“By His Stripes We Are Healed” Isaiah 53:5

 " But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5, KJV).

Is Isaiah 53:5 a promise that God will heal everyone? What is the context of this verse? If we inspect the scripture, a natural rhythm draws our mind to the actions of being wounded, bruised, and chastisement (the physical punishment), culminating in His stripes for our healing. Similar to the workings of a well-orchestrated symphony in which each instrumental movement tells a story in much the same way chapters in a book tells a story. 

What is the story? The story of our savior as recorded by Isaiah 53:4 Jesus carried our griefs and sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

 We should also use the memory of his torment to help us to remember not to take for granted the great price he paid for our righteousness. We should give our lives and our worship to him to his worthy because he was slain (Rev 5:9) (www.connectusfund.org/isaiah 53).

A benefit of being in the body of Christ is God's promise of healing. However, belonging also requires belief and faith in God's healing promise. The Old and New Testament scriptures show examples of men and women engaging in belief and faith that "by His stripes we are healed."

For example, two examples, one from the O.T. and the other from N.T., reveal God's promises of intent and outcome. 2 Kings 5 recounts the story of Naaman, a great warrior, in the service of King Aram, suffering from leprosy and his subsequent healing. Additionally, in Matthew 20:29, Jesus heals two blind beggars. 

However, the unequal responses of each person or persons as they ask for and receive their respective healings serve as an example of God's healing power despite the individual's attitude or response to being healed. 

 

The lesson for us as we seek and receive God's healing promise is to remember that the way God chooses to carry out our healing may not align with our way, as in the case of Naaman. Naaman's story reveals why we should not allow our reactions to the way of faith to keep us from the cure we need the most.

Again, is Isaiah 53:5 a promise that God will heal everyone? Yes, he will if one humbly submits to the will and way of God. In essence, healing is available; your choice to receive or not receive is up to you. God will not chase you down and make you receive the healing. An excellent place to begin is Psalm 30:2 "Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me"(New International Version).

P.O. V. Not to do injustice to any of the other examples of healing recorded in the Bible. I suggest taking time to read their encouraging lessons of courage and truth.

                                      A Few Healing Scriptures:

Jeremiah 17:14 - Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.

Jeremiah 33:6 - Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.

1 Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.

Psalm 41:3 - The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; you restore him to total health in his illness.

Psalm 147:3 - He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Proverbs 17:22 - A joyful heart is a good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

James 5:15 - And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. Moreover, if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

3 John 1:2 - Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

Short Prayer for Healing - "Father, help me to keep my focus on You when the pain and hurt are overwhelming. Help me be faithful and see the good and blessings surrounding me. Please strengthen my mind, heart, and body, and heal me today. May the Holy Spirit guide me in peace and comfort. Amen."

Healing is Yours,

Minister Sylvia Joyner

References

50+ Bible Verses for Healing - Powerful Scriptures to Encourage (biblestudytools.com)

King James Version (KJV)

New International Version (NIV) Psalm 30:2

Who is the Christian leader? (PT. 1)

 Greetings,

Agreeably the Christian Leader is an educator responsible for teaching and leading, which is the objective of spiritual leadership to move people toward God's agenda (Temple, 2018). Leaders are designated as "servants of the Lord" (p. 300) and have the responsibility to follow a "divine agenda" (p. 300). The apostle Paul's example marks them as a noticeably specified mission (1 Corinthians 1:17), regular evaluation of the fundamental values and message (1 Corinthians 11:23-26), and the ability to communicate the message to a diverse audience (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). 

Essentially, it solidifies the driving force in how leaders instruct and teach others in the body of Christ (Howell, 2003, pp. 300-301). 

                               Some individuals may ask, what is Christian leadership? 

Malphurs (2003) conveys Christian leaders as reliable and steady servants informing and instructing people in diverse religious settings as directed by God. The process is where leaders experience growth with their followers (Malphurs, 2003, p. 8). He asks the question, "what makes a Christian leader" (p. 8), echoing the answer comes back that leaders grow when they purposely follow after God (Malphurs, 2003). 

The topic is helpful because God, in 1 Timothy 3, laid the groundwork through leadership's foundation. The author uses this foundation to inform the reader that leaders instruct others but are also required to model Christlikeness. In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul writes to the Christian church at Corinth, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (Malphurs, 2003, p. 10). God's original plan for Christian leadership is further impetus for the Christian educator, reflected in Psalms 51:10, the standard for behaving according to God's instructions, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a loyal spirit within me" Psalms 51:10 (New Living Translation). If Christian educators want to make a change in the way they represent God and those they are leading, remember they are "God's rescuers" and "God's tutors" given the responsibility to teach and bring back people to God's principles (Temple, 2018). 

The Christian Leader is a servant leader commissioned to lead from the examples of Jesus. Necessity mandates a biblical construct for effective decision-making, which provides a theological foundation for developing the Leader's integrity, and it is God's original plan for moral truth. The essential nature of the Christian Leader's spiritual practice (inward) and (outward) spiritual practice is essential to the Leader's ability to express God's identity in decision-making (Dunham, 2019). 

Advancing the thought expands the idea that one's identity as a Christian leader should inform and influence the Bible's moral truth rather than the moral truth of other perspectives. Without a biblical reference, Christian leaders are subject to unnecessary pitfalls and judgments that affect their followers (Dunham, 2019).

