Thinking about favor and healing

This week in our series, "Destiny 2011" we are focused on healing.  Two weeks from now we will take a look at the word "favor".  After looking at a number of healing scriptures, I was impressed by the Luke 4:18-21 text in which Jesus reads a prophesy about the coming Messiah and then points to himself as the fulfillment.

Physical healing is a part of the spiritual redemption and restoration that we gain in Christ.  In Luke 4, Jesus reads, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Take a deeper look at the phrase, "the year of the Lord's favor".  It refers to the year of Jubilee described in Leviticus 25.  The year of Jubilee took place every 50 years in the Hebrew calendar.  It was a year of redemption, freedom, and restoration.  What a powerful principle at work so early in the Hebrew religion.

Healing is a part of God's nature and design for you and me.  Just as God wants to redeem our souls, He wants to restore our physical bodies to health.  Let's pray for God's work of restoration to be active in our physical bodies as well as our spirits.

See you Sunday.  Pastor Tom