“Your faith has healed you”
Tim Munyan
Luke 18:35-43
In this story, a blind beggar realized that Jesus was near and
continually cried out to him for mercy and wouldn’t take no for an
answer. His desire for healing overcame his shame, rebuke and
embarrassment. Jesus took notice of his faith! “What do you
want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “Lord, I want to see” was
his reply. Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight, your faith has
healed you.”
The story of Blind Bartimaeus is an example of how faith
combined with humility and tenacity gets the Lord’s attention and
invites miracles.
On a trip to England early in my ministry, we were holding a
healing conference and for several days people would gather from
everywhere in the region to come learn about and experience the
gift of healing.
One day, in preparation for the evening service the Lord
highlighted this scripture about the blind beggar. As I meditated
on the scripture the Lord began to speak to me about praying
specifically for faith and boldness. That evening after worship, the
presence of God was so thick you could almost see it.
A group of ladies approached me asking if I would pray for the
friend they had brought for healing. As I approached their friend
“Jilly” I could see that she was partially blind and I asked the
obvious, “What is it you want Jesus to do for you?” She said that
she had a degenerative eye disease that allowed her to only see
peripherally and could no longer distinguish colors. I was led by
the Spirit to ask if she believed God could heal her. As she said
yes, I gathered her friends to join in prayer and I specifically
asked for the gift of faith and boldness to be given to each of us as
we prayed for her healing.
The power of God fell upon her and after each successive prayer
she began to see more and more clearly. At one point she turned
to each of us and began to tell us what color clothes we had on,
something she wasn’t able to do for quite some time. Someone
even had a multi-colored knit hat and she was going around
telling everyone what colors were in it.
Finally, I turned to her and said, “You need some rest,” and
knowing she had come a long way I asked her friends if they had a
blanket for her for the ride home. “Jilly” turned to me and said,
“I’ll get some rest, but only after I tell them what color their
blanket is!”
Nothing is impossible when our faith is in God!
Questions:
1. What was the importance of Jesus asking the man, “What do
you want me to do for you?”
2. Why must shame or embarrassment be overcome for healing to
sometimes take place?
3. How much of a part did the man’s faith play in his healing?
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