The Big Deal

Luke 17:¹⁵ “Then one of them, upon seeing that he was cured, turned back, recognizing and thanking and praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ And he fell prostrate at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him [over and over]. And he was a Samaritan.” [AMPC]

Every time God heals and does a miracle that is part one, no matter how big the miracle is. But every time you come back to say thank you, God delivers part two – every single time! Characteristic with leprosy is that it eats up the phalanges of the infected person. It starts with the fringes of the body, then eats up the fingers and so on. Usually, the people with this disease at the end of the day do not have any fingers. When Jesus told the ten lepers to go and show themselves, the Bible says in Luke 17:¹⁴ “… And as they went, they were cured and made clean.” [AMPC, with emphasis]. This means the leprosy stopped, they were cleansed of the leprosy.

But those of them that had lost fingers, still had fingers lost. It was just that the leprosy was gone and would not progress. But when this Samaritan man came back to thank Jesus, Jesus said in Luke 17:¹⁹ “And He said to him, Get up and go on your way. Your faith (your trust and confidence that spring from your belief in God) has restored you to health” [AMPC, with emphasis]. Jesus pronounced the blessing of wholeness on him. Meaning not only was he cleansed, he became whole – the fingers he may have lost grew back. So, all ten lepers got part one of the miracle, but gratitude positioned this man for part two and that is a deadly blow to the enemy.

Note that part two is usually not a request. We usually do not even have anything to do with part two. It is part of God’s magnanimity. Guess what? God’s magnanimity is bigger than any request you can ever make. Out of His magnanimity, He says, be whole! It is like giving the enemy a jab, a straight punch, and then an upper cut – knockout. Everyone can get an answer from God of that miraculous nature but not many people come back to say thank you. The truth is this, when you do not come back to thank God, you are actually cheating yourself. When God does great things in your life, your life should flow with thanksgiving.

While crying out to Jesus can heal you, it is your gratitude to Jesus that makes you whole! A lot of us are actually owing God responsive thanksgiving for what He has done. The other part of gratitude, of thanksgiving is the proactive thanksgiving. The first part we dealt with is the responsive thanksgiving. The proactive thanksgiving is thanking God for what His going to do. Please read 2 Chronicles 20:21-24.

Prayer [song]: For the Lord is good, for the Lord is good, for the Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever. For the Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever! Amen!