Trinity Community Church
Trinity Community Church
Revealed - Session 2 - Ebenezer Asiamah
Bitter water turned sweet isn’t just an ancient story—it’s a map for modern hearts carrying pain. In this powerful session, we explore Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals, and what healing looks like when cures delay, when diagnoses sting, and when faith must endure through the night. From Exodus 15’s bitter waters of Marah to the cross that reframes every wound, we trace how God’s ways—not only His acts—teach us to pray, to persist, and to find our identity beyond our symptoms.
We walk through four portraits of faith that reveal the many faces of healing. The centurion models authority under authority: “Just say the word,” and a distant servant is restored. Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and receives fifteen more years, showing how lament, memory, and bold appeal meet mercy. A Gentile mother absorbs silence and offense without turning away, answering “Yes, Lord” and reaching for crumbs that become a feast of grace. A tormented boy is set free when Jesus rebukes an unclean spirit, and the disciples learn that some breakthroughs require both prayer and fasting. Along the way, we wrestle honestly with resistance to healing—how sin can harden us, how suffering can serve God’s glory, and how not every struggle is a verdict against us.
Eben also shares lived stories—from Ghanaian villages with no clinics to a prison chapel filled with men asking for prayer—where the Word becomes medicine and community becomes a lifeline. Each story shows that God’s healing power is not limited by circumstance, geography, or time.
Whether your battle is physical, emotional, or spiritual, this teaching invites you to keep asking, keep hoping, and refuse offense. Open your Bible, steady your heart, and bring your need to the God whose very name is Healer. Come discover what it means to encounter Jehovah Rapha—the One who restores, renews, and redeems every broken place.
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Last week, Marie did a wonderful job teaching on Jehovah Jirah, God our provider, and she shared practical examples of how God provided for her and her family in difficult times. And I was so blessed to receive what God has for us through her. Tonight we're going to be looking at Jehovah Rapha, God our healer. And it's very important because it is one area that sometimes there can be a lot of controversies about it. But I want to share a story with you. I grew up in Ghana and my parents were believers, so I grew up going to church. And when the Lord started revealing himself to me and giving me the desire to follow him, I had so much faith that God can heal everything. I had a big mountain in my family because my brother, I have four brothers. One of them, who is just after me, was born with a disability. And he had cerebral palsy. And I said, God, you can heal him. And I will wake up and I will pray and I said, God, I know you are Jehovah Rapha, you can heal him. And his condition was still the same. And he's lived with a disability for 30 years. But one thing that I see with my brother is that I've never seen him sad or depressed. You always see him with a smile on his face. And I believe that is also part of healing. But personally, I remember about 15 years ago, it was an evening service like this. And after the service, I had some money with me to renew my health insurance. And I just felt that I should just give it as an offering. And I said, God, just be my insurance. And I gave the money that I was supposed to use for my health insurance as an offering. So young in the faith, but I I trusted God. I don't remember the last time I went to the hospital after that. Like God protected me. And in times of sickness, he healed me to the point that I didn't need to go to the hospital. So personally, that is something that God has done that I feel like sharing. That indeed He is our healer. Now, when God revealed this covenant name, it was after He had delivered the children of Israel from Egypt. And we read about it in Exodus chapter 15, verse 22 to 27. It says, Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the desert of Shah. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink. They could not drink its water because it was bitter. That is why the place is called Marah. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What are we to drink? Then Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. Then the Lord issued a ruling, an instruction for them, and put them to the test. He said, If you listen carefully to the Lord your God, and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all he commands, and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the disease I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you. Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, we we thank you so much that you reveal yourself. And you've revealed yourself in your word to us as Jehovah Rapha, the God that heals. Lord, I ask that tonight will be a night of healing. That if there is anybody among us who is dealing with a particular sickness or anyone among us who has a loved one who is in need of healing, Lord, we ask that you touch us and bring complete healing and restoration in the name of Jesus. We thank you, Lord, that you are our healer and with your stripes we were healed in Jesus' name. Amen. So this is very important. As the children of Israel, they've just crossed the Red Sea and everybody was in high spirit. They were prophesying, everybody was happy. But as they continued the journey, for three days, no water, and there was a problem. Because I don't know if anyone of us have gone three days without water before. It is very hard. And as a matter of fact, it's not advisable to go three days without water. And so the people started to complain. But one thing I saw is that they didn't complain to God, they complained to Moses. So one thing I learned from this story is that the people did not know God, or they did not know the ways of God. But Moses knew the ways of God. But the people were just content with the acts of God. It is one thing to know the acts of God, but it is another thing to know the ways of God. Moses was acquainted with the ways of God. And so the people, when anytime they were confronted with a difficulty, they will complain to Moses. They won't cry to God, they won't ask God to do anything. They will blame Moses and they will start wanting to stone Moses and all kinds of things. But when you read Psalm 103, I love it so much. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and do not forget all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who renews your life like the eagle and satisfies you with good things. And when you continue, he says that he shows his righteousness and judgment to the oppressed. And then he said, Moses knew the ways of God, but the people knew the acts of God. And it's not okay to just know the acts of God. We must grow from knowing the acts of God to knowing the ways of God. Daniel chapter 11, verse 32b says that the people who know their God, they shall be strong and do exploits. So tonight I want to challenge all of us that we will get to know God personally. And we will not just uh like the people of Israel, just always going to Moses and bringing their complaints before Moses, but never going to God. God wants to reveal Himself to us, God wants us to know Him. Another thing I saw from this scripture is that the fall of man made our waters bitter. In Romans chapter 3, verse 23, it says that for all have sinned and we've fallen short of the glory of God. You know, the people could not use the bitter water because it needed healing. And that is what sin has done to all of mankind. It ruined our relationship with God, it ruined our relationship with one another. When Adam fell, the first thing he did was to blame God. He said, the woman you gave me. And, you know, his relationship with God was gone, and it affected his relationship with the gift that God had given him, too. But I thank God so much for the cross of Jesus Christ. You know, when you look at the cross, the cross heals our relationship with God, and it also heals our relationship with one another. So Moses was told by God to get a wood and throw it into the waters. And we know that our Lord Jesus Christ had to pay the sacrifice of our sins on a wood. You know, Peter, quoting from Isaiah chapter 53, says that he himself bore all our iniquities on the tree, and by his stripes we were healed. And so when God showed Moses to throw the wood into the water, and the water was healed, he was just giving us a sign that one day he will send his son Jesus Christ, and by the sacrifice that he made on the cross, our better waters will be healed. And so tonight I want to remind all of us to pay attention, close attention to the word of God, because God instructed the people to pay careful attention to his words. And one thing that I've learned in my walk with God is that his word is medicinal, his word has healing effects. And when the word of God heals you, it doesn't have any side effects. You know, we go to the store, you buy drugs, they are side effects. Some of them are very dangerous. I'm like, but when the word of God does a work of healing in you, it doesn't come with side effects. So God said in his word in Proverbs chapter 4, verse 20, 21, 22 to 23, says, My son or my daughter, give attention to my words. Incline your ears to my sayings, do not let them depart from your mouth, set them in the midst of your eyes, for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. And so by this word we know that the word of God has the power to bring healing. When you read Psalm 107, verse 20, he says, He sent forth his word to heal them and to deliver them from all their distraction. God instructed Joshua that this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. And what we say is very important, especially when we are going through sicknesses and diseases. You know, sometimes we take ownership of the sickness and um uh we we make it our identity, but God wants us to move from that and not identify with our particular ailment that we are going through, because our identity is not in our sickness, but our identity is in Christ Jesus. Tonight I want to share a story with you about a great king, King