LIGHT OF FAITH FOR HEALING (4)

“Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly” – Mark 8:25

There is an insistence, persistence, and relentlessness that comes with the LIGHT of FAITH for HEALING: “So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly (Mk.8:23-25). Jesus healed a blind man by placing spit on his eyes and laying hands on him, and through this encounter, perfectly modelled how we should deal with disappointment, discouragement, and the lack of immediate results with healing.

This healing did not completely manifest at the first point of contact. After the Lord laid hands on him, He asked a question that we usually shy away from: “How is your condition?” The Lord asked if he could see anything. This is where many get disenfranchised with the whole healing process and in turn disengage. It’s not uncommon to hear: “You can’t see perfectly because you didn’t have enough faith to receive your complete healing.” Jesus – our Model – did not say this. He had prayed with some improvement, but not complete healing.

The man saw “men like trees walking” – blurry, partial (v.24b). Jesus’ response was loving and compassionate; no rebuke or condemnation. He simply “put His hands on his eyes again” (v.25). He was modeling persistence; how we must press on, keep praying, lay hands again, or keep believing God for our healing. When answers do not come with fast food speed, let’s remember that on the other side of persistence is breakthrough: “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7-8).

Persistence and perseverance should be both ways: with the minister and the recipient. The account of four men who lowered their paralyzed friend through a roof to get to the Lord Jesus, comes to mind: “Jesus saw their faith” (Mk.2:5). The Light of Faith shines visibly when we recognize the superior reality of the invisible world and dominion of God’s Kingdom; when we are confident that God’s Realm is characterized by the absence of sin and all of its byproducts, including sickness. Our model is “on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt.6:10b). If sickness does not exist in God’s world, it should not exist in my world, in my life, and in my body, a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor.6:19-20).

Beloved, let’s follow the Master’s Model, sustaining an attitude of relentlessness, persistence, and never-give-up spirit.