The Reality Of What You Don’t See
49 “The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” 52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.” John 4:49-53 NKJV
What is striking about this story is that Jesus spoke life to the son of this nobleman, and even though the son was far away and could not hear the voice of Jesus speaking healing, still he was healed. We limit what God can do through us because of the limits we place upon Him. Most of these limits are the result of believing things are within our experience here in this natural world. We think from a natural perspective and not a spiritual one. Even as Christians we have a hard time not thinking from a natural perspective which is in itself limiting.
We know that the power of life and death is in the tongue, but we seem to feel that the things we speak are not as powerful if the recipient does not hear them. We limit our thinking in this life by space. We can only be at one place at one time and we can only affect the things we can see and touch. This is the way in the natural and so this is also how we think in spiritual terms as well. But that is limiting. Jesus did not have to be with the son when He spoke His words of healing. He was not limited by space or by time. He did not have to be present.
The things promised to us in the Lord are real even before they take place. We may see ourselves as limited by time in this natural realm but Jesus is not. So what He has for us is already a firm reality for Him even though it has not yet taken place for us. It is real and done. What He has promised you from His Word, He has already established for you and has already done. More than done, it is already real. We have just not walked into it yet. All that you need and all that He has for you (from His heart of love for you) is already done and is as real as the computer screen or book you are reading this devotional from right now. It may not be evident in this natural world, but oh yes it is real already, more real actually than what we live and experience in this natural world. Amazing. We limit our thoughts by time and space but Jesus is not limited. Let’s not limit Him or our faith with our natural expectations in this life.
J Todd Hostetler