Devotion
We All Need Healing
Frances Taylor
Jesus wants to heal us. What kind of healing do you need? There are days when I wake up with a terrible sinus headache. There are times when I grieve for and with others. There are times when I wonder if I have been a good parent, a good daughter, a good friend. There are also times when I'm not sure that I have been the person God has called me to be. In all of these times, I turn to prayer – and in the case of the headache, medicine! I do believe that my prayers will be answered, even if I don't always recognize the answer. Just as those who came to Jesus for healing in the Gospels, we come to Jesus looking for physical, spiritual, emotional and psychological healing.
When my parents were very ill, I didn't really know what to pray for, I left it in God's hands, and the healing for them came in their being welcomed into eternal life. For me, it came in the peace of knowing that they had lived their lives believing in God's love for them. When dealing with physical suffering, the healing might come in giving us the courage to deal with the pain. Whatever our need may be, Jesus is by our side, walking with us because he knows our pain, our doubts, our fears, our insecurities. Just as he looked to his Father for answers, he invites us to do likewise and just as Jesus' requests on behalf of all those who came to him in today's Gospel were granted, so will his requests on our behalf be granted as well.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for your healing presence in our lives. You are the source of all our blessings. You answer all our prayers. Amen.
Night Prayer
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Inspiration
We despise the thought of a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. The outside is easy to clean; it's the caked-up residue on the inside that's so difficult to remove. Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees with dishes that have been wiped clean on the outside while dirty inside. The Pharisees took exceptional care of their outward appearance and neglected their inward spirits. We are guilty of allowing our hearts to be left filthy as well. We look and act as we should while our souls are full of darkness. We must continue to converse with the Holy Spirit daily and trust His guidance to cleanse our sinful nature.
Prayer
Dear God, Please forgive our sinful nature. We yearn for cleansing from within, so we are genuine witnesses to Your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
