Worthy Devotions - Daily Christian Devotional » Illness

James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

Jesus asked this man “Do you want to be made well?” Of course he did! Wouldn’t you? Why did Jesus ask a question like this when its answer was so clearly obvious? It seems the Lord wanted to hear him verbalize his need.

In the biography of George Mueller, a strong man of God who established orphanages throughout England in the 1800’s and raised the kids up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, this amazing Saint relied upon God for every single need that he faced without making any financial appeals. He laid before the Lord every aspect of these orphanages. He prayed for the locations, the buildings, the furniture to fill them, the workers to run them, and everything else he could think of. When the first orphanage was ready, Mueller realized one major thing was lacking — orphans!! He forgot to ask the Lord to provide the orphans!

Sometimes the obvious things just smack us in the face, don’t they? On several ocassions, I’ve found myself in this very position! Silly me — I forgot to ask!

The Lord is asking us today, “Do you want to be made well?” Whether it be physical healing, spiritual, emotional or financial healing, no thing is too great or too small for our Lord! Perhaps we’ve just forgotten to ask Him!

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

We’ve been working on so many different things recently and we’re just exhausted. But this is a word of advice the Lord gave us. Perhaps it’s for some of you too.

Oftentimes we forget that our spiritual, mental and emotional livelihood is directly connected to our physical one. What I mean by that is when we don’t take care of our bodies, not only can we get physically sick, but spiritually, mentally and emotionally as well. The media and the medical industry may have a lot of ideas and “quick fixes” for getting healthy but it really all boils down to a few important fundamentals.

Let’s consider for a minute the way we’ve been treating our bodies. Have we been drinking enough water? Lot’s of water is the number one cure for many bodily ailments including weight loss. Are we eating the kinds of things we should? We can’t expect to put junk in our bodies and expect them to function normally. Are we moving enough? We need to get some form of exercise each day, even if it’s just taking a stroll around the block a few times. I know exercise is a scary word for some of us, but it’s so very important! Are we getting enough sleep? At least eight hours a night for any length of time is key!

Have you been running, running, running and losing your cool? When we don’t take care of our body the way we should, it’s bound to happen! Want to do greater things for the Lord? Want to get God’s direction for your life? Want to get more stable mentally and emotionally? Let’s commit to taking care of our body. It is the Temple of the Holy Spirit living in us. We should strive to keep it in good shape. There’s so much work to be done!!

Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

In one passage in John, Mary and Martha come running to Jesus, asking Him to heal Lazarus, who was critically ill. Since Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus, I’m sure they were expecting that Jesus would come immediately to his aid. The scripture says, however, that Jesus stayed two more days in the place where He was. It was in those two days that Lazarus died.

It’s so hard to understand why it is that God waits to do the things we ask of Him. It’s good for us to remember, though, that He has His purposes for waiting. God was about to teach everyone involved a much deeper lesson here. As Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He made sure they all understood that He is the resurrection and the life for all who believe.

God has His perfect timing for everything under heaven. You may be waiting for God to intervene in some area of your life. You may have been begging and pleading with God for years on that particular thing. But we can relax and know that God’s timing is perfect. We never know what God is doing behind the scenes, in order that our joy would be made full. Remember that He knows best what would bless us most and He is working all things for those of us who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Relax. God is in control. He has greater things for you than what you could ask or think!

Judges 16:20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

My wife was feeling terrible earlier this week. For a few straight days, she was battling bouts of fatigue, nausea and dizziness and we couldn’t figure out what was going on. Finally last night, she tried drinking a few glasses of water — lo and behold, the sickness left her instantly!

When tourists come to Israel, and especially to these southern parts where we live, one of the first things they’re warned is to make certain they drink enough water. The climate here is very dry — it fools you into thinking it’s not as hot as it really is. You might not even feel thirsty, and before you know it, you can collapse from dehydration.

Experts say that although thirst would seem to be a main indicator of dehydration, it is actually not. By the time one feels thirsty, he or she may very well already be dehydrated!

Could the same be true with us spiritually? How many of us are walking around spiritually dehydrated and we don’t even realize it? Satan, the enemy of our souls, would love nothing more than to keep us very busy and unaware of our dire need for the living water of the Word, prayer, worship and Godly fellowship. But we need to be smarter and take time to drink enough of these important nutritious spiritual beverages, that we might be strong and ready to do the work of the Lord!

Let’s examine ourselves today. Have we been drinking enough? Let’s make sure we are! We don’t want to collapse — there’s so much work to be done!