Names of God – Jehovah Rapha

Names of God – Jehovah Rapha

Jehovah Rapha…this is a name that all of us have had to cry out to, many times in our lives. In fact, many unbelievers cry out to this name in desperation. In fact, I cried out to that name just this morning on behalf of my wife. This name means, “The Lord Who Heals You.” I love that, the Lord who heals you. He is our healer! He heals us physically and spiritually. In the New Testament, Jesus is shown as the Great Physician for this very reason. We saw Him heal people in both ways in His ministry here on earth. Through His word, we got to witness the blind regain their sight, the lame walk again, lepers cleansed, as well as demons cast out and sins forgiven. Christ is, indeed, the great physician.

People have asked me if I believe in “faith healers”. The answer is, no. Do I believe that Christ still miraculously heals people today? Do I believe that He uses people as a conduit of His healing? Of course, I do, I have seen miraculous healings in my ministry, and I have been blessed to be part of some of them. In 2011, my family drove 400 miles to pray over a 16-year-old boy who had been in a car accident and was in a coma for several months. We laid hands on him, anointed him with oil, and prayed over him. The next morning, he spoke his first words, and today, he is married with a daughter of his own. Here’s the thing, my family didn’t heal that young man. It wasn’t our hands, it wasn’t the oil, it wasn’t that we prayed just the right words. We were just acting in obedience. God told us to do it, so we did. He used us to show His power. You see, we can’t put our faith in any man. It was God alone who healed Jessie.

So many times, throughout history, those with the spiritual gift of healing have made it all about themselves. I’ve heard some of these guys say things like, “you weren’t healed because your faith wasn’t strong enough.” When people were healed when Peter’s shadow fell on them, do you think it was about their faith? When Jesus cast the demons out of the maniac, was his faith in Christ all that strong? No, here’s what’s up, God heals who He wants to heal, it’s that simple. I know that some of you are thinking, God wouldn’t refuse to heal someone who sincerely asked. Let’s look at Paul. He prayed three times to be relieved of his physical affliction, and every time God answered no. God told him in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” God wanted to keep Paul humble. He wanted to make sure that Paul never made it about himself, so instead of boasting in himself, Paul boasted in his weaknesses so that the power of Christ could work through him. Paul went on to say, in verse 10, “That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Today, Christians have some convoluted belief that God is some kind of magic genie. That He is just sitting around waiting for you to rub His lamp and say the magic words and He will make your life perfect. So many believe that, when you follow Christ, your life will be easy. Let’s see what the Bible says about that. Jesus, Himself, made it very clear in John 16:33 when He said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Notice He doesn’t say He will take away our troubles, He just tells us not to worry, because He’s got this. We also see in 2 Timothy 3:12 “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Notice it says here that you WILL suffer persecution, not might, or could, but will. Simply put, if you are living an easy life, you are not living a godly life in Christ. You see, it’s not a bad thing to suffer a little. James 1:2-4 tells us, “² Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. ³ For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ⁴ So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” From this trouble, we learn endurance, which makes us perfect and complete. And, at the end of the trouble, we have the Jehovah Rapha, the Great Physician, to heal us and comfort us.

Now, again, I’m not saying not to pray for healing. As in the story of Jessie at the beginning of this post, God does miraculously heal. My wife has a congenital disease that causes her to not be able to process sugars of any kind. This has caused many other problems in her life and it took us twenty years to get it diagnosed. I pray every day for her healing, and I believe that God will heal her. Don’t forget that Matthew 7:7-11 says, ⁷ “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹ “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? ¹⁰ Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! ¹¹ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” So, don’t stop praying! I have seen so many miracles in my life, and I want to see more. In fact, please take a minute to respond to this post and tell me about some miraculous healings you have witnessed in your life.

And, if you are facing trouble, if you are sick, or if you need physical or spiritual healing, run to Jehovah Rapha, The Lord Who Heals You…He is waiting.