complex issues to the table and those things get all intertwined in a way that is a little bit different for everybody. Maybe God is saying, “If you trust me I will show you a new way, maybe several new ways, to bring healing and hope to the broken-hearted.”
That is the model that Branches is built on. We believe healing comes just one way and only one way, God does it. But having said that, sometimes He uses EMDR, sometimes talk therapy, sometimes inner-healing prayer, and sometimes deliverance. You know what, sometimes He heals and doesn’t even use me. THINK OF IT!
A few weeks ago I talked to a guy that I had seen a few times and then he didn’t come back. He came up to me in a store to thank me for the amazing changes in his life and how I had helped him so much. His wife was there and she said, “Since he met with you he has been a completely different person. We could not be more happy.” Cool. I’m feeling great so I asked him, “What did I say that made the difference?” He knew immediately. “I can tell you exactly,” he said. “When you said this…..it changed everything for me.” I thanked him and they went on. You know what? I did not say what he said I did. Never have. It’s good. I might start saying to people but I didn’t say it to him. The Holy Spirit comes and He says what needs to be said and He uses what needs to be used and He heals in the way He desires.
So, get out of the rut. Trust God. He might bring healing to you today in new way that you never imagined. Or He might break through at last using the same old method that you have tried a hundred times before. I do know this. He will come. And He will heal. That crazy Jesus. He loves you like that.
Mike