healing Archives - Karen Jurgens

Welcome to our third study about GOODNESS. When Jesus walked the earth, His life fully reflected His Father’s perfect goodness. This week we’ll look at some of the stories focusing on Jesus’s words and actions from the New Testament. Pull up a chair and let’s get started!

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”
Matthew 9:35 NKJV

Matthew 13

While on earth, Jesus reflected the goodness of God through His teaching ministry and healing the sick.

Teaching in parables…

During the three years of Jesus’s earthly ministry, He began by preaching the Sermon on the Mount. (Click HERE to read the beginning part–the Beatitudes.) The crowds were astonished by the wisdom, truth, and authority of His teachings. He continued to attract crowds wherever He traveled, and He used parables to explain God’s kingdom.

“On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Then He spoke many things to them in parables…”
Mathew 13: 1-3 NKJV

The parable of the sower…

Do you recall the parable of the sower? (Click HERE to read it.) After Jesus finished speaking, the disciples asked Him why He only spoke to the masses using these metaphors.

“He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled…’ ”
(click HERE to read the prophecy of Isaiah).
Matthew 13:11-14 NKJV

Jesus concluded by assuring His disciples, as believers, of their special standing with God.

“‘But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.'”
Matthew 13: 16-17 NKJV

The purpose of parables was to reveal as well as conceal the truth. Just as in Isaiah’s day, hiding the truth was a judgment for unbelief.

Matthew 13 has several other parables we can study. Verses 13 through 18 explain the spiritual meaning of the sower (click HERE to read). As believers, ask the Lord to reveal their mysteries to you, and He will.

Healing the sick…

One of the main displays of Jesus’s ministry was the miraculous healing of the sick. He opened blind eyes, unstopped deaf ears, made the lame walk, healed lepers, cast out demons, and raised the dead.

The Gospels document many examples of stories about healing. Here are a few of my favorites.

The pool of Bethesda…

Remember the man who had been sick for thirty-eight years? An angel would suddenly stir the waters of the pool, and the first person into the water was healed. The man couldn’t step into the pool fast enough when the waters began to churn, so he never received his healing. Click HERE to read about the miracle Jesus performed for him.

Blind Bartimaeus…

Stories about healing the blind are special to me since my mother and several other relatives suffer from eye diseases. Jesus healed a blind man near Jericho who begged the Lord to restore his sight. Click HERE to read the story.

A demon-possessed man…

Who hasn’t read the famous story of Jesus casting out demons, called Legion, into a herd of swine? Only Christ and His disciples had the power then to cast out demons, but on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in and give all believers the same power. Click HERE to read about this dramatic deliverance.

A deaf-mute …

As Jesus traveled by the Sea of Galilee, they brought a deaf-mute man to Him for healing. Read how Jesus opened his ears and made his speech normal HERE.

How has God’s goodness blessed your life?

Do you have a favorite parable? Would you share it and explain its hidden mystery?

Or…

Do you need healing in your body? Or have you or someone you know ever received the touch of Jesus and been healed? Would you share your testimony with us?

Dear Lord, thank you for God’s goodness in Your teaching ministry and Your miracles of healing. We praise You for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom of God to us. May Your Holy Spirit empower us to share the gospel with the world and draw the lost to the cross of Christ. In Jesus’s Name we pray. Amen.

Front Porch Bible Study Series by Karen Jurgens © Karen Jurgens. All rights reserved

This post was first published on Heartwings Blog.

“M-m-mommy, I-I want my d-d-dolly…” Cait’s tongue knotted as she struggled to spit out the words. She needed a miraculous touch of God.

What had happened to my baby? Was she beginning to stutter? My precious second daughter had begun to speak in full sentences by the time she was thirteen-months-old. Convinced that God had a special anointing for her in communication, it appeared that something was robbing her of that gift before she could turn two.

A recent conversation with another mom at an exercise group sparked more fears. Her son’s stuttering diagnosis required weekly schedules of speech therapy, which she claimed had produced slim results.

Would that be my daughter’s fate as well? We needed a miracle from God.

Searching for answers in the Word

I searched the Word and clung to His promises. Each day I prayed about Cait’s speech, and each day the stuttering grew worse. Should I make an appointment with a therapist? Desperation found a foothold, but the Lord began to work in the situation as I interceded in faith and stood on His Word.

One day, as I agonized over her struggle, I discerned in the spirit that something was holding her tongue. If this signaled a spiritual battle, I had to wage war against it.

I asked Meg, my four-year-old daughter, to pray with me for her sister’s healing. My little prayer partner scooted on the rug beside me, and the three of us joined hands and bowed our heads. By the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony, I bound the enemy and loosed his hold over Cait’s tongue. In Jesus’s name, I commanded the enemy to free her speech and asked the Lord to restore it to perfection.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places ~ Ephesians 6:12, NASB.

Being so young, Cait had no idea that God was touching her that day. But right away, my toddler spoke words that flowed freely for the first time in weeks. As we rejoiced in this miracle, even her eyes widened with amazement, and her face radiated relief.

Cait at 15-months-old

As the days passed, I kept a vigilant eye. Would there be a second attack? I understood from scripture that the enemy doesn’t give up easily.

Sure enough, about three days later, her stuttering resumed. My little prayer partner joined me again, and we prayed just as before. I stood on the Word and declared the enemy was not going to win—Jesus would be victorious!

And the result? A miraculous touch of God. After twenty-six years, the stuttering has never returned. I praise the Lord for His goodness and mercy, who is using Cait today as a gifted journalist.