Jesus Satisfies Your Heart with Hope
We all need hope.
Biblical hope is the confident expectation that God will fulfill His promises to you because your hope is based on the character and faithfulness of God.
Hope through healing
“Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” (Psalm 103:2)
Why did Jesus perform so many miracles?
- Miracles authenticate the message and the messenger. Jesus’ miracles demonstrated that He is God and that His message has authority.
- Jesus demonstrated God’s compassion for His people in healing their diseases.
- Jesus showed that He has power beyond that of an ordinary man. The laws of the natural world, which He created, were not boundaries for Him.
- The miracles were also evidence that Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the Messiah.
- Jesus showed that He was God on earth.
How does God still heal today?
- God still performs miracles today though we may not see them as often as we’d like. Miracles are initiated by God. People are the miracle conduits.
- Miracles still authenticate the message and the messenger. For someone claiming to do miraculous things, always make sure their message exalts Jesus as the only way to God, that the Bible is their only authority, and that forgiveness of sins is found only through Jesus Christ. Then, you can be confident that you are seeing the genuine works of God.
- Remember that the greatest miracle of all is what God does to change a human heart from the inside out and redeem a lost life. He is doing that in abundance everywhere.
- In Psalm 103, the phrase “heals all your diseases” could also refer to God enabling the human body to heal itself.
- Jesus has the right to choose what He brings into our lives. We will see throughout Mark that He tells us to stop being afraid, to keep on believing, and to hold onto hope.
Hope through comfort when healing is delayed
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles,” (2 Corinthians 1:3)
- The promise is that our God comforts us in ALL our troubles, including those that happen to us like chronic illness as well as those we cause because of wrong choices we make.
- God chose not to heal Paul’s physical ailment. Paul’s response was to rejoice in his weakness so that Christ’s power would be on him. Being able to rejoice in your weakness frees you from bondage to it and moves you in the direction that will give you hope. 2 Corinthians 12:9
- Through any life challenge, including physical debilitation, God wants us to learn to depend more on God and His great power and to rely less on ourselves. Sometimes we want to just quit. It’s God’s power in us that makes us strong during those times. In His strength, we receive hope through comfort.
“There were always only two answers to your prayers—either she was going to be healed or she was going to be healed. Either she was going to live, or she was going to live. Either she was going to be with family, or she was going to be with family. Either she was going to be well taken care of, or she was going to be well taken care of.…The two answers to your prayer are yes and yes. Because victory belongs to Jesus.” (Jonathan Evans)
- We have a big God. Yet, God may not choose to rescue you from everything that is threatening you or from poor decisions made by you or someone close to you. You may face what seem like insurmountable circumstances in your life. You may have to give up something that gives you security. You may be waiting for God to answer a desperate prayer. Are you willing to accept the yes He wants to give?
- You may feel that God isn’t noticing your pain. He knows. He chooses what will make you more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And suffering is an important instrument in His hands much as you may hate it.
- In your pain, you can say to Him, “I am your daughter, Lord. Help me to deal with this situation through your power. Please give me your hope and comfort.”
- Remember that God is good all the time. You can trust His goodness in whatever He chooses to do in your life. Trouble is part of human life. Christians who are loved by God will suffer some troubles in this world, but Jesus is Your comforter when you hurt.
Let Jesus satisfy your heart with hope, healing, and love as you get to know Him and trust Him more each day.
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