Hezekiah, in Isaiah 38. This man walked with God faithfully and he trusted God. When the Assyrians wanted to attack the people of Jerusalem, and they sent letters to intimidate him and wanting to destroy them, Hezekiah and Isaiah, the son of Amos, prayed to God, and God sent an angel to wipe out 185,000 of the Assyrian soldiers. And he had so much faith in God that God said, He's one of the kings that trust me. Now, this man, when he was in the prime of his life at the age of 39, the word of God came to him through Isaiah. He said, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, set your house in order because you would die and not recover. That is a very scary word. So, how would you react to such a word? But Hezekiah, being a man that he was, a man of trust and faith in God, he knew that even though Isaiah was a man of God, a prophet of God, his words don't fall to the ground. But Hezekiah said, Thank you. I need to talk with God. And then he turned to the wall and he started praying and crying to God. God, remember, remember how I've walked before you faithfully. Now remember that King Hezekiah at that time Jesus Christ had not died on the cross. So he didn't even have a better reference. He was referencing to his good works. Remember how I've walked before you, how I've been obedient to you. But you and I we have a better reference. We have Jesus Christ. So in times of sickness, instead of uh pointing to our own good works, which is not good enough, we can point to the good works of Christ. Hezekiah didn't have that, but we do have that. Tonight, I pray that it will not just be a teaching experience. I pray that it will be a healing experience. That by the time we live here, God will do a work of healing in our hearts and in our lives because many are going through sicknesses and diseases. I remember last Saturday we were at the prison, and as I was sharing the word, somebody said, Please pray for me. I'm being sexually abused. So uh Matthew, brother Scott, actually had to walk the brother and take him to the offices and report the issue and then pray with him. Now, after the message, I asked for those who needed prayer for healing, and almost everybody was there. And I was standing there alone with all the men, everybody needing healing. I'm like, wow, let's just pray for one another. And so we spent time praying for one another, and there was one man who just broke down, said, Please, I need healing and forgiveness and restoration in my family. And he started crying. So these are things that God is doing at the prison. Now, Hezekiah, when he started crying to God and praying to God, God told Isaiah, go back, go tell Hezekiah that I've heard his prayers and I've seen his tears. I just want to encourage you that God is not ignorant of the prayers and the tears that we've been shedding in secret places. He said, I have heard your prayers and I've also seen your tears. God sees the tears that we cry, even in our secret place. And God said, I have added 15 more years to your life. And God prolonged the life of Hezekiah. Another story that I want to share with you, there are many, many stories about healing. One of them that stood out to me was the centurion and his servant. Let us read the story in Matthew chapter 8, verse 5 to 13. And this centurion, he was not an Israelite, he was a gentile, but he has such incredible faith in God that it's so remarkable. We can learn something from it tonight. Matthew chapter 8, I read from verse 5 to 13. And Jesus, when he had entered Capenum, a centurion came to him asking for help. Lord, he said, my servant lies at home, paralyzed, suffering terribly. Jesus said to him, Shall I come and heal him? The centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, go and he goes. And that one come and he comes. I say to my servant, Do this, and he does it. And when Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then Jesus said to the centurion, Go, let it be done just as you believed it would. And his servant was healed at that moment. Remarkable story. Stories like this, it it preaches itself, so there's there's nothing to add. The man who was just a gentile knew that Jesus had authority to just speak a word, and that word is enough to cause a sick servant to be healed. And tonight I want to encourage you, let's go back to the word. Because in times of difficulty, when you remember the word of God and you pray the word of God, the word will not return void, but it will go forth and accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. God has not stopped healing, God is still healing. He can heal right now, or he can heal in the future, or he can heal when when all has ended, and we've we've done with our assignment on this earth. Because healing is the nature of God, God is eternal, but sometimes we we look at our world and we think that is all that there is, and so even when we are asking for healing, and sometimes it doesn't happen in this life, we think that's the end, but it's not because God is eternal, he is the existing one, Jehovah, eternal God, and his healing doesn't end here. As a matter of fact, it is made perfect and complete when we stand before him, because