REPENTANCE, MERCY and HEALING
by Revivalist Todd Bentley

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PART 1 of 2

Amazing! That's our God! Perhaps you've been hearing or reading about some of the wonderful healing-miracles taking place in Lakeland, Florida and you're saying, "I've heard some of the testimonies and I need a miracle, I need healing."

I'm sure that many of you are contending for healing for yourself; and you're praying for your loved ones and other people that you know. So, today, I want to encourage you. Jesus Christ is with you and He is moved with compassion to heal every kind of sickness and every kind of disease among every race, tribe or tongue! His compassion compels Him to heal!

Now, with that truth in full view, right at the top of this teaching I want to give you my best advice: Believe God for a breakthrough! Allow this teaching to minister to your heart; it's really a love-letter to you, from His heart to your heart. And along with that message comes my hope and prayer for you today, that you receive a revelation of the Father's heart. When you've got this revelation, you've got a revelation of Jesus-"He who has seen Me (Jesus) has seen the Father" (John 14:9; parentheses mine).

My prayer, too, is that you come to a full understanding of His great, big, heart of love for you! For, like a triple-wrapped gift, you'll find inside His heart a revelation about repentance; then within that, His mercy; and within that, His healing-Christ's healing touch. His touch for you! And repentance is the key.

Now, let's go on to examine how repentance brings the breakthrough.

THE BEAUTY OF REPENTANCE

When we think about repentance we often think about John the Baptist- "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2).We think about fire and brimstone, and about somebody preaching hard against sin. I believe in that message, don't get me wrong! We need to have a message of holiness, separation, and consecration. There's a place, and there's a price, for that message.

But as we examine repentance here, I'm talking about it in perhaps a different way than some people usually think-in the context of mercy and healing. In this context is a revelation that repentance brings mercy, and mercy brings healing. I call this: the beauty of repentance. In fact, that revelation illustrates why I love to repent and get right with God! And so I want to help you get into that place [of repentance] where you pull the rip cord and receive both mercy and healing-which is the blessing of God. Hallelujah!

About the word mercy, it is actually translated from Greek as compassion in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: #1653 and #1656. When you see the mercy of God you see the compassion of Christ-and it's always in the context of Jesus being moved with compassion, healing every sickness and disease among the people. Mercy and compassion are inseparable.

But what brings you into mercy (and compassion) is repentance. So, when you see repentance, you see mercy. And what do you see when you see mercy? Healing! Repentance, mercy and healing!-which is why I believe that repentance is the most beautiful thing in the Bible-it always brings you into a miracle.

The word repent means-to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life; to change one's mind, and to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary; Matt. 3:8). Genuine repentance is such a radical change in the life of a person that when you look at their character afterwards, you see fruit worthy of repentance. You can tell that something has happened!


THE LORD IS WILLING!

What's more, it isn't just the will of God to release compassion and mercy; it is the willingness of God. The Lord is willing! Yet, people so often wonder if the Lord wants to heal them-"Is it His will to heal me?" That's what it comes down to-the universal cry-just like the leper who came to Jesus and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean" (Matt. 8:2). For a lot of Christians, even those who believe He is willing, there is still doubt. Their theology assures them that He is willing but still, in their heart, they react to God with "If" and "Well, God would You?" and "Oh God, could I have the grace to at least bear with it until You give it to me."

In contrast, we need to come to that place where we have such a solid revelation of God's heart-His compassion and mercy-that we see His willingness, not just His will. The thing I love most about the willingness of Jesus is in Matthew 8 (and I call that particular chapter, The Willingness of Jesus). It's the response of Jesus to the leper. He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed" (v. 3). Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. What love!

Next, right on the heels of that miracle, came the Roman centurion, a Gentile, pleading with Jesus to heal his servant, who was lying paralyzed and tormented at home. Immediately Jesus was willing! He said, "I will come and heal him" (v. 7). The centurion didn't even ask; he was still in the middle of saying,"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented,"and Jesus goes (paraphrased), "I'll come and heal him. Okay, let's go!" The centurion's response: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof." You know the rest, how Jesus commended the centurion and healed his servant on the spot.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, Jesus walks into Peter's mother-in-law's house and sees her lying on the bed with a fever, walks up to her, touches her, and rebukes the fever. I mean it's just a chapter of willingness! "I am willing, be cleansed." "I will come and heal him." Walks into the house, "Aw, look she has a fever . . . got to get rid of that!"-touches her, heals her! Hey! That's my Jesus! That's your Jesus! He's the same yesterday, today, and forever!

REPENTANCE TRIGGERS GOD'S NATURE TO BLESS YOU

Let's take a look at why it's in God's nature to be so willing to heal by taking a look at the Word of the Lord that came to the Prophet Joel:

"'Now, therefore,' says the LORD, 'Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.' So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious . . ." (2:12, 13).

That verse proves that God is good. Listen! God doesn't do a good thing, God doesn't just have goodness. God is good. God is unchanging. God is eternal. God doesn't do good things. God doesn't have goodness. God is good. He can't be anything else but good. And He's eternally good. He doesn't just have goodness and do good things, He is the very substance of goodness.

God doesn't just have mercy. God is mercy. He can't be anything else but mercy. It's who He is; His eternal, unchanging nature is good, and He is mercy. He can't but be doing good things. He can't but be merciful. He is mercy and He is good-"Return to the LORD your God . . . He is . . . merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him" (vv. 13, 14). He is of such a great kindness, that He even relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him. He is willing because He is good and He is mercy.

It's the nature of God when you repent, turn, make a change, and bring forth the fruit of repentance that He not only forgives you, but in return, He turns your captivity around by redeeming and restoring the effects of what you did in your sin. Hallelujah! It's in the nature of God to bless. He just turns and leaves a blessing.

What's so "above and beyond" is that you might not even feel that you're worthy of His blessing. You might just be thinking how getting things right and being forgiven is all you want or all there is. But because of God's love for you and by His very nature, He says, "I just don't want to forgive you, I want to forgive you because I am mercy and I'm of such great kindness, not only do I want to forgive you, but I want to leave a blessing. I want to turn around and give you that which you don't even think you're worthy to receive. All because it's who I am. Now let Me give you a blessing." God's very nature is blessing. He is willing because He is the blessing!

God is of great kindness. Some of you might be still be asking, "Why would God want to heal me?" You might have it down theologically; the theology part is fine. But listen. When your belief partners with faith and with the revelation of God's kindness and mercy, and you understand that when you repent He relents and leaves a blessing, then you can't help but realize why God would want to heal you!

Just look at this: "Come, and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up" (Hosea 6:1). It's like God is saying, "I want you to repent because I want to heal you." When you think about that, who wouldn't want to repent?!

CLOSING

Before closing this week's lesson, it's only right to bring to remembrance what Paul said to the Romans: "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" (Rom. 2:4 NASV). I want to emphasize the kindness of God-the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience-leads you to repentance. Friends, that's such good news. Let's cherish that truth.

Right now, some of you are sensing the Holy Spirit's touch, drawing you, bringing conviction to you that it's time to repent. Allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart, take time with Him to deal with the things that He is pointing out to you. It will be a real key to unlock the mercy of God and His healing touch in your life. The word says not to harden your heart-"Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?" (Heb. 3:15, 16; emphasis mine). 


Todd Bentley