Why did Jesus choose the day of rest, the Sabbath, for some of his healing miracles?
By the end of this post you’ll gain an understanding of why Jesus healed on the Sabbath and what this means for us as New Covenant believers.
You’ll also gain 5 tips for introducing the mindset of rest into your lifestyle which increases your capacity to receive a healing.
Jehovah Rapha is translated as ‘I am the Lord who heals you’. (Ex 15:26). The Hebrew word ‘rapha’ means both ‘to heal’ and also ‘relax’ thus putting resting and healing together.
Jesus heals on the Sabbath day, the day of rest 7 times, proving that to receive healing, we need to rest in the finished work.
Often when we’re believing God for a healing miracle, it consumes us. Our minds are bombarded with ‘when will I be healed?…I can’t live like this…how long must I wait?….’ 
Image: Rebekah Ballagh. Journey to Wellness
This thinking causes us to live in a place of unrest where healing or ‘to be healed’ becomes the lens through which we view life.
This is not God’s best where anxiety and lack of peace dominate.
When it comes to the New Covenant, you and I are already living in the day or rest. This means we can expect a ‘Sabbath healing.’
‘By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.’ Gen 2:2
In the same way, on the cross Jesus cried ‘it is finished’.
I believe God is asking us to live from a place of victory, of completion, of resting in the Finished Work.
Seeing yourself already healed, has nothing to do with the natural realm. See HOW TO SEE YOURSELF HEALED. POSITION VS CONDITION
It’s to do with resting in the finished work, in the Sabbath day. I certainly don’t want to be insensitive when I say this, I know people are suffering.
The illness is real, the symptoms are too, but seeing ourselves ‘in Christ’, is our true identity.
SABBATH HEALING
I believe God wants us, as New Covenant believers, to receive our healing through faith.
TIP NO. 1 KNOW IT’S ALREADY BEEN DONE
Faith isn’t believing something long enough then it manifests. No, faith is believing it has already happened, then we walk in it before we see it.
How can we do this? By believing that the Atonement was for our healing as well as for the forgiveness of our sins.
When you know something is finished, there is a peaceful feeling that comes. This gives us a strong foundation and a confidence.
We are already in our Promised Land So there’s no need to ask God to heal but thank Him in advance of the manifestation. We can’t ask God to do what he has already done.
If you believe you are already healed even though symptoms are still present, God calls that resting. We are resting in what Jesus has done for us.
Jesus tells the paralysed man to ‘rise, take up your bed’ (symbolising rest) Joseph Prince’s interpretation of this verse, is that God is asking us to ‘take up our rest.’
TIP NO. 2 DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IN ORDER TO ACCESS REST
We have a continual relationship with the Godhead. As we draw close to Him, He draws close to us.
He speaks to us and we listen and we allow Him to fill us with His love and His Spirit. All this was missing in the Old Covenant.
The Old Covenant day of rest is a “shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Col 2:16
The Israelites had to literally do ‘nothing’ except rest, foreshadowing our reality in Christ.
So it’s not that we observe a literal day or rest in a legalistic way, but more we live continually in what Jesus has done for us. Our healing therefore is in the Sabbath day of rest.
We don’t earn or work for blessings any more.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:10
Knowing who you are in Christ, is key to being able to operate from the place of rest. This is how we access a Sabbath day miracle healing.
TIP NO.3 OBSERVE YOUR THOUGHTS BECAUSE THEY DILUTE FAITH
Resting in the Sabbath day isn’t about passively lying in bed doing nothing. Even when we are physically at rest, our minds and an accumulation of stored stress are still ongoing.
Often we allow our struggles to occupy our minds; we put our eyes on the problem causing us to feel an unrest in our bodies.
In Nervous System language, we call this ‘sympathetic activation’, or as fight / flight.
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life… Matthew 6:25-26
When we’re in this place, we feel the need to ‘solve’ the problem, to fix it or to try and find a way out somehow. Our minds can hinder us massively in our walk with the Lord.
Think of the Israelites who were ‘free’ from slavery physically but their mindsets had not changed. They believed that the giants in Cana were more powerful than God and failed to enter the land.
How many times do we magnify our problems above our God?
It’s not just worrying that causes us to be in the flight/flight zone. If we’re constantly judging and criticising others or always complaining then we’re in this place.
There is no healing here as we’re not at rest in our minds.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
If you find that you can’t switch off, one idea is to record your thoughts on paper, then challenge them. When you see your thoughts written down, you may realise they’re not true or even in alignment with God’s Word.
We can’t ignore thoughts, but we can replace them.
Are any of your thoughts diluting your faith?
TIP NO. 4 OBSERVE THE SABBATH
Taking a day where you spend time resting is Biblical. This means not working or studying in any way. People perform better when they are well rested. 
Image: Rebekah Ballagh Journey to Wellness
Busyness is glorified in our society; being productive can easily become our identity. Doctors say that stress kills so taking a day to rest helps to counteract this.
When we’re well rested, we enter into the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system. This is where the healing is.
TIP NO. 5 LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
I believe that your body will never lie to you. Tuning into your body regularly throughout the day gives insight to the breaks you need throughout the day.
Do you need to get some fresh air?…..change your position / stretch?…..switch off the computer or the TV?….turn off your phone?….take a nap?….
Your body will tell you when you need a break and how to regulate your nervous system in those moments.
In my experience, when you do this regularly, you free yourself from the demands and expectations around you and do what’s right for you.
SEATED WITH CHRIST
In order for us to reign in our Christian lives, we have to know what it is to rest in the finished work first. We live in the Sabbath day of rest and this is where our healing is.
God equips us for whatever plan the enemy has for us, like an illness.
The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool…..Rule in the midst of Your enemies!
Psalm 110:1–2
It’s human nature to work then rest; to fight, then relax. You go to the gym and work up a sweat, then you reward yourself with a relaxing bath or chilled evening in front of the TV to unwind.
But when you’re a child of God operating out of grace, the opposite is true. We rest first, then we are in a position to rule over any sickness because then God will put the sickness you’re dealing with ‘under your feet’
What would your healing journey look like if you truly believed that God was fighting your battles for you, you need only be still?
This is in complete alignment with what doctors are saying today. Stress kills.
How has this changed your thoughts on the importance of resting in the Finished Work?
No matter where you are on your healing journey, I hope this encourages and supports you today.
God Bless
Lorna x
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