Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Rev. 22:1-2
Dear Lord Jesus, I begin today with one clear image and many intense longings. The image is of the tree of life standing tall, verdant and fruit-full in the New Jerusalem—our future home of perfect health, and perfect everything.
Because of your finished work on the tree of Calvary, the tree of life will be accessible to the entire family of God, “24/7″—bearing the fruit of your great sacrifice; its leaves perpetually green—a declaration and celebration of our complete healing. Oh, to live, play, and praise in the shade of that tree, where every disease, disintegration, and distress will be gone forever!
My longings are connected to people I love—people in need of all kinds of healing. I pray for marriages of friends to be healed; for the minds of those suffering with mental illness to be healed; for the fabric of our racially torn community to be healed; for the emotions of the demonized to be healed; for friends with stories of abuse, cancer, and heart disease to be healed; indeed, for the nations, themselves, to be healed.
Even as I pray for healing, Lord Jesus, I don’t understand—and I don’t have to understand—the “already and not yet” of your healing ministry. Why, how, and when you choose to bring a foretaste of perfect health in the present state of our brokenness is up to you. You are the King who does all things well. You don’t need our permission to do anything.
But help me avoid two extremes: keep me free from faith formulas that treat healing like an on-demand right, and keep me free from a theology that has zero expectation of your kingdom breaking in with power and healing.
More so than ever, I intensely long for the Day of perfect health and wholeness. Until that Day, help us anticipate and extend various dimensions of your healing ministry to one another, to our community, and to the nations. So very Amen I pray, in your holy and healing name.
