In my last blog I wrote of God creating new hearts in us that we are to guard diligently. It is God’s power operating on our hearts when we trust in Him that will keep us safe from sin’s deception and entanglement.
The spinoff for those who trust in Him is that they will want for nothing. Turning to God in faithful, believing prayer ensures that their daily needs are covered and their sins are forgiven. In short, every blessing of salvation is freely bestowed on all that ask with humble, believing prayer.
This is exactly what Jesus taught us when He gave us the Lord’s Prayer. We ask for God’s kingdom to be here and now and if we truly believe we are in God’s kingdom we can ask for our daily bread, our forgiveness and to be kept safe from the Evil One. There is no room for want, sin and its effects of sickness in God’s kingdom. Jesus is King of our lives and His will reigns over us in every aspect.
And so my mind turns to these words:
“The people of Israel will no longer say, “We are sick and helpless,” for the Lord will forgive their sins” (Isa. 33:24).
As Jesus taught in His oft-recited prayer, we are in God’s kingdom. We are the new Israel (Gal. 3:6-8) and we are blessed to be able to say we have had our sins forgiven and our sicknesses dealt with.
Just as an aside, frequently throughout the Bible sin and sickness are parcelled together. Jesus reiterated this in when He encountered a paralysed man and He said,
“My child, your sins are forgiven.”(Mark 2:5).
When the teachers of religious law objected to Him saying this, Jesus equated sins and sickness together and said,
”Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’?” (Mark 2:8-9).
So I go back to my text and marvel at its prophetic words for us today,
“The people of Israel will no longer say, “We are sick and helpless,” for the Lord will forgive their sins”.
We are living a blessed life in Jesus our Saviour who “was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed” (Isa. 53:5).
It is with joy and gratitude that the saints of God sing,
‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
to his feet your tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
evermore his praises sing.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King!’ (Henry Francis Lyte (1834).
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All quotations are from the NLT.