A teaching by Rev. Barbara Williams, President of the Ministry of the Watchman International
Week of March 29-April 2, 2021
MONDAY
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:3-6
Who hath believed our report? If you are a believer in the finished work of Calvary and have put your trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then you are blessed indeed, because many meet the report of the Lord with unbelief.
If you are a believer, then God has shown you great mercy. He has softened your heart and opened your eyes and ears to hear and believe His truth. You have been healed, and the evidence of this is the change in the direction of your life. You have been translated to hear and understand a new language… God’s.
Your soul has been healed so that there is no longer a breach in your understanding of what God expects. You have the very Spirit of Christ living on the inside of you and this has brought wholeness to your soul. Jesus bore stripes for this.
If you are in need of healing, there is good news! Proverbs 4:20-22 SAYS:
My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
So there is life and health in God’s word. Since God’s word is medicine, we must take it like we would a prescription. I suggest three times a day, like you would your food. Remember, healing is the children’s bread. Consider this your “dose” for today. Remember, read, and meditate three times a day the following:
Rx: 1 Peter 2:24 ~ He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15
If you’ve never studied the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we invite you to join us as we read through the Bible in a year. Read and meditate on these chapters this week:
March 29: Exodus 40, John 19, Proverbs 16, Philippians 3
March 30: Leviticus 1, John 20, Proverbs 17, Philippians 4
March 31: Leviticus, 2-3, John 21, Proverbs 18, Colossians 1
April 1: Leviticus, 4, Psalms1-2, Proverbs 19, Colossians 2
April 2: Leviticus 5, Psalms 3-4, Proverbs 20, Colossians 3
April 3: Leviticus 6, Psalms 5-6, Proverbs 21, Colossians 4
April 4: Leviticus 7, Psalms 7-8, Proverbs 22, 1 Thessalonians 1
TUESDAY
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:3-6
If you are a believer, then you have a hunger and thirst for the things of God. It doesn’t matter how long you have been saved; the hunger is there because His Spirit that lives within you must be fed. Whether you feed your spirit the word of God or not, the hunger is still there.
Have you ever had a “taste” for something and gone into the kitchen to get “something?” You stand around trying to think of something to eat, you open the refrigerator and look inside, and can’t decide what you want. You finally grab something, eat it, and still are not satisfied.
This is sometimes the way spiritual hunger manifests. It is an emptiness that is perceived in a somewhat vague way, until we begin to know how to feed it. When this hunger is fed, then the Lord’s knowledge, wisdom, and blessings come into our lives. Jesus bore stripes to release this to us.
WEDNESDAY
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:3-6
I came to the Lord because I needed to be healed. Mental depression had disabled me. I felt unfit to live, and the way that I lived reflected it: I could not sleep, had very little appetite, and was suicidal every day. Prior to the onset of my illness, I had heard a woman give her testimony in a beauty shop, and at the time laughed at her behind her back, but in the depths of depression I remembered her words… “Jesus saved me.” I wondered if God could be so loving and merciful to have prepared a way of escape for me before I was aware that I needed it.
Could the God of Heaven have seen me all along, and “while I was yet a sinner,” have His Son die for me?
I grabbed onto the lifeline of salvation. I forgot all the wrong things that I had believed about God and decided to trust Him anyway. I reached out to a Faithful God with the little bit of faith that I had. The stripes of Jesus gradually healed my depression.
THURSDAY
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:3-6
I found that there was a place in my soul that was weak. It is called an infirmity. Somehow I had managed to associate my worth with my accomplishments. It’s called works.
My accomplished life was suddenly turned upside down by my depression, because I was unable to accomplish anything in that condition. Medication… therapy… group therapy… vitamin therapy… 12 steps… 5 steps… you name it, I tried it! I had hope for a while, but pretty soon, I was right back where I started, as depressed as ever.
I found that no amount of man-made therapy could heal a damaged soul. Someone has to pay the price of redemption for the human soul. God set the price for the human soul to be ransomed from the forces that hold it captive. There is only one price: the stripes of Jesus.
FRIDAY
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:3-6
We have entered into His life. We are brand new creatures when we are born again. Nicodemus was puzzled at this concept. Many of us who have experienced the new birth are puzzled as well. It is hard to imagine a God so loving and kind that He forgives us to the “uttermost.”
All past, present and future sins are forgiven with the one time sacrifice of Jesus, our Redeemer.
God knows what we will do in the future, and has already decided to forgive us. Jesus’ stripes have paid the total price for us for this healing of our soul from fragmented parts to total wholeness. Every time He was whipped, the Father was satisfied that we could enter into new life.
The great price for wholeness of soul was paid at the cross.