Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
HEBREWS 13:8
He was a pastor, a missionary who carried God’s message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ to the indigenous people in South America. One day he was summoned by a villager to come quickly to the bedside of a dying infant. The mother believed that Jesus could save her child. What she didn’t know was that the missionary believed certain doctrines in the New Testament were things that applied only in the days of the Bible. He had been taught that God healed in the past, but not today, and that the gifts of the Spirit were only for believers in Bible times. He looked at the desperate mother, her eyes pleading for her child’s life, and the impossible situation facing him. Not knowing what else to do, and knowing full well his unbelief, he prayed for Jesus to heal the child. Jesus did, and this pastor’s ministry changed forever.
In His own ministry, Jesus didn’t just explain through words alone that He had come to forgive people’s sins and give them eternal life. He combined preaching about forgiveness, healing the sick, and expelling demons as a demonstration of the fullness of the Gospel and the goodness of God (Acts 10:36–38). He publicly announced His mission—to release the prisoners, recover sight for the blind, and set the oppressed free—at the synagogue in Nazareth when He announced He was the One appointed by God to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy (Luke 4:18–19). In His three-year ministry, He traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news of the Kingdom and healing every kind of disease (Matthew 4:23).
But Jesus didn’t stop there. He gave His disciples the power and authority to go out into the world and do the same things He was doing in His name (John 17:18). He started by sending the twelve disciples closest to Him. He gave them power and authority to cast out all demons, heal all diseases, and to tell everyone about the Kingdom (Luke 9:1–2). Next, He chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them out in pairs to all the towns He planned to visit, instructing them to do the same. They returned rejoicing because they saw the same results as Jesus (Luke 10:1–20). Finally, He gave the same mission to all believers through the Great Commission. He instructs us to “go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved…. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe…. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed” (Mark 16:15–18).
After the religious leaders commanded Peter and John never to preach the name of Jesus again, the believers prayed together in boldness for the power to preach and heal (Acts 4:29–30). The Lord answered their prayer and they performed many healing miracles in His name (Acts 3:6–8; 5:16). In bringing God’s message to the Gentiles, Paul said that they were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, he said he had fully presented the good news of Christ (Romans 15:18–19).
Jesus wants to do everything through His people now that He did when He was here on the earth. He said anyone who believes in Him will do the same works He has done, and even greater works (John 14:12). Will you be like this woman with the sick child and take Jesus at His word? She needed more from this missionary than just hearing the message of salvation. She needed him to fully present the good news. She expected to experience the power of Jesus through him. Jesus healed then and He heals now. He does not change.
Lord, forgive me for ever doubting that Your healing power is limited today. Lord, I thank You for the gift of eternal life. I want more than a Gospel of head knowledge and the promise of salvation. I want a Gospel of power. Holy Spirit, come! I want to know Your presence.
Jesus, You sent out the twelve and the seventy-two, and then You commissioned all believers to go make disciples and to lay hands on the sick and heal them in Your name. You work through the body of believers now, just like You healed through Your own body then. I believe You are still willing and able to heal my body, soul, and spirit in response to my faith in You. You are Jehovah-Rapha, the God who heals. And You do not change.