God’s character is fundamentally one of a healer. God is concerned about your overall well-being, including your bodily, mental, and emotional health and spiritual vigor (Psalm 103:2-3). Knowing that God is Jehovah-Rophe, the Great Physician, we realize that He alone is the source of all healing.
God our Healer has not changed and never will. Jesus continues to work miracles. Similar to how He protected ancient Israel from sickness through the commandments, God acts through modern medicine. Only He can bring about long-lasting restoration to our brokenness.
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What Does God Our Healer Mean?
By healing the ill, Jesus Christ demonstrated He is a great physician. Jesus traveled around Galilee, “curing every ailment and sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Large crowds followed Jesus to Judea, where He treated their ailments (Matthew 19:2).
In fact, “they put the sick in the marketplaces everywhere he went—into villages, towns, or the countryside. They pleaded with Him to let them merely touch the edge of his cloak, and everyone who did so was healed (Mark 6:56). Jesus provided medical healing for people[1]. Still, He also provided spiritual healing by pardoning their sins (Luke 5:20). Jesus consistently and amply demonstrated that He was Jehovah-Rapha in the flesh.
What Does It Mean That God Is Jehovah-Rapha?
Jehovah is derived from the Hebrew word Havah, which can be interpreted as “to be,” “to appear,” or “to become visible,” and Rapha, which can be interpreted as “to repair,” or “to cure,” and which together can imply “God who heals,” are the roots of the name Jehovah Rapha. Yahweh-Rapha is another name for Jehovah-Rapha.
“I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians because I am the Lord, who heals you if you carefully listen to the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes if you pay attention to His commandments and keep all His decrees” (Exodus 15:26).
God first revealed His name, Jehovah-Rapha, in the context of an event early in the Israelites’ wanderings in the wilderness. They had just crossed the Red Sea after leaving Egypt. They journeyed through the desert for three days without coming across any water when Moses led them into the Shur Desert (Exodus 15:22). The Lord was putting their faith to the test.
In What Ways Does God Heal As Jehovah-Rapha?
The Israelites initially encountered God as Jehovah-Rapha following their flight from Egypt. After three days of walking in the Desert of Shur, the Israelites were in dire need of water. They found a river, but the water was unsafe for drinking.
The Israelites gave the river the name Mahra to reflect the purity of the water and their emotional state. By giving Moses the command to toss a piece of wood into the water, God used His supernatural power to purify the water and make it suitable for drinking.
The Israelites had witnessed the ten plagues that God had sent over all of Egypt before releasing them from slavery. They were also given this assurance through this promise. We frequently prefer mending to dealing. To cure us, however, God must address the cause of our suffering, such as betrayal, hurt, or rejection.
Several biblical verses provide many examples of God’s incredible healing ability as Jehovah-Rapha to deal with the following: illness and disability (Psalm 41:3), recovery from a mental illness (Jonah 2:5-7), spiritual exhaustion (Psalm 23:3), emotional distress (Psalm 147:3), and worry or fear (John 14:27).
We can pray to God and invoke His healing name in our lives. This can serve as a reminder of how God has healed the wounds of His people in the past and He will also intervene on our behalf. However, we must constantly remember that although God heals, He may do so in a surprising method.
Why Do We Need God’s Healing In Our Lives?
As to why God healed, it’s a straightforward question, but as Christians, we occasionally tend to obfuscate the obvious. We create a dust cloud, then whine that we can’t see. Jesus must have valued healing because he performed it frequently.
He taught his followers how to heal, and they, in turn, led His followers on how to heal. No matter where we are on our spiritual journeys, God delights to make things right in our bodies, souls, and spirits.
Sometimes the stated intent of healing is to exalt God. That was one of the main goals of bringing Lazarus back to life. The disciples heard Jesus say, “This illness will not result in death. No, it is done for God’s glory so that God’s Son can be exalted by it” (John 11:4).
Then he addressed Martha, saying, “Did I not tell you that you will enjoy abundant peace from God if you believe?” (John 11:40). Jesus demonstrated that He was the resurrection and the life when He raised Lazarus from the dead. This evidence greatly exalted God and the Son of God.
God’s promise to work through the church elders to bring about healing is another reason why I think it should be the church’s primary mission today. If the entire church were to take God’s mandate seriously, we would see far more healing than we do now. James 5:16 commands all Christians to “pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
3 Ways God Is Our Healer
I claim that God wants to forgive all my sins and cure my entire being, including my heart, soul, my own body, mind, and spirit. And He desires the redeemed to pray for their healing as a sign of faith and reliance on Him and to be aware of the source of our ultimate restoration. While some parts of our being are healed right away, He heals other parts of us gradually to conform us to the image of Christ.
1. Dear friend, listen carefully to the good news of healing scriptures and believe that God is a physical healer and He will forgive all your sins. Even though doctors may claim that medical science causes healing, God nevertheless works through them and grants them understanding.
Nutritionists may argue that taking natural supplements leads to good health, but God also uses the natural healing elements that He created. Through the strength of prayer and the Holy Spirit, God can heal all your diseases.
2. God cures not just the physical pain but also the illness of self. Even when the disease of sin has been atoned for, we can accept Jesus into our lives, claim the gift of eternal life, and identify as His children, but the disease of self still has to be cured.
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is there in me, but the carrying out of the good is not there” (Romans 7:18). The Apostle Paul said that referring to the conflict between his ego and the spirit of God.
3. God can remove emotional pain. Physical injuries or illnesses aren’t always more severe or agonizing than emotional ones. Lack of parental love, rejection or betrayal’s unbearable pain, the psychological horror of rape, or the inexplicable grief of losing a child, spouse, or anybody you dearly loved can all seem incurable. God never intended for us to go through that kind of anguish and sadness.
Only God can fully handle that. All persons can be healed through the Gospel on a physical, moral, and spiritual level. We have eternal life, the Holy Spirit’s direction, and a relationship with God because of Christ.
Conclusion
Finding the motivation to start your recovery can feel like too much while going through a challenging situation, such as illness, a broken heart, or loss. Nonetheless, reading a particular chapter might bring about a sense of comfort or even give you the courage to continue on your path to recovery.
And if you practice Christianity by reading Bible verses and being aware of different healing miracles, several encouraging verses can act as potent reminders that you can overcome challenges and that God is always there to support you and has the power to forgive sins.
