Are you searching for the pathway to healing?
Have you ever felt like you were a long way off from getting an answer to your prayers? Maybe you’ve been praying for a long time about a resolution to challenge of some sort, guidance in making an important choice, or maybe you’ve been praying for healing, either physical or emotional, in your own life or for a friend. But the pathway to healing seems illusive?
Sometimes it’s tempting to wish Jesus was here and we could just walk up to him and ask him to heal us, solve our problems, or guide us to make the right decision.
But over the years I’ve been seeing more clearly that, even though Jesus is not physically present with us today, as he was 2,000 years ago, the spiritual presence of Christ is always with us, the truths Jesus taught are still true and still here, and the Holy Spirit is here to guide us.
That means God’s healing, directing, and protecting power is just as present and capable now as it has always been.
Unfortunately, there are lots of folks who believe God doesn’t heal today like he did in the Bible or some other time period in history.
If you’re looking for healing in your life, and there are lots of ways healing comes to us – but I’m talking about the spiritual transformation that comes as a result of God’s presence in our lives – I’ve got some good news.
You are on the pathway to healing
You are not so far away from healing as it might seem on the surface. In fact, you are, this very moment, on the pathway to healing. It’s not so much about where you are on this path, but the fact that you are on it.
And it’s not a path you have constructed or carved out in uncharted territory. It’s actually the path God has created for Christ to come to you on.
All too often we think of a path that leads us somewhere. Jesus refers as himself as the Way to come to God.
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. John 14:6 NLT
But a pathway goes both directions. When you are in the Way, or pathway, of Christ, wherever that is, Christ is also coming to you – to find you, to help you, to heal you.
Jesus uses the image of a man leaving 99 sheep to look for the one lost sheep to illustrate how the Christ follows the path God has created which leads directly to where each sheep is, no matter how far they have strayed. (See Luke 15:4 below)
I’m going to repeat this idea: you are on the pathway to healing, the pathway of wholeness, right now. Through all your prayers and efforts to follow Christ, to be more obedient to God, and to focus on things of the Spirit, you’re becoming more aware of Christ’s presence, but Christ is also seeking you, just as a shepherd searches for his sheep.
The pathway to healing is not geographical
Now when I talk about the pathway to healing, I’m not talking about a geographical or topographical path. It’s really a metaphor for the spiritual journey taking place in your heart.
Think of how Jesus encountered people as he was walking from one place to another.
Was it just by random coincidence that he met people who needed healing? Or was Jesus going exactly where God directed him, bringing him to people whose hearts were receptive to Jesus’s message and in need of healing?
Once word got out that Jesus was healing people, there were many times when those in need of healing went looking for him, found him, and were healed. But is that all that was going on? Yes, folks were looking for Jesus, but God was guiding Jesus to be in a place he could be found.
Jesus made it clear that he didn’t do anything unless directed to by the Father.
Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. John 5:19 NIV
In other words, Jesus only went where God told him to.
To the people who wanted to be healed, they thought they were looking for Jesus. But from Jesus’s point of view, he was looking for them and knew where to find them because he listened for where God wanted him to be at any given moment.
The pathway to healing in the Bible
Let’s look at a few examples in the Bible.
One time Jesus said to his disciples,
Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.
A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.
Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. Mark 1:38-42 NLT
Why did Jesus go to other towns? Basically because that was the purpose God gave him, to preach the gospel of the kingdom. Why did he go to those particular towns right then? Because that’s what God told him to do.
Apparently news of Jesus healing people got to these towns before he did, because when the leper comes to Jesus for healing, he affirmed his faith that Jesus could heal him. He was a man with faith, who searched for Jesus once he knew he was in town.
Jesus finds people in the pathway to healing
But from a broader perspective, God had directed Jesus to this man, and to all the others in these towns who were healed. Jesus found them all on the pathway to healing.
Sometimes Jesus called a person to him when he saw a need. Remember the woman who was bent over for eighteen years and couldn’t stand up straight?
One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God! Luke 13:10-14 NLT
The Bible doesn’t say this woman was looking for Jesus or asking for healing. She was just standing there. Maybe she was listening to him. Maybe she wasn’t. It’s not clear. But what is clear is that Jesus was there where she was for the explicit reason to heal her.
How do we know? Because, as I’ve already mentioned, Jesus only did and said what God told him to. He was in the right place at the right time because he was listening to God’s instructions.
Whether the woman knew it at the time or not, God had brought her to this very spot at just the right time as well. God had put her in the pathway to healing and that’s exactly where Jesus found her.
There are a lot more examples in the Bible of people being in the pathway to healing, searching for Jesus or being found by Jesus, or a combination of both. But I’ll just share one more for now.
Bartimaeus on the pathway to healing
This is the story about a blind man named Bartimaeus.
Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging.
When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Mark 10:46-52 NIV
Bartimaeus was literally sitting along the pathway of life when he heard a crowd passing by. When he found out it was, Jesus he instantly cried out for help.
Bartimaeus didn’t know Jesus would be coming that way, but he must have known about Jesus or he wouldn’t have called out with such conviction that he could be healed.
Once again, Jesus was on the pathway to healing, going right when and where God told him to. Jesus found the place where Bartimaeus was.
Bartimaeus was on the pathway to healing. He knew about Jesus and had faith he could be healed. This receptivity to the healing power of Christ in Bartimaeus’s heart was what jumped up to embrace the opportunity to ask Jesus to heal him.
