The Scriptures tells us about the encounter which Jesus had with a leper, as He was coming down the mountain, after some of His most amazing teaching. It says:
“Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.”
Matthew 8:2-3 NLT
The manner in which Jesus approached this leper, before speaking the word of healing into his life, is far above the religious laws and traditions of His time. Jesus allowed compassion and love to work through Him; as He went higher and above the requirement of the law of Moses in healing this leper.
He needed to be able to identify with the suffering of this man, by first entering into his world, so as to be able to minister healing to him. Jesus came to the earth as the Son of man, to identify with all men. He reached out in compassion and love to touch a man, who had been rejected and stigmatized by the society. By touching this man He entered into all of his life’s sufferings with him. Jesus needed to let him know that He knew what he was going through.
There is no other way for you to be able to minister, with compassion and love to the sick by faith, without first entering into their lives with a touch. A touch registers your identification with those who are afflicted of the devil. Your touch signals to the princes and principalities, who are the root causes of the afflictions in those lives that, Jesus has taken over complete ownership of those souls.
There are times when I will lay my hands on the sick or those seeking deliverances. And almost immediately things will just begin to happen. The devil can’t stand the touch of a righteous man, on those whom he is afflicting. He flees away in terror, because he can’t stand the brightness of the Sun of righteousness shining through over those lives.
The touch also registers a powerful signal to the angels who are standing by, to move into action in bringing anything, that you will be declaring into those lives to come to pass.
Jesus had to touch this man first before speaking into his life, for him to be delivered from the powers that had held him bond. The devil had to leave immediately Jesus touched him. But Jesus had to speak the word of healing into his life also, since evidently the man had faith to be healed. The word of healing manifested healing to instantly heal the man.
Through a touch or the laying on of hands, you are able to show compassion and love to the sick. You are able to do exactly what Jesus did to this leper. A touch will open up the heart of the sick, in releasing their faith for healing. Faith and love always works together (Galatians 5:6), in bringing healing to the sick.
And without faith in the name of Jesus, you have no right standing before God, so as to be able to pray for the sick. Jesus knew that authority had already been given to Him by the Father, to be able to speak the word of healing to this leper (John 14:10-11). He was standing in the righteousness, that the Father had given to Him, as the Son of God. But He had to put on the righteousness of God, as the Son of man in touching this man.
This action of Jesus could obviously had put Him into trouble with the religious leaders. But Jesus broke through the religious prejudice of His time, to show compassion and love to a man; who according to the Abrahamic covenant, should not had been afflicted of the devil in the first instance.
This is what God expects every righteous man or woman to be able to do in our world today. Everything that is spiritually unclean to men becomes clean; as the righteousness of Christ shines through you in compassion and love. Your right standing as you do this, will cause the words coming from your mouth, to bring life into whatever is dying around you. Righteousness removes every sign of self condemnation in you to heal the sick.
Jesus broke through the barriers of the false religious beliefs of His time. Righteousness will cause you to break through also, because God wants to shine through you.
But there was something in Jesus here, that was so glaring to the crowd around Him at the time. The crowd could never deny the authority of Jesus, to heal and deliver the captives. They had seen Him performing many miracles before this incident. Jesus acted here above the religious misconception of His time, to heal a man who had faith in the blessing of Abraham to be healed. The Righteousness of the Son of God was something, that the world around Him could not deny.
And that’s how righteousness shines through you also. It causes you to break through the religious barriers and social stigmatizations within your community, in saving the lost, healing the sick and setting the captives free.
As the Bible says:
“But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.”
Malachi 4:2 NLT
When you are walking and living righteously before God, you will become His instrument to bring revival to your world. Jesus is the Sun of righteousness. He wants to shine and cause you to be free, in doing the will of your Heavenly Father. The Sun of righteousness will cause you to leap for joy, in the green pasture that the Lord is leading you into. He will cause you to prosper, as you allow Him to shine through you. He will bring deliverance and healing to everyone, that you touch with your righteous hand.
Don’t let religious barriers stop you from shining
Religious prejudice is of the devil. It was invented by him with the aim of creating divisions within the Body of Christ. And that’s why many are not able to accomplish much in the Kingdom of God today. It was very common during the life of Jesus, for people to be religiously prejudiced.
But Jesus was always standing up against it, by allowing faith in God to be the only parameter, for doing all that He did in healing all peoples. He never allowed religious prejudice to prevent Him, from doing what God had sent Him to do on the earth. And if Jesus could stand up against it, you can do likewise also.
It’s not easy to minister effectively, to people who are religiously or denominationally prejudiced. They are prejudiced because they had stopped walking, in the reality of who they are in Christ Jesus. You can often observe them struggling in doing what God has called them to do. But it’s time to tear down those religious masks, that are preventing the righteousness of Christ from shining through. It’s time to go on to a higher ground in Christ Jesus. It’s time to grow up and stop being childish with that precious call of God.
As the Lord said through the Prophet Isaiah:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts”.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV
You were born again into the Kingdom of your Heavenly Father, where those barriers are never allowed. Religious or denominational prejudice causes people to be entrenched in dead religious beliefs and traditions. It does not give life to people.
It’s impossible to teach prejudiced people anything scripturally; apart from faith in the name of Jesus for healing. In many cases they are not teachable. But the miracles of healing is the surest way to open them up, with compassion and love working through you. And if you’re not conscious of the righteousness of Christ Jesus in your life, you will be unable to touch people with the compassion of God.
Are you seeing what Jesus is seeing?
Religious and denominational prejudice is what is keeping many today at the feet of the cross. They can’t see or even move beyond the bottom of the cross. Yes, Jesus died on the cross; but He never remained on the cross. He moved away from it. He rose from the dead and ascended into the Heavens.
What Jesus saw as He hung on the cross, was the vision that He also saw as He ascended into the skies. Jesus saw the crowd from the top of the cross. He saw multitude of peoples, souls that needed the compassion of God as He ascended into the skies. As He ascended Jesus saw the end of the earth. He saw nations and tribes coming to worship the Father.
And if you’re going to remain at the bottom of the cross, you will never be able to see what Jesus is seeing in you. You are still kneeling down and crying for help at the bottom of the cross. But the answer to all your cries is waiting for you at the top of the cross. Religious prejudice will keep you glued at the bottom of the cross. Whereas Jesus is calling you up to the top of His cross, so that you can see what He saw as He was hanging on the cross. At the top of the cross you will catch the vision of Jesus.
Jesus is calling you today to come up with Him to the top of His cross, instead of just living this Christian life at the bottom of it. When you get to the top of the cross, you will be able to see what Jesus was seeing from the cross.
What are you seeing around you now? It is what you’re seeing, that will cause you to do something for Jesus. Are you still at the foot of the cross? Or have you risen up to the top of it, from where you can see what Jesus is seeing right now?
Religious prejudice will keep you at the feet of the cross always. Tear up the denominational barriers. There is nothing like that in Heaven. And Jesus never came to the world to create denominations. He came for all men to be saved. He sees all men, women, boys and girls in every nation, culture and language as the same. He is not condemning them. He welcomes them all into His Father’s Kingdom always:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17 NIV
You want to do greater things for God, but being prejudiced will hinder your ability to release your faith into those things. The realization of who you are as a covenant child of God, is what will take you up to the top of the cross, so that you will start seeing what Jesus saw when He said:
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Mark 16:15-18 NIV
