When we think of healing, most of us yearn and long and pray to see others receiving physical healing. We can see such healings with our eyes, can categorise and define such healings. Prayer for that kind of healing, however challenging, can be defined and offered to God. But the spiritual side of healing can be just as important, though it is less easy to define.
Psalm 41:4 TNIV says ‘Have mercy on me, Lord; heal me, for I have sinned against You.’ Sometimes we have to acknowledge that we have sinned and that causes our spiritual health to suffer. It’s not easy to admit to our faults and pride can often get in the way of asking for spiritual healing. 2 Chronicles 7:14 TNIV reminds us that God’s people are called to humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways before we can know healing from God.
Our spiritual wellbeing affects more than we realise (including our physical health). Yet God is gracious and longs to heal us. Malachi 4:2 TNIV reminds us that ‘for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays and you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.’
Spiritual healing involves taking the scales from our eyes, peeling back the layers of our lives to see what is going on below the surface. Healing – both physical and spiritual – is found at the Cross, for by Christ’s wounds we have been healed. The healing God offers us will restore our joy to us so that we can frolic like well-fed calves, knowing an inner buoyancy and joy that guides us on every step of life’s journey. God wants us to know abundant joy. He does not want us to be downcast, held back, waylaid on life’s jounrey, but He wants us to know spiritual healing and wholeness.