Bartimaeus was perhaps already on the pathway to healing, hoping that somehow Jesus might come to his village. Jesus was on the pathway to healing and went right to where Bartimaeus was sitting.
They both found each other.
We are on the pathway to healing
So what do these Bible stories have to do with you and me?
Have you ever been searching for healing, in effect, been on the pathway to healing, looking for Christ to heal you? Sometimes this is what happens. We search for and find Christ and we’re healed.
Sometimes it seems we’re waiting and waiting, searching, walking, going everywhere, trying every bend and turn in the pathway to healing and we still haven’t found an answer to our needs. But as I said earlier, even though Jesus is not here physically with us, the spirit of Christ is present and on the pathway to healing in our hearts.
Christ finds you where you are: geographically, environmentally, physically, socially, financially, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. You cannot hide from Christ. Christ knows all the places, actions, and attitudes where you hide.
Where ever you are, you are on the pathway to healing. Christ, the Good Shepherd is coming to meet you and bring healing. There is always a direct line between you and Christ. Now this is really just a metaphor because there is actually no distance between you and Christ.
You cannot be separated from Christ
Paul assures us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, and that means we can’t be separated from the presence of Christ.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35, 36, 38, 39 NIV
We may feel separated from Christ. We may feel far from God. Because of things we’ve done or things that have happened to us. But nothing can separate you from Christ. Nothing can take you off the pathway to healing.
Now this probably doesn’t apply to you, but I’ve talked to some folks who, at one point in their lives, felt like they turned their back on God. They tried to quit following Christ and gave up on being healed.
But somehow over time, Christ, the Good Shepherd, came to them, nurtured them, comforted them and brought healing of the heart and mind and body.
Even though they thought they were no longer on the pathway to healing, they were still on it. And Christ was coming to find them on that pathway.
Where ever you are, whatever your circumstances, whatever your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual state, you are on the pathway to healing and Christ is coming to you, finding you, encouraging you, strengthening you, and bringing healing to you. Whether you know it or not. Whether you believe it or not.
Some folks don’t realize they’re on the pathway to healing
Can you think of anyone in the Bible who was on the pathway of healing but didn’t know it? The person I’m thinking of is Saul.
He was on the road to Damascus with the intention to arrest followers of Jesus and bring them back to Jerusalem.
He thought he was on a pathway of destruction, the road to wipe out this upstart group of Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah. But actually, and of course he had no clue until it happened, he was on the pathway to healing, healing on many different levels. Christ was waiting for him, so to speak, on this road to healing, and met him where he was in his hatred and ignorance of who Jesus was and what Jesus meant to the world.
In a very short period of time, just a few days really, Saul made a complete shift in his attitudes. His ignorance, hatred, fear, and self-righteousness, just to name a few, were healed. After fasting for three days and through Ananias’s prayers, Saul was healed of blindness, physical blindness but also spiritual blindness to Christ.
I find this very encouraging in many ways.
You may think you have been off the pathway to healing, living a lifestyle or having attitudes which were the exact opposite of striving to follow Christ and search for healing.
You may feel like you have been on the pathway to healing forever, always, and still, searching for healing but not finding it, tempted to give up.
But whatever your situation, regardless of what it seems like to you, you are on the pathway to healing. You always have been and always will be.
You may be thinking, “James, how can you say that? I’ve tried so hard and I still haven’t found healing.”
A fresh definition of healing
Maybe what we really need a fresh definition of what healing is. All too often we formulate in our minds what a particular healing looks like. We cherish this preconception and if the healing appears in some different manner, we may miss it.
Healing occurs in your thinking. Every time a spiritual thought replaces a material one, every time you become just a little more spiritually minded and focused, healing is taking place. Every time you have a moral victory, even a little one, like not getting angry with someone, this is evidence of healing in your life.
Every time you express more humility or love, healing is taking place. You are always on the road to healing.
And why is this so? Because, as Jesus constantly proclaims in word and deed, that the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is at hand, near, and within us. (See Matthew 4:17 and Luke 17:21 below)
You are always on the pathway to healing
This is why you are always on the pathway to healing, the pathway to wholeness, because you are present in the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of heaven is present in you.
In the kingdom of heaven, you are at this very moment, spiritually whole and complete. Focus on this great spiritual fact and dwell there. Take a little break from trying to solve whatever you think your problems are. Let Christ reveal your presence in heaven.
Christ is always coming to you, is always present with you, revealing and proclaiming your oneness with God, your birthright of wholeness as a child of God.
So, no matter what the circumstances you find yourself in, whether they are positive or negative from your perspective, from the perspective of what’s true in the kingdom of heaven about you, you are always whole, harmonious, loving, and complete in the presence of the healing Christ.
Christ is meeting you wherever you are, or rather wherever you think you are, and revealing to you where you truly are, the pathway of healing, the pathway of your wholeness, your presence in the kingdom of heaven.
That’s why you are always on the pathway of healing.
Photo credit:
Ashim d’Silva
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible References
John 14:6 NLT
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Luke 15:4 NIV
4 Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
John 5:19 NIV
19 “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
Mark 1:38-42 NLT
38 But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”
39 So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.
40 A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.
41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!”
42 Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.
Luke 13:10-14 NLT
10 One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue,
11 he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight.
12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!”
13 Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!
Mark 10:46-52 NIV
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging.
47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”
50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Romans 8:35, 36, 38, 39 NIV
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
36 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 4:17 NKJV
17 …the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Luke 17:21 KKJV
21 … the kingdom of God is within you.
