God says to strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees (Hebrews 12:12).
Spiritually, when a person’s hands hang down and he has feeble knees, he is discouraged, tired, or might even be wanting to give up.
Hands do things. When a person has weak hands, he doesn’t do the things that he once could do. He doesn’t do what God has called him to do.
When a person has weak knees, he can’t stand. He is inconsistent and unstable. He is easily knocked over. A person with weak knees can’t walk well. To walk spiritually means to move forward and go where we need to go in God. A person with weak knees is not able to move forward. He is stuck.
There are times in the Christian life when a person may feel discouraged. Maybe you are discouraged now or one of your friends is discouraged.
God doesn’t want us to wallow in discouragement. He tells us to strengthen our weak hands and knees. We can rise up and shake off hindrances and weights. God wants us to have abundant life. The devil wants us in a dark pit of depression, but God wants us to be strong and recover. As we follow God’s instructions, the Holy Spirit will help us get out of the pit and be healed.
Sometimes we get hurt spiritually, and this causes discouragement. We might be offended by what someone did. Maybe someone sinned against us. We might have faced a bad situation and didn’t understand why it happened. Maybe we sinned. We developed a wrong way of thinking.
Those who get hurt spiritually often try to deaden their pain with distractions, wrong relationships, podcasts, movies, shows, or sin. But ignoring spiritual pain or deadening it with our own version of spiritual Tylenol will make things worse.
Pain is a sign of a problem. Injuries need to be attended to quickly. Symptoms of pain must be addressed before the wound becomes infected.
Those who are hurt spiritually will sometimes seek to avoid the means of their deliverance. They might stop reading the Bible. They may not pray much anymore. They will often avoid fellowship. These things would bring healing, but they avoid these things because Satan is trying to block them from getting healed. When we are hurt spiritually we need to come to God and to his house in order to find healing and help. Don’t collapse into a pit of darkness where wounds fester and get infected with dark spiritual bugs.
The Bible says we will be healed by making straight paths for our feet (Hebrews 12:13). The Lord’s path is straight. This narrow road leads to life, and we need to be on this road (Matthew 7:14). We need to focus on Jesus and the things that God has specifically called us to do. As we walk on this path, we will be healed.
The broad path of the world leads to destruction. This wide road is full of distractions, compromises, and bad relationships. We need to rid ourselves from these “options” and focus on God. We must seek first his kingdom. When we make God number one and weed out distractions, then we will be on the straight path of Jesus. This is the way of healing.
We must choose to make straight paths for our feet. No one can do this for us. God won’t force us to make the straight paths. We must do it ourselves. When we start to walk on the straight paths, the Holy Spirit will give us strength to keep going and we will be healed.
Once Jesus met a lame man who hadn’t walked for years. The lame man had no ability in himself to walk, but Jesus commanded him to get up and walk. As the lame man obeyed this seemingly impossible command of Jesus, he somehow stood up and started to walk. His response to God’s word unleashed divine strength, he was healed.
A discouraged person may feel so weak that he feels unable to do the right thing. He feels too tired and depressed to stand up and move forward. But as he begins to obey what seems to be an impossible command of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will enter into him and he will be healed. By beginning to walk on straight paths, he will be healed.
If we see that someone in the church is hurting and has started hobbling around, we can help them. Before they were running for God, but now they’re limping. When one member of the body of Christ hurts, everyone hurts. Reach out and encourage that person to get on the straight path.
There is infinite grace in God, and this grace heals us. This grace is enough for us to be spiritually healed from all wounds. Let’s access this grace.
Seek God for healing. Obey his word. Forgive others. Release them. Give up the world. Focus on God. Pursue his word. Call out to him in prayer. Seek to assemble with his people.
Don’t live with a spiritual wound, hobbling around. Make straight paths for your feet and walk in those paths. As you do, the Holy Spirit will quicken you, and you will be healed. God said healing would happen, and he doesn’t lie.
Lincoln House Churches 