Word Count: 960

Contact Ikpa Onwuka

LESSONS FROM THE LEPER

by Ikpa Onwuka  
7/15/2014 / Christian Living

"And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean" (Mark 1:40-41).
Love has been so abused on earth that it requires the Holy Spirit to help one discern what exactly it means. Every organisation, religion, group and individuals have brought their own meaning of love. But I'll tell you that God is love. Love originated from God and anything you call love which does not reflect God in its entirety is not love.
This, on the other is not the main focus of this piece. But we must know that there is a love which comes from God (Romans 5:5) and that is the true love. Jesus exhibited it in our text as seen. He was moved with compassion and healed the leper; it was not his flesh that moved, but his spirit. He ultimately died for the whole world after that incident; which is the greatest love ever.
There are four lessons which we must learn from the Luke chapter one leper who had his healing instantly at his encounter with Jesus. He came to Jesus a leper, but left a whole man. He had his request honoured immediately. The big question is: What did he do? Or what did he not do that yielded such instantaneous result? Mind you, Jesus still lives within us today, so it's not a question of whether we see him physically as the leper saw. As I read these verses, I came to understand that the leper had some remarkable characteristics which I would like us to emulate as Christians.

1. "And there came a leper to him"
For anyone to have answers to any issue there must be an encounter with the Lord. When I say encounter, I mean a meeting with him, a coming to him. Ultimately this can be done by identifying ourselves with Christ, accepting him as our Lord and saviour whom he is, making up our minds to serve him to the end. Jesus says "no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62).
This we must do if any meaningful thing will happen. Jesus also says "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
There must be a 'coming' before a 'curing' can take place.

2. "beseeching him"
When you come to Jesus and keep quiet, you might not get much. We always define prayer as communication with God. If we don't pray, we remain in pains. The leper opened his mouth and besought Christ; he did not just come and wait for Christ to perform his responsibility. The English dictionary defines "beseech" as to "to ask somebody earnestly; to implore". So this leper asked earnestly, passionately. How do we come to God in prayers today? Do we come with fury? Or with malice and unforgiven faults against our neighbours? Or perhaps secret sins? Let us change all that ans come beseeching, asking earnestly with pure hearts.

3. "and kneeling down to him"
Humility was not left out during the encounter of the leper with the master. He knelt down, showing his lowliness, his acknowledgement of his present situation, his acceptance that "Jesus is Lord" and that Jesus could heal him. He never prayed like the Pharisee in the Luke 18 parable. He humbled himself. Don't be deceived, God resists the proud. You might say it doesn't matter, but I tell you it matters a lot. Come to the master in humility and your adversaries will be humiliated.

4. "and saying unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."
This is the most striking point amongst these four. The bible says in Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". The sixth verse says "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him". Substance means something tangible, 'a type of matter' as the dictionary puts it. Faith is bringing into existence the things we hope for, seeing them already, in the now. The leper already saw his healing; he knew his encounter had brought an end to his leprosy. There was no hiding place for the ailment, it was in for expulsion. And all he said to crown his previous actions was equivalent to "Lord, I know you can heal me, there's no doubt about that. So please just go ahead and heal me". This pleased Jesus and appealed to him. All these actions and statements were ideal for his present need. The miraculous happened immediately after. The bible says "And Jesus, moved with compassion put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed" (41-42). Hallelujah, Praise God!!
This is the result we get when we approach our father the right way, not filled with conceitedness, envy, malice, strife, and all sorts of things that hold us captive. The bible says "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17). God will never despise you when you come with the right heart; with faith. Let us learn from this leper and come to Jesus! I assure you, it will never remain the same with you.

I'm a believer and a follower of Jesus who is certain that God wants all saved!

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! Click here and TRUST JESUS NOW

Read more articles by Ikpa Onwuka

Like reading Christian Articles? Check out some more options. Read articles in Main Site Articles, Most Read Articles or our highly acclaimed Challenge Articles. Read Great New Release Christian Books for FREE in our Free Reads for Reviews Program. Or enter a keyword for a topic in the search box to search our articles.

Enter comments below. Due to spam, all hyperlinks posted in the comments are now immediately disabled by our system.

Please type the following word below:

Not readable? Change text.

The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Hire a Christian Writer, Christian Writer Wanted, Christian Writer Needed, Christian Content Needed, Find a Christian Editor, Hire a Christian Editor, Christian Editor, Find a Christian Writer