April 3, 2025

A woman named Linda prayed thanks to God for the groups, for this community time, for the actually hearts in our community that have been physically healed and those who are in need of healing. As we began to ponder what God is up too spiritually by healing physical hearts, we also realized he had also started healing hips. HEARTS and HIPS.

Jesus came to give us a heart of flesh instead of hearts of stone!

Ezekiel 36:26

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Why do we need hearts of flesh? Because hard hearts don’t hear God, follow God, or look to God. When we are struggling with something in our lives – we end up wrestling with God like Jacob did. He wanted to be blessed from God and in the process his hip was put out of place.

Genesis 32:24-30

²⁴ And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵ When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^[f] for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰ So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

We too struggle with God and humans in this life.

I started to wonder as we were in prayer – if God wants to heal hearts and hips, if Jacob wrestled with God and his hip was put out of place even though he was blessed, how might Christ coming and us being on this side of the cross change that?

The heart that wrestles is in need of a touch from God.

Hips are the hinge of the body. They are the place of our strength and self-sufficiency. If our hips do not work properly, we are not able to do what we need too. A few months ago, I had developed a very sore hip. I stretched and did all the things to help it but nothing, just a radiating from the inner most part – an awful pain. I had also been dealing with anxiety, depression, sickness, loss of my voice, anger and frustration about things happening around me and in me. I ended up making a space in the evening before bed to pray, write down prayers, read scripture and read in a book. One evening a few days in I was face down on my bed calling out to God. I asked Him what is wrong, why do I feel this way, why is this happening to me. He said, “I told you to go walk. Are you going to listen yet?”

DISOBEDIENCE

The next day I started walking. He only asked me for 30 mins, but it’s not been warm a lot and I just decided in my self-sufficient way to wait until it was. A few days later, I was at a leader conference, and the man speaking spoke of healing and then took us through communion. As I was being led, I asked the Lord for healing. I was thinking for my voice that had been barely usable for 3 weeks. About 20 mins later, as I sat down in a chair, I noticed that my hip didn’t hurt. And it dawned on me. My heart had been restored through obedience to the Lord, and I was positioned for blessing.

We live in the rugged individualist Midwest area. We don’t want to burden others or even be seen as weak or needy. We are so prone to do it alone or on our own that praying to God, asking for help, repenting, and obeying what God has said becomes the last resort instead of the first. None of us are immune to this human dis-ease.

Christ brought us something far better than waiting until we can’t do anything and have dug ourselves a hole. GRACE!

2 Corinthians 2:9

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

On this side of the Cross – we have grace sufficient!

It makes our weakness a place where His perfect power can be displayed.

FOR HIS GLORY!

I am so glad that when we finally wrestle the stuff we are dealing with in our hearts with God – we don’t have to walk away blessed and limping but rather gracefully restored.

We prayed for our church community to be grace filled hearts, to lay down our own sufficiency and follow the Lord.