January 30
Bible Reading: John 5:1-17
John 5:15, “The man went away, and informed the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”
This account of the healing of the lame beggar is a lifelong favorite of John Eareckson Tada. Joni is a well-known author, speaker, and international advocate for people with disabilities. A diving accident in 1967 left Joni a quadriplegic. Following years of rehabilitation, she emerged with a fresh determination to serve others. Her “Joni and Friends” ministry provides programs for those with special needs and training for churches worldwide. Joni has written 45 books. But following her accident, no one, including Joni, could have imagined how God would work to make all that happen!
After suffering her paralyzing injury as a teenager, Joni desperately wanted to be healed. When friends would visit her hospital room, she would ask for them to read from John chapter 5 about the man lying by the pool. She yearned for God to do for her what Jesus had done for the lame beggar. Her sister took her to a healing conference in Washington D.C., but to her bitter disappointment, no genuine healing took place. Discouraged and distraught, she harbored a bitter spirit. Eventually she cried out to Jesus for help, and experienced in salvation a deeper healing, a healing from sin.
For decades since Joni has testified to Jesus’ ability to grant such a healing to those who look to Him. She has said, “Don’t be thinking that for me in heaven the big thing will be to get my new body…I want a glorified heart (i.e., perfectly healed from sin).”
On a visit to Jerusalem not too many years ago, Joni personally went to the pool at Bethesda, the place where the lame beggar was healed. She leaned there on the guardrail of the old ruins. While there alone speaking to Jesus, she said, “Oh Jesus, thank you for a no request for physical healing, because the no answer to a request for physical healing has worked to purge my heart from sin.”
My wife, Laura, has been fighting her battle with cancer for seven years. Regularly, I visit hospice patients who’ve been told they’ve but days or months to live. They’d all love to be healed of their physical infirmities! But how good it is to know that Jesus can heal us in another way! He can forgive us and transform us and assure us of a home in heaven. That deeper healing is of eternal benefit! Has Jesus healed you that way?
There is a wonderful video of Joni’s testimony posted on YouTube. I’ve shared it many times. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/NI22o5u32z0?feature=shared
PASS ME NOT
Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
Hear my humble cry,
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.
Refrain:
Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.
Let me at a throne of mercy
Find a sweet relief;
Kneeling there in deep contrition,
Help my unbelief. [Refrain]
Trusting only in Thy merit,
Would I seek Thy face;
Heal my wounded, broken spirit,
Save me by Thy grace. [Refrain]
Thou the Spring of all my comfort,
More than life to me,
Whom have I on earth beside Thee?
Whom in heav’n but Thee? [Refrain]
LookingtoJesus 