2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 2 NKJV
We've been in a study of God's Grace pertaining to healing. We've seen that God is the hope we cling to. We've seen that our focus should be Jesus and not our imperfections. Last time we explored how our sins and shortcomings won't deter us from receiving what Grace has already provided.
Continuing along this line, I felt compelled to explore God's goodness and His Grace deeper when it comes to healing. I want to share a divine healing and wholeness truth I have never heard anyone minister. This doesn't mean it hasn't been ministered somewhere before, it's just I haven't personally heard anyone minister on this.
In order to illustrate this truth I want us to revisit a passage in Mark's Gospel and see God's healing Grace in action. We saw in an earlier post in Mark 5, the account of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, reveals God's healing in the gift of righteousness. Surrounding this account we also see the healing of Jairus' daughter. To save time you can read the full account of this marvelous healing here.
In this powerful passage of God's healing mercy and Grace, we see many wonderful truths revealed. In verse 38 and 39 of this passage Jesus hears the commotion and sees the dreary and depressing atmosphere, He interjects faith, hope, and joy into the situation. In the remaining passages Jesus dispels the doubt and removes the unbelieving ones and ministers resurrection life and healing to the child.
This account of the healing of Jairus holds all these truths of walking in wholeness. Trusting in Jesus alone, keeping your joy, and dispelling doubt. Yet there is one thing Jesus told Jairus that is critical.
35 While He was still speaking, there came some from the ruler’s house, who said [to Jairus], Your daughter has died. Why bother and distress the Teacher any further? 36 Overhearing but ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear; only keep on believing. Mark 5:35-36 AMPC
This is a powerful statement by the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly, allowing fear to direct your thinking hinders us from fully trusting God. At times, when fear is driving someone, they won't trust in God alone, but will look to other means and sources to find help and hope. I am not referring to going to a Doctor or seeking medical care, or taking medications. I am talking about trying to solve our problems or finding resolutions to our troubles in our own strength. Much of performance based faith is founded on fear and anxiety rooted in condemnation.
While it is true that fear and anxiety and worry can hinder trust in God, as Jesus infers in this passage I see another area of fear that hinders us in fully trusting in Christ. When Jesus spoke these words to Jairus He was saying, in essence, don't have confidence and trust in the negative but have a confident expectation in me and me alone. I am the only source of hope and help and healing.
What is the area that produces much anxiety and uncertainty and produces a lack of confidence in a believer? It is having a lack of full assurance of salvation. It is having no confidence that salvation is truly eternal and forever secure. Where there is a question as to whether or not our salvation is secure there will exist an uncertainty, no matter how minute, in the minds of believers.
What am I saying? A Christian who has come to believe that there exist a point of no return where one can lose or forfeit salvation hinders complete trust in Christ. How can I say this? I have personally heard testimonies of believers who thought it was possible to commit an unpardonable sin. Many thought that they had actually committed such a sin. They were fearful that they had crossed some line and there was no more hope for them.
If we can't fully trust Christ to keep us saved after we received Him and His free gift of Grace, how could we then have complete trust that He would honor the rest of His promises? Some may be resisting this concept. Some may be thinking you're way off brother. Some may even be saying to themselves;
"So you're saying because I reject eternal security, I have a weak faith?"
"Because I refuse to believe in once saved always saved I don't fully trust in Christ to meet my needs?"
Some may be upset at me or even angry at me for even suggesting this. I submit to you that there exist a connection between a full confident trust in Christ and confident expectation of receiving all He promised and purchased by Grace, and an acceptance and understanding of an eternally secure salvation in Christ. This connection of healing and eternal security I have never heard ministered on. Yet as I meditated on what Christ spoke to Jairus I saw the connection.
Let me share an account of my life to you that better illustrates this. While serving in the United States Military, during some off time I ventured into town and found a Christian ministry that had an outreach for those serving. It had refreshments and a place to meet others and enjoy fellowship. I recall meeting a brother who believed in eternal security. At this time, I had not accepted this truth. Of course, I had to disagree with him. We only spoke a few moments. Yet he possessed a quality of joy and peace and happiness that I did not have. Why was this?
You must understand, I was a Spirit-filled believer. I had ministered healing to others. I flowed in God's supernatural gifts. I certainly had a level of joy in my walk because of the Spirit. Yet, this brother who belonged to a denomination that didn't believe in the Gifts of the Spirit for today still had such a great level of joy that surpassed mine. The reason? Because his hope and trust were founded in the confident expectation that what God started in Him would be completed by Christ alone, not his efforts.
6 I am confident that the Creator, who has begun such a great work among you, will not stop in mid-design but will keep perfecting you until the day Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, returns to redeem the world. Philippians 1:6 Voice
Great joy, everlasting peace, and complete confidence and rest are made fully aware when we understand just how complete and secure our salvation in Christ truly is. When we know He will preserve us to the very end, and present us spotless to our Father in Heaven, we rest assured in the knowledge that we will arrive fully complete and perfectly whole. In His perfect and secure hands, we can confidently expect wholeness and healing. We are perfectly secured in His hands. Nothing the enemy or this fallen World brings against us can truly prevail!
This sounds like good news, but what about those passages that seem to suggest we can lose or forfeit salvation? What about Hebrews 6? What about Hebrews 10? What about 2 Peter 2? These are all posts that examine these often misunderstood Scriptures. It appears you don't have one on 2 Timothy, that passage really proves we can forfeit salvation. Yep, I have a post on 2 Timothy 2. Remember obscure passages don't change or alter clear Scripture.
In summation, rest in your eternally secure salvation and embrace a confident expectation of all Christ has done. He has forever saved us and provided for us all things that pertain to life, both here and in eternity. Embrace the fullness of His great Grace. Saved, secure and completely made whole because of what Christ purchased for us by Grace.
