III John | Kristi's Morning Devotional

Rising early is what I do – most days. This morning for no reason at all I was awake at 1:30 am and then I lay in bed trying to go back to sleep – that just seemed a little too early to get up. But at 3, I was up – put the dog out, the coffee on, and sat down in my daughter’s rocking chair, for what?

To pray!! To pray for each of you who are reading this. Praying is one of my favorite things to do.

After praising and thanking God for His goodness and His love, I prayed for my family and those I know so well; I prayed for our nation, our leaders and our country. Then I prayed as Paul said in I Corinthians 14:15 “I will pray with my spirit and I will pray with my understanding also”. As I prayed with my spirit, I asked the Lord to minister through me to each person who reads this this morning.

First I prayed, ” Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. ” III John 2, that you prosper spirit, soul and body.

Then I prayed that “God will save you from hidden dangers and from deadly diseases. 4 You can go to him for protection. He will cover you like a bird spreading its wings over its babies. You can trust him to surround and protect you like a shield.” Psalm 91:3-4.

I prayed for you from Proverbs 25:26 “Good people who don’t stand strong against evil are like springs that have been polluted or pools that have turned dirty and muddy.” I pray that you will stand strong and be an influence of godliness in this world that so desperately needs God’s love.

And lastly, also from Proverbs 25:21-22, I prayed “If your enemies are hungry, give them something to eat. If they are thirsty, give them some water. 22 This will make them feel the burning pain of shame, and the LORD will reward you for being good to them.”

Your enemies need compassion. This is one of the only ways they are going to see the love of God in their lives. Jesus prayed for those who persecuted him and on the cross He asked the Father to forgive them. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, as he was being stoned to death, prayed that the Father not hold these things to the charge of those who were casting the rocks. Today you may have the opportunity to do something kind for those who have tried to destroy you, ask the Lord to show you how. He loves them too.

This morning I have prayed all of this for you. As you read this, I hope you pray these things for yourself and for others. We can join our prayers together! The great thing about praying scripture verses is that we know we are praying God’s will because His word is His will. He promises that His word will not be void of power or purpose but will accomplish what it was sent to do.

“In the same way, my words leave my mouth, and they don’t come back without results. My words make the things happen that I want to happen. They succeed in doing what I send them to do.” Isaiah 55:11

I feel privileged to pray for you and I thank the Father for blending our hearts together by His Spirit.

We can’t leave Psalm 103 just yet. Yesterday we just looked at a couple of the promises that the Lord had for us this. This morning I want us to look again at verse 3.

“He forgives all our sins and heals all our sicknesses.” Psalm 103:3 CEV

I was really amazed the first time I read this verse. As I said yesterday, I knew God would forgive my sins but no one had ever told me that He would heal me from sickness. Having grown up in Sunday School I had heard the stories of people Jesus had healed in the Bible. There were some lepers, lame men, some who were blind, a woman with a bleeding problem, a couple people who had died and been raised to life again and then scores who had various sicknesses and diseases.

I believed that Jesus did miracles but I had no confidence that He would heal me. There you have it – So as I heard people start to teach about healing and say that God wanted me well I was skeptical. I had the mindset that maybe God would and maybe He wouldn’t but when I read this verse there was no getting around the word ALL.

“Jesus went everywhere in the country of Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and told the Good News about God’s kingdom. And he healed all the people’s diseases and sicknesses. 24 The news about Jesus spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all those who were sick. They were suffering from different kinds of diseases and pain. Some had demons inside them, some suffered from seizures, and some were paralyzed. Jesus healed them all.” Matthew 4:23-24 CEV

There it was again – ALL.

“From there, Jesus went along Lake Galilee. Then he climbed a hill and sat down. 30 Large crowds came and brought many people who were crippled or blind or lame or unable to talk. They placed them, and many others, in front of Jesus, and he healed them all. 31 Everyone was amazed at what they saw and heard. People who had never spoken could now speak. The lame were healed, the crippled could walk, and the blind were able to see. Everyone was praising the God of Israel.” Matthew 15:29-31 CEV

I was beginning to see this “all” in a new light but my mind was telling me that this was for the Bible days when Jesus was in his physical body and physically touching people. Jesus wasn’t physically in front of me, could I be healed like this?

“My son, listen to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them leave your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.” Proverbs 4:20-22 NLV

By listening to and reading God’s word I had learned about forgiveness. I learned about healing the same way, it came from God’s word. Jesus never turned anyone away who came to Him for healing. In fact He sent his disciples out as his representatives with a command to heal. It was all part of what He came to do – forgiveness, healing and peace of mind.

“When you go, tell them this: ‘God’s kingdom is now very near.’ 8 Heal the sick. Bring the dead back to life. Heal the people who have leprosy. And force demons out of people. I give you these powers freely, so help others freely.” Matthew 10:7-8 ERV

As I studied I found that the Lord had provided both forgiveness and healing. It was His will for me.

“The fact is, it was our suffering he took on himself; he bore our pain. But we thought that God was punishing him, that God was beating him for something he did. 5 But he was being punished for what we did. He was crushed because of our guilt. He took the punishment we deserved, and this brought us peace. We were healed because of his pain. 6 We had all wandered away like sheep. We had gone our own way. And yet the Lord put all our guilt on him.” Isaiah 53:4-6 CEV

There are so many more verses that I could give on healing and it being God’s will for us but I won’t list them now. I hope that you will begin to see that you can go to the Father when you body is weakened by sickness and disease and receive healing just like you receive forgiveness. I began trusting the Lord for healing over 40 years ago. I started out small – praying over a headache, a toothache, the sniffles. Through the years I have seen my body healed, my children, my husband, friends and strangers. Health has become a way of life.

Yes, I have physical health issues from time to time. Yes, I go to the doctor for their help when needed. Doctors aren’t evil – medicine isn’t bad but I pray first. I get the Lord working on my healing before I trust it to anyone else. And then I don’t just trust Him for healing, I trust Him for health. It’s great to be healed from some sickness or disease but it’s even better not to be sick in the first place.

There is so much to share and I’m limited by the length of a blog but I told you I would share with you the verses that I have written on my cards. These are some of those verses. I will close with a prayer that the Apostle John prayed. It is my prayer for you…

“My dear friend, I know that you are doing well spiritually. So I pray that everything else is going well with you and that you are enjoying good health.” III John 2 ERV

Category: III John

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