By Faith

“Christ took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8: 17)

How did Christ take away our infirmities and bore our diseases when we can see so many infirmities and disease in the body of Christ, not to mention the world at large? The answer is in Hebrews 11: 1-2, 8-19.

“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the Promised Land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate, even though he was passed the normal age – and Sarah herself was sterile – for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the shore.

All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had the opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer the only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name. He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and received Isaac back as a symbol.” (Hebrews 11: 1-2, 8-19)

How did Christ take away our infirmities and bore our diseases when we can see so many infirmities and disease in the body of Christ, not to mention the world at large? The answer is by faith. By faith in the word and action of Christ, we appropriate the promised blessing. Once we do that, although the physical condition of disease and infirmities may still be present, they lose completely their sting. The conditions remain in order to sharpen in us the desire for the fullness of the promise, which is everlasting life. It is through faith that we appropriate God’s promises of:
· Peace
· Provision
· Protection
· Power
· Purpose
· Pardon
Lord Jesus, increase our faith.