Jesus confirmed through His earthly ministry that healing was a possession belonging to God’s children. When he talked with the Syro-Phoenician woman who wanted her daughter delivered from a tormenting demon, He called healing and deliverance “the children’s bread.” (Matthew 15:21-28)
This woman, a Gentile, was asking for something that Jesus said was only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, at least at that point in time. He described the healing she was looking for as “children’s bread,” speaking of a possession of the Jews, the children of Abraham. In doing this, He linked healing to God’s covenant, or agreement, made with Abraham thousands of years before. (By the way, the Gentile woman’s daughter did receive deliverance and healing because of her great faith. More on that in another devotion!)
Bread is a basic necessity of all people – the staff of life, as it is aptly called. Jesus was likening healing to necessary physical food. What earthly father would keep bread away from his child, if he had the power to supply it? In the same way, when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we can be petitioning the Father for and expecting Him to provide physical healing as well as physical sustenance every day that we live.
God’s covenant or agreement with Abraham, then, included physical healing, as well as a host of other blessings (see Deuteronomy 28:61). Jesus pointed to the covenant as a reason that a woman who had been bowed over for 18 years should be healed. When He was criticized for raising her up (because He did it on the Sabbath Day), He answered the critics by saying, “Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound – think of it – for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” (Luke 13:10-17)
His critics might not have known it, but that was a rhetorical question! Yes, Jesus said, a daughter of Abraham, a woman in covenant with God, OUGHT to be healed. Jesus used a word that is extremely powerful – “ought” implies moral obligation. It is not right that this woman continue in sickness and disease because she was in covenant with God. It is not right that this woman continue to be oppressed by the enemy because she was a child of the covenant.
This is wonderful news for any Christian because, “If you are Christ’s (do you belong to Christ?), then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 4:6) Jesus says to you today: It is not right that you continue in sickness and disease or be under any type of oppression, because you are in covenant with God, and healing is the children’s bread.
Confession: I am a child of the covenant and it is right that I receive healing and deliverance.
Scriptures for meditation: Matthew 15:21-28; Luke 13:10-17; Galatians 4:6
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Copyright © 2007 by David Hagni. All rights reserved.