By His Stripes

 


"I have been following you since Nov of last year. You have been more of a blessing than you will ever know. I feel like a part of the congregation. Thank the good Lord for helping me find you after giving up hope that this is what a church should be. Bless you."

When we as a church get comments like these, we think they are really special, and they remind us a few things.

We may never know how what we are doing and saying the the glory of Christ my impact someone. (1 Corinthians 3.6-7) Many people carry burdens with them and are running low on hope. When we magnify Christ over all things, and follow his purpose, we can shine a bright light for many saints who are addled by the pain of living in a fallen world. Through our live streamed services, someone we may never have touched otherwise has found new courage in Christ.

The need for prayer, for saints and the lost alike. (James 5.16) We ought to pray that everyone who comes into contact with our work has the sort of reaction we see here in this comment. We are not a perfect church, but we are doing our best to reach people who are hurting and in need of healing. Let’s pray for the person who wrote this to us today, and let’s pray for everyone who needs the healing that Christ offers. Let’s be ready to be an answered prayer to those people.

Jesus is the answer. He is the great physician. (Mark 2.17) There are a lot of people like the commenter above. We are those people. We all have one thing in common—we were created by God and broken by the effects of sin. We all have one common struggle and require one common salvation—in Christ alone. “By his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53.5)