By His Stripes We Are Healed

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.” Isaiah 53:5 AMPC

The only way we will see healing in the land is if we receive it for ourselves first, looking to Jesus only. There is no healing apart from Jesus. There is no peace apart from Jesus. There is no freedom apart from Jesus. And unless we hear, know and believe what Jesus suffered on our behalf – to give us His healing, wholeness, well-being, peace and completeness – we will continue to look to self, man, systems or natural means to get it (of which none can sustain you).

This morning as I was spending time with the Lord asking questions about how I was feeling and what I was seeing, I was led back to Isaiah 53. As I began to read about my Suffering Servant, He instantly reminded me of the rejection and judgement He took upon Himself, on my behalf. As a matter of fact, Jesus was despised, forsaken, hated and regarded with contempt by men. He was the ultimate Man of sorrows and pains. He was looked down on, passed over by people who thought He was scum (see verses 2-6 msg). He was acquainted with the deepest grief. He was arrested, held captive and put to death.

Why?

For me. For you. For humanity. Jesus, the Son of God, chose to leave His throne in Heaven and take on human flesh to redeem humanity. He chose to lay down His deity so He could lay down His life to take our death to give us His life. While completely sinless (He knew no sin, He did no sin, in Him is no sin), He became our sin; He took all our unrighteousness to give us His righteousness as a gift, to be in union and sweet communion with Him forever.

He was marred more than any man and became an object of horror while bearing our curses. Beloved, He is not out of touch with the misery, tribulation, hurts and heartaches of humanity. He became our trauma! He became our affliction! He gets us! He understands humanity because although He was without sin Himself He experienced every bit of our weakness and testing. And when all was dark for three hours as our Savior hung on the cross, He absorbed the entirety of all the powers of darkness (all our sin, shame, sicknesses, condemnation, diseases, judgement and curses) into His body.

You see, everything we are seeing rear its ugly head all around us: self-righteousness, sin, injustice, pride, pain, confusion and division is simply the effects of fallen humanity who needs to encounter Jesus! They need to hear about the God who made them in His image; the Source of all Love, the Center of all compassion, the Father who sent His Son to take their place so they could take His as His dearly beloved, forgiven, favored, reconciled child of Heaven!

They, you and I need to hear the life changing Good News of His pure, scandalous, unadulterated, unearned grace (the gospel of Jesus Christ and His finished work only) like we need oxygen. It’s the only thing that saves us because He is the only One who can save us from ourselves!

When we begin to believe that Jesus is our substitution, we will find stability. When we truly begin to understand that we ALL were born into this world with sin in our flesh have fallen short and are in need of the glory of God in the form of a Savior, we will find humility.

When we are convicted of this: that when we were dead in our sin, lost in darkness and could’ve cared less about God that’s when “Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place” (Romans 5:8 TPT), we will stop measuring ourselves against each other and instead look to Jesus, our perfect and full measure!

In Him and only In Him can we truly live and live together in peace. It is only by receiving Jesus’s sacrifice and believing that His perfect blood washed us clean, made us new and transferred His perfection onto us, giving us His very identity, will we have peace with our Father. He has given us a perfect relationship with Himself. He’s been there all along; pursuing you in His perfect love to make you His own.

We are one new man in Christ! Jesus’s body, our wall of Salvation, has broken down the walls of everything that separates us! But you need to know and trust you are forgiven! You need to act in faith that His sacrificial love has set you free! You need to take seriously that the sins you can’t forget, He will never remember again! (Hebrews 10:17)

“It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect Person to perfect some very imperfect people.” Hebrews 10:14 msg

We become what we believe. And until we personally have the eye of our hearts opened to see who and Whose we are, we will not be able to see others through the lens of God’s unconditional Love laid bare for all on the cross.

Until we receive no judgement and no condemnation from our Father, we will continue to judge and condemn ourselves and each other. Until we receive His gift of righteousness and grace, we will continue to think and act out of the flesh and place ourselves and others under the law (that demands performance, change and right behavior without Holy Spirit heart transformation).

This is why it’s so important, especially now, to spend time with Jesus. Draw near, ask questions, let yourself be loved where you are. Listen to and feed on messages that reveal Jesus and your true identity in Him. Expect to hear His voice. Meet Him in the Word. Consent to be embraced and carried. Meditate on the Truth of His song and smile over you. Trust, rely on and be confident in only Him.

Then and only then will you be able to love your neighbor as yourself. You cannot freely give what you do not freely receive. His finished work is our starting point, our praying point (praying from victory not for it)!

Now is the time to press in and be His to experience His Presence. Turn away from all that distracts and confuses so He can give to you. Say “yes” to the healing, peace, provision and freedom He died to give you. Tell Him you want to know Him more. Your desire will not return void. Take up your authority and speak out His promises and what you want to see. Pray for those you know need to experience His love!

Today and every day, regardless of what I see or hear in the media (and there are a lot of gathering movements and causes), I will lift up Jesus, focus on Him, seek His wisdom and leading and let His Spirit do in and through me what ONLY HE CAN DO as I rest in His love one step at a time.

Jesus always is and always will be the answer. He doesn’t have the solution, HE IS The Solution. He doesn’t make a way, HE IS The Way. He doesn’t show you truth, HE IS The Truth. He doesn’t tell you how to live life, HE IS The Resurrection and The Life.

Resting In His Love,

Annalee Reyes

“Father, thank you for Jesus! He is our sacrifice and offering! We lift Him high above our hearts and our nation! Engulf us in Your love, reveal to us Your finished work afresh and remind us Whose we are! Release Your Spirit in greater measure on us and upon the broken ones of this country and open their hearts unto Your Salvation! We speak against the principalities and powers of darkness bringing deceit and command them to loose the captives free! Let Your Shalom (the Spirit that destroys chaos), Jesus Himself, reverse the lies of the enemy as You call Your sons and daughters to come home into Your heart, into Your healing and into new life! In Jesus Mighty Name and by the power of His blood, we ask and thank you Abba, Amen!”