Three essential elements of being a leader of integrity are character, integrity, and reality, strengthening the Leader's personal and spiritual growth (Cloud, 2009).

Christian leaders are not exempt from experiencing ethical situations. While ethical decision-making constructs through other perspectives other than the Bible, four ethical paradigms, in particular, are addressed and noted as the ethics of justice, critique, care, and the profession (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016, p. 23). A biblical perspective stresses that service is the core of the Old and New Testaments and asks how leaders serve those they lead. (Temple, 2018). 

The Barna Research Group (2009) intensively interviewed thirty top leaders from various leadership sectors. Discovered that great leaders practice the art of power and use it to foster communication and respect for those they lead. Furthermore, revealing that power is about the correct use of authority and, when used according to the biblical standard, can provide consciousness of moral direction, providing people with a moral framework for their choices and activities (Barna Group, 2009).

The same standard for the Leader's purpose today is given to early church leaders. Timothy in (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:14-17) is instructed by the apostle Paul to study the word of God, which is the undergirding to instruct, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness, leading to a leader's ability to properly lead the church (Howell, 2003, p. 2). Ezekiel provides the theology of leadership from older traditions; human leaders are "expected and encouraged" to lead from a God-centered perspective (Laniak, 2006, pp. 160-161). 

Supportive of a spiritual application, the following discussion notes the importance of "six musts"(discussed in part 2) for the Christian Leader, which fosters the Christian Leader's integrity and character when grappling with ethical dilemmas (Temple, 2018). 

Servant Leader,

Minister Sylvia Joyner

References

Barna Group. (2009). Thirty respected leaders weigh in on what it takes to be a master leader.

https://www.barna.com/research/ 

Dunnam, M. (2019). Christian leadership. 

https://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/9423/christian-leadership

Howell, D. N. (2003). Servants of the servant: a biblical theology of leadership. Wipf & Stock Publishers. 

Laniak, T. (2006). Shepherds after my own heart: pastoral traditions and leadership in the Bible. 

(D. A. Carson) (Ed.), Intervarsity Press. 

Malphurs, A. (2003). Being leaders: the nature of authentic Christian leadership. Baker Books.

Shapiro, J.P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (2016). Ethical leadership and decision making in education. New York, NY: Routledge.

Temple, T. (2018). Presentation: Biblical models of servant leadership. 

[Video]. 

https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent

Temple, T. (2018). Presentation: How is ethical reasoning different for the Christian Leader?  

[Video]. 

https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent

You Are Valuable: The Parable of the Lost Coin Luke 15:8-10

 8 "Or what woman, having ten silver [a]coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!' 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (NKJV).

Greetings,

Jesus often taught using stories as parables. 

The directional focus of the story is to help change the hearer's heart and mind through transformative storytelling. For instance, like us, Eve desired to do God's work, but she listened to an unauthorized authority in her misplaced desires. Too often, we hear and submit ourselves to others who have no power in our lives. To move from the problem of indecision and disobedience, we must listen and act on what God is saying to us about us. It is just that simple: choose whom you will serve this day.

The parable of the missing coin is the second of three stories, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost boy Jesus used to help His audience understand that lost people are valuable to God. However, His message also teaches that an individual cannot have a nonaligned relationship with God. 

                                   Essentially, you are either lost or found. 

                                   There is no middle ground with God.

Powerful thought is that the parable teaches that just as this woman diligently searched for her one lost coin, God diligently seeks to find lost people, even if only one is lost. Jesus shows that there is a spiritual meaning to the word lost. It represents the spiritual condition of being separated from God and disconnected from the source through which it was formerly a part of. 

The cultural aspect teaches that a married woman wore what is referred to as a drachma (Luke 15:8), a valuable coin often worn in a ten-piece garland by married women. 

Have you ever lost something? In the process, tear the house up, looking for it? The diligent searching for the lost item is its sentimental value or a gift given to you for a special occasion, or perhaps it reminded you of a time when you were young. Whatever the reason for searching, it had value to you.

Luke 15:8c-"…Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?" Another aspect of this parable is that Luke 15:8c calls attention to her actions in looking for the lost coin. She takes thoughtful consideration in using the tools at hand, namely her broom, to sweep the house carefully for the lost coin. 

In Luke 15:9-10, And her finding the lost coin, she implores her friends to rejoice with her. Through her diligent search, the lost coin is no longer missing and celebrated with rejoicing as when "one sinner who repents" sums up the transformative result of being restored to a right relationship with God and His love for lost individuals. 

An important lesson to remember: the scriptures reveal God's transformative examples of restoring individuals to a place of light rather than remaining in darkness.

Again, spiritual emphasis, our responsibility as believers of the gospel is to share the gospel with those who are lost so they can be restored or brought back into the right relationship with God. 

John 1:3 reveals this thought; we were created to fulfill the purpose by which God's handwork has furnished. Stanford adds that God's work is spiritual and demands spiritual people to do the job (Stanford, p. 69).

A Valuable Servant,

Minister Sylvia Joyner

Footnotes:

Luke 15:8 Gr. drachma, a valuable coin often worn in a ten-piece garland by married women.

Miles J. Stanford, 69.

New King James Version (NKJV)