Starting a new venture can be exciting and doubtless risky. Exciting because it is something new and seemingly promising. Risky because of the fear of failure, resource constraints amongst other uncertainties. Sometimes people handle the uncertainties of new ventures by proactively focusing on project purpose and objectives, ensuring tact and discipline in mobilising and utilizing resources, sticking to proven successful models and practice.

My youngest daughter communicates very clearly; a lot of people say this about her. Some weeks ago, we were in the kitchen together when I noticed from the corner of my eyes that she was rubbing her eyes somewhat profusely. Just as I was about to turn and ask her to stop, she said; ‘mummy, I just had a vision- a someone was standing behind you.’ Ordinarily I would have panicked, but I just looked at her in smiles and responded he’s my angel’. I believe the Father opened her eyes to see this as a confirmation of Psalm 34:7.

We sometimes read the account of creation and conclude that God created the universe from nothing. While this may seem right in a way considering that there was originally void, formlessness and darkness on the face of the earth, however, it wasn’t these things that gave rise to the universe. In and of themselves, void and formlessness will maintain their current state or deteriorate but very unlikely to transform to something useful on their own. And as for darkness, it is just a natural habitat for all sorts of imaginable and unimaginable evil to thrive, for dreams to never be realized, for possibilities to continue to be hidden or concealed. Darkness never outshines light, God is light, so every time God steps into darkness, light happens and darkness ceases to be

Peter went fishing with an empty boat and empty nets, he returned with an empty boat and empty nets. 
Then he went fishing again with an empty boat with empty nets, and this time he returned with 2 boats and nets full of fishes. 

You can position yourself to have the same experience Peter had, Find out what happened in the time interval Peter’s first and second fishing trip that made the difference and made this miracle possible. 

The Heavens tell of His glory, creation showcases the works of His hands. The dawn of a new day and its embrace of night reveals His power. The sun, the moon, the stars tell of His glory. All these though silent yet communicate louder than words, transmitting their message throughout the world to all mankind (Psalm 19:1-5), to all who care to think, listen, and see.

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” I Peter 2:24 NKJV

In Part 1, we answered the following question:

Is 1 Peter 2:24 ‘healing’ just a spiritual healing, a physical healing or both a spiritual/physical one?

Please refer to Monday’s post see the response from scripture.

Today we try to understand the word ‘stripes’ in 1 Peter 2:24.

As used in 1 Peter 2:24, ‘stripes‘ mean; a bruise, a wound from a stripe, to beat to pieces, crush, smite, humble, oppress.

‘Wound’ is an injury to a living tissue caused by a cut, blow, or impart, which typically cuts or breaks the skin.

‘Bruise‘ is an injury that appears as a discolored area of skin on the body.

These descriptions point to a physical, bodily experience. Yes, Jesus definitely felt the spiritual and emotional weight of crucifixion, but also in reality, He was physically tortured. His body was bruised.

The Amplified version reading helps paint a clearer picture of 1 Peter 2:24….

"He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross [willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice], so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you [who believe] have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 AMP

His body was cut. He was lashed so much that His skin broke. The nails pierced His skin as they passed through His hands, and the spear certainly pierced his skin. He even bore our sins in His own body.

The Stripes were not imaginary, they were real…

"Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4‭-‬5 NIV

He carried them all (sin and sickness) so that you will not carry them. You have no business with sin, you have no business with sickness.

Agree with God; Believe His Word, Continually confess His Word on healing and it will be health to all your flesh.

By His Stripes I was healed. The Bible says it and I choose to believe the Word of God. I agree with God!

……………

Reviewed from first published in 10/08/2019.

Not too long ago, I came across a Christian blogsite where a heated argument was going on about the meaning of ‘healed‘ in ‘By His stripes you were  healed‘ of 1 Peter 2:24.  While some persons supported the idea that ‘healed’ as used in this verse referred only to a spiritual healing with no physical manifestation, others thought it was totally a physical experience. Those who felt strongly that it should be purely spiritual, came from the standpoint that healing and salvation came as one package. And so if salvation is spiritual then healing must be too.

The reason Lazarus was located at the rich man’s gate was because those that dropped him there knew the rich man had the required resources to help him. You can help someone in genuine need today, and that someone is located at your gate (around you).

We can be more. We can put lust, greed, strife, hatred, and everything evil which doesn’t identify with our identity in Christ under control. We can choose to by wisdom observe more and speak less, to choose to ignore and disregard inflammatory and annoying remarks, we can choose peace and calmness of spirit over claiming to be right or smart. We can be more.

Everyone has a ‘baseline’ level of faith that when rightfully applied yields results. However in scripture, we also hear Jesus grade faith on different levels- little faith, faith, great faith (Matthew 14: 22-33, Mark 4:35-41, Matthew 16:8, Matthew 8:10, 26, Luke 7:9). In some other portions of scripture we also find faith ‘classified’ differently- Growing faith (2 Thessalonians 1:3), Strong faith (Romans 4:20), Weak faith (Romans 14:1-3), etc. James chapter 2: 14-26 also talks about dead and living faith. So faith has grades/levels. Point is; you can grow your measure of faith and the question is; how?