Jehovah Rapha

One of the Old Testament names for God is Jehovah Rapha, which means, "the LORD our Healer". I love this aspect of God. I am so thankful for all of the healing that he has brought me through in my life in various ways. Healing can be such a point of discussion in the church today, and often, I think we make it more complicated than God does. Today, I had an opportunity to talk to my son, Eli, about healing.

We were on our way home from running an errand and he was very quiet in the back seat. He hadn't been feeling good all day and hardly ate anything for lunch and was complaining that his stomach was hurting. Well, we were almost home when he began asking me how far we were from the house. When I looked back I noticed that he was gripping his stomach and tears were coming down his face. So, as any loving father would do, I put on my NASCAR hat and made it home in record time. Upon getting home, Eli asked if he could go lay down and take a nap (which he never does). He started crying again saying it hurt, so I asked him if he wanted me to pray for him. When he said yes, I explained to him that Jesus had the power to heal his body, and that he was going to wake up feeling just fine.

So I laid my hands on his body and commanded the pain and sickness to leave him in the name of Jesus. I had full confidence that Jesus was going to show Eli that he was the Great Physician, so I told Eli after praying for him, "Eli, Jesus is going to show you that He is your healer, and that he answers our prayers. You are going to feel perfect when you wake up because God is going to heal your body and remove this pain."

Well, he fell asleep right away. I went into the living room and started watching some college football. About 20 minutes later, Eli came walking down the hall with a huge smile on his face. "He did it," he said, "Jesus healed my body! I feel great." I smiled and hugged him and asked him if he wanted to watch some tv with me or go back to resting. He said, "No, I'm good. Let's watch some tv." I had a big smile on my face as we walked down the hall thinking about how my young son is learning about His Savior more and more each day. Then Eli looked up at me and said, "Wow Dad, that was quick," and we sat down to watch tv. As if this moment wasn't special enough already he looks at me and says, "Dad, your good!" LOL. I explained to him that Jesus is the one who is good, and that we can all do that if we just have confidence in Him to do what He said He would. Theology lesson done, we kicked back and watched some tv.