God’s goodness is revealed throughout the Old Testament. But the best and most perfect revelation of it comes to us in the New Testament through His Son. Jesus is the fullest expression of the Father’s heart. Jesus embodies the character and nature of God and He told His disciples, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9, The Amplified Bible). Hebrews 1:3 in The Amplified Bible calls Jesus “the sole expression of the glory of God…the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature.” We know everything Jesus said and did while He was on the earth was an expression of the will of God because He said, “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things …. I do always those things that please him” (John 8:28-29).
Therefore, if we’d like to know what God desires to do for us today, all we have to do is look at the ministry of Jesus and see what He did for people while He was on the earth. See His attitude toward people and you see God’s attitude. See His heart and you see God’s heart. Acts 10:38 sums up His ministry by saying, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Jesus went about doing good because God is good. According to this verse, we can know for sure that it seems good to God for all to be healed. Jesus said, “ … the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10). God the Father was present and involved in every healing and deliverance. God the Father and Jesus His Son can never change. They are good and everything they do is good because they love mankind. Healing comes straight from their heart!
The religious people in Jesus’ day were no different than many religious people today. They were constantly upset with Jesus because the things He did violated their religious traditions — things like healing people on the wrong day of the week and letting His disciples pick grain to eat on the Sabbath. Obviously, Jesus did not care as much about religious traditions as He did about people, because that’s the way God is. When He saw people were physically hungry, He didn’t just turn His back and say, “Well, they’ll be OK. They ought to be fasting more anyway.” No, “Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way” (Matthew 15:32). Then He worked a miracle to feed them. It was the Father’s will. In the same way, when people were spiritually hungry, He fed them with the Word. He sat down among them and taught them scriptural principles through stories, unfolding the mysteries of heaven to them. When people were sick and came to Him, Jesus healed them. One of my favourite accounts of Jesus’ heart to heal is that of blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10, starting at verse 46. Bartimaeus heard Jesus was coming, and he cried out to Him, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.” The disciples tried to shut him up, but he cried out even more — he wanted to be healed! When he cried out, the scripture says Jesus then stopped and stood still. Faith always gets Jesus’ attention. When the disciples called the blind man to Jesus, Bartimaeus jumped up from the place where he sat, threw off his garment and came running. Listen to the heart of Jesus, hear His kindness and goodness as He responds in Mark 10:51-52: “Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” That was Jesus’ heart.
Now, religious tradition might say, “God doesn’t always choose to heal. Sometimes He will heal you and sometimes He won’t.” But the life of Jesus proves otherwise. He healed every person who ever reached out to Him in faith, believing and acting on what He said. Healing is not a doctrine. It is straight out of the heart of God because He loves you and me! You only need to read some of the accounts of His ministry to know this to be true. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them (Matthew 4:23 24). When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick (Matthew 8:16). Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all (Matthew 12:15). And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole (Mark 6:56). …and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; and they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all (Luke 6:17-19). What other conclusion can you draw from this but that healing is God’s heart? Jesus heals anyone and everyone! Why? Because He is just like Father God—He is good and He loves us and healing is an expression of His love and goodness!
Jesus was always willing to express His heart of love. Whatever those who came to Him for help needed, He supplied. And nothing has changed. He is just as full of compassion today as ever. He was easily entreated, and receiving from Him was always easy. Man-made religious tradition would have us believe God is not willing to heal all who come to Him, but that He demands near perfection from us before He is willing to give us anything. Jesus demonstrated that God loves everyone and desires to meet the needs of all who come to Him in faith. Certainly among the multitudes who reached out to Him in these scriptural accounts were those who were just like some today — imperfect people who fail and make mistakes. People who, by their own natural merits, do not deserve to receive anything from God. Yet Jesus healed every one of them. Jesus showed us at the wedding feast in Cana that when He is asked, He will step in to meet what some would consider even the most insignificant needs. The hosts of the wedding had run out of wine — an embarrassing situation to be sure, but hardly of great significance. Yet when Jesus’ mother called on Him for help, He abundantly met the need by turning the water, not into ordinary wine, but into such wonderful wine that “the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now” (John 2:9-10). That was so characteristic of Jesus! He never failed to give the best to those who came to Him in faith for help. According to His own words in John 14:9, when you see Him, you have seen His heavenly Father — you have seen a perfect picture of the compassion and goodness of God.
You may say, Well, that was how Jesus was back then. But does He still deal with us that way now? The answer is, Yes! Year in and year out, I am privileged to share the healing ministry of Jesus with people around the world. I have witnessed hundreds of healings straight from Jesus’ heart, and I receive reports from hundreds more every year! And in the Body of Christ worldwide, healing from the heart of Jesus is as prevalent as it ever has been. We can read about healing and deliverance through the technology of the Internet. God has made a way that any hour of the day we can watch Christian programming on television and witness the healing power of Jesus. We can know beyond a doubt Jesus heals today! Will Jesus heal you? Yes, He will! Jesus loves you! He doesn’t care where you are from, how hard your heart may have been, or however tough you think your “case” may be. None of that matters. What matters is: Do you have faith? Do you believe what Jesus says? Will you dare to believe Him when He asks, “What would you have Me do for you?” Will you boldly respond, “Jesus, I believe You love me, I believe You are good, and I believe You desire to heal me!”? Really, it’s just that easy for us to receive healing from Jesus today. Hebrews 13:8 tells us, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” Jesus is the never-changing expression of the heart of God the Father. He is the same right now as He was when He walked the shores of Galilee and healed every person who reached out to Him in faith. He is good, He does love you, and He is always ready to heal you. What would you have Him do for you today?
Content taken from BVOV January 2014
