Matthew 8:8 – BUT SPEAK THE WORD ONLY
Matthew 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
The centurion had asked Jesus if he would heal his servant. Once Jesus affirmed that HE was willing to come and heal the centurion knew the will of God. Because the centurion knew the will of God, he was able to ask with boldness that Jesus heal his servant from a distance. The centurion understood that if it was the will of God for his servant to be healed, distance meant nothing for the Creator of the universe.
Do you understand the power of God and the power of HIS spoken word? God spoke this entire world into existence, why wouldn’t a healing from a distance be possible? However, even though this centurion had great faith that his servant could be healed from a distance, this is one of the few stories of Jesus actually healing from a distance. Instead, as the general rule, you see the sick crowding close to Jesus to have HIM touch them as if they can only be healed if they do something to get close to HIM.
The woman who was healed of an issue of blood had determined that all she needed to do was to touch the hem of Jesus’ clothes. Jesus did not tell this woman that she had great faith, but he did tell her that it was her faith that healed her. Jesus did tell the centurion that he had great faith because he understood the power of the spoken word of God.
The word of God is powerful. How often do you become so focused upon doing something to obtain the grace of God that you forget all you have to do is ask God to fulfill HIS perfect will in your life. God does not need you to climb to the top of some great mountain and give a thousand burnt offerings so that you can obtain HIS favor. If you understand what the will of God is, ask God to fulfill it, believing that God desires to do what HE has told you is a part of HIS perfect will.
We serve a God who can do the impossible. We serve a God who flooded the entire earth with a flood when no one knew what rain was. We serve a God who parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River. We serve a God who caused the walls of Jericho to fall flat by the blowing of trumpets. We serve a God who destroyed an entire army simply because 300 men were blowing trumpets and holding lamps. We serve a God who enabled a boy to kill a giant.
Do you understand the power of God? Do you regularly seek God’s perfect will for your life? Once you understand the will of God, do you stop trusting in your own strength and instead turn the problem over to God and watch as HE is able to solve the problem in a miraculous way? You need to learn to trust God more. You need to allow God to be God and you to simply be HIS trusted servant.
As long as you are expecting God to fulfill your desires in your own ways, you are trying to paint God in a box. However, you need to get out of this mindset and learn to appreciate the power of God. Your focus cannot be on seeing God do what you want HIM to do in ways that you can grasp. Instead, your focus should be in living a powerful testimony so God receives the glory.
Be diligent to add temperance to your life so that your focus changes from looking at yourself to looking towards God to supply your needs. Learn to trust God and start looking for ways that HE can be glorified through your life because of your trust in HIM.