daily devotional

I was once told you’ll never know Jesus as a healer if you’re not first sick. How will you ever personally know of Jesus’ healing powers if you never need healing? I will shout it from the roof tops because I know without a shadow of doubt how he heals because this girl right here once couldn’t walk or talk after a stroke, but Jesus changed that. But beyond that … this girl was once too wrapped up in her own world to walk right, and Jesus healed me and set my feet on the right path. I once was too afraid to talk about God, I mean what would I possibly say and what if I got it wrong, then Jesus healed me of that too.

Maybe you’re listening today and you know you’re sick. You know you’re suffering. Or maybe you’re listening today and you have no idea just how sick you are until Jesus comes in and heals you of everything you’ve ever struggled with!

That’s right, we’re not just talking about physical sickness, we’re talking about anything and everything that has ever threatened your potential.

Let’s read about the healing power of Jesus:

Mark 1: 40-42 “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.”

Leprosy was a disease that not only disfigured you, but alienated you. A leper was isolated, left to suffer alone. What they had was contagious and would spread to anyone they came in contact with. When a leper walked through a crowd, they were required to yell “unclean, unclean, unclean.” A warning of their condition. Imagine living this life. A life where something is so wrong with you that others must be warned of your presence. Imagine having to tell people “I am infected and what I have could rub off on you. I could ruin your life.”

Wouldn’t you too beg to be healed of this disease? Wouldn’t you pursue Jesus with every ounce of your energy, effort and means if he was your only hope of living a meaningful life again? That’s what this man infected with leprosy was doing. He was desperate. He came out of his hiding, into public where his disease was on full display, and he begged Jesus to heal him. He begged.

What was Jesus’ response? He was MOVED WITH COMPASSION.

I want you to understand Jesus looks at you with that same compassion today. Why? Because you may be dealing with a crippling disease that is holding you back from fully living the life he came to give you.

A disease of low self-esteem. A disease of regret. A disease of playing little. And just as the lepar’s disease caused him to yell “unclean, unclean” as he entered a crowd, your disease has you yelling “unworthy, unwanted, unimportant.” Something within you is ill and you now see yourself as broken.

For years I battled the disease of performance. At the time I didn’t know it was a disease. I thought it was a high standard, but I was sick. I wanted to be just right for everyone. I wanted everyone to like me and if someone didn’t, then it was a personal attack on my very being. I would worry and fret over how to make every last person happy, and ultimately it not only made me unhappy, it made the people I loved most miserable. I wore labels of “too much” or “too little”. I second guessed everything I said and regretted most of what came flying out of my mouth. I would dress up the areas where I felt I was not enough, and I would shrink back where I felt I was too much. And in the process I was literally losing who God created me to be. My sickness crippled my potential.

What is your disease? What is causing you to lose the person you were created to be? Do you feel unworthy? Unimportant? Unwanted? Incapable? Insufficient? Let me tell you something, JESUS IS WILLING TO HEAL THAT IN YOU. He wants to take that from you so you never battle it again.

You’ve been walking through your life claiming all the reasons why you CAN’T rise up, why you CAN’T change, why you CAN’T overcome, why you CAN’T breakthrough and Jesus is saying, if you’ll seek me I’ll touch you and heal you from the inside out. I’ll fix what’s truly broken inside of you. Jesus is moved with compassion when you seek him for healing and his answer is I AM WILLING.

Why wouldn’t we seek Him for healing over our insecurities, our bad habits, our doubts and fears? If he is so willing, why wouldn’t we boldly seek him to be well?

Here’s why … we look around and we see people who struggle more than us. We see true crisis when we’re just in a little battle. We see people way worse than we are, and honestly in a wee bit of a judgy way we say ‘well, they need God way more than I do.’ SO WE MISS IT. We sit it out when we have an opportunity to line up for what Jesus is handing out.

May I remind you that Jesus can heal you as he’s healing me!

His power is unlimited so you’re not going to use it all up. He can help me with my lack of focus while he helps Tiffany with her lack of commitment, and Josie with her family crisis, and Cecilia with her grief, and Kimberly with her bold move. He can help Krystal with her heart ache, Lisa with her finances, all while he helps Brandi with her next step. He can heal Heather while he heals you. So why wouldn’t you ask? Why wouldn’t you seek him?

I believe it’s easier for us to seek his healing when we have a medical diagnosis. Oh Lord Jesus, the doctor said I’m sick, I need healing. While I’m no doctor, I’m here to tell you today that you are sick and you do need healing. The very things that make you feel unworthy and unable, and cause you to shrink back and play little when you were created for so, so, so much more, these things are KILLING YOU. They’re killing your spirit and they’re robbing you of your potential. SEEK HEALING!

And just in case you feel it’s selfish to ask for healing for yourself, let me remind you, what you have is contagious. Just as the leper stood to infect anyone he came in contact with, you do too. Those doubts and fears that cripple you are infecting your family. Your children are being affected by the crap you’re carrying around. Even if you’re not telling them how unworthy you feel, how overwhelmed you are, how dark the darkness really is at times, they know it. And you’re rubbing off on them. You’re passing this crap down. If you won’t seek healing for yourself, then woman seek healing for them.

Everyday as I interact with the amazing army of women God has given me to mentor, I see their disease. I see how it is affecting them. Through their texts of “I didn’t make myself proud today. I didn’t get up on time. I cheated on my diet once again”, what they’re really saying to me is “Pamela, I’m not good enough. I can’t change. I have always struggled and I will always struggle.” That is a cancer and it is killing them. It is killing you. It is robbing you of the life you were created to live. Matthew 8:17 tells me Jesus took our sickness and removed our diseases. That includes the sickness that tells you you’ll never change. That includes the disease that makes you feel unworthy. The illness that has you stuck with indecision and overwhelm. He came to heal you. He is willing. He is able.

Won’t you seek him for full healing and restoration of anything and everything that has ever held you back? Of anything you could possibly be passing on to your children that will hold them back. Won’t you dare to step fully into the big, beautiful, clean, healthy, fulfilling life available to you today as the whole, complete, and fully redeemed woman Jesus has made you?