all the stories that we read, Lazarus was dead four days, he came back to life, but he had to die again because this is not our home. You know, we are just passing through this life, we have a better place in God. So tonight I just want to encourage you that let's not stop praying for healing, even when we don't see it. I've been praying for my brother for 30 years, still keep praying, still trust God that God will keep him, and in his own time, he will heal him. One thing that I found so fascinating about God is that he is not the God of the dead, he's the God of the living. As a matter of fact, when Jesus said this, and I was I was thinking about it, even at the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses was there, and Elijah was there. But to us, Moses died on Mount Nebo in the mountains of Moab. He died. But on the Mount of Transfiguration, he was there. And he says, He's God of Isaac, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. To him, they are all alive to him. That is the God that we serve. And so, even our loved ones who have departed this world, to God, they are all alive. And so let's let's trust in God and let's keep hope alive in God. I want to share another story about a woman that she was also a gentile, and her faith always blows my mind. We can read the story in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7, verse 24 to 30. It's also in Matthew chapter 15, verse 21 to 28. But this woman came to Jesus for healing. Jesus wouldn't say anything to her. And the disciples told the woman, you know, he he is not ready for you, just go. But the woman kept persisting. And when Jesus opened his mouth, he said, It is not fit to give the children's bread to the little dogs. And the woman was not offended. He didn't, she didn't turn back. She said, Yes, Lord. How can you say yes, Lord, to a word like this? And I was studying this the account and I saw that the reason why Jesus was doing what he was doing was to bring out the great faith that was in the woman. Because sometimes we can easily get offended. The woman came to Jesus, Jesus wouldn't speak a word to her. The disciples were pushing her off, go away. And when Jesus opened his mouth, the word that came was not very encouraging. But the woman said, Yes, Lord. Now, how do you respond yes, Lord, to a word like this that is not fit to give the children's bread to the dogs? But the woman didn't end there. She said, Yes, but the little dogs under the table have access to the crowns that fall from the table of the master. And Jesus said, Woman, for this saying, go, your daughter is healed. You have great faith. That's amazing. She did not get offended. I want to encourage you tonight. Let's not get easily offended with God. Let's trust God. Let's look to Him. I want to share a final story before we move to our group conversations. And I want to read this story from Luke chapter 9, verse 37 to 43. There are many accounts of God showing himself as Jehovah Rapha, but we don't have enough time to delve into all of it. But let this one is very, very remarkable. Luke 9, chapter 37 to 43. Says that the next day when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at his mouth. You unbelieving and perverse generation, Jesus replied, How long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here. Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. So this is a story about a father who is in asking healing for his only son. And from this story, we got to know that it was a demon that was afflicting the only son. You know, when the enemy fell with the fallen angels, all that they are interested in is stealing, killing, and destroying. That's what Jesus said. But when Jesus came on the scene, he said, How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. For God was with him. Some of the oppressions and sicknesses, some of them Satan and his agents, really oppresses people. So Jesus rebuked the spirit and healed the boy. But later on, the disciples would go to Jesus and ask him, Why could we not heal him? And Jesus went on and said that this kind does not go except by prayer and fasting. And so sometimes these spiritual disciplines are very important, even when we are believing and trusting God for deliverance for our loved ones. We should spend some time in fasting, spend some time in prayer, and God, who is faithful, will hear us. We'll be moving into our group discussion, but I want to share some resistance to healing. And the first one I want to share is sin. Sometimes it's not all the time, but sometimes sin uh prevents God's people from receiving healing. And there was a story in John chapter 5 about a man who was at the pool of Bethesda and he had been there for 38 years. And when Jesus saw him, he said, Do you want to be made well? Then he started going into the details. I don't have any man to carry me into the water when the water is dead. And as he was going on, Jesus said, Get up, take up your bed and walk. Now, as this man heard the word, immediately he was healed. And when the Pharisees and the rulers were asking him, Why are you holding your bed on a Sabbath day? Well, there was a man who told me to pick up my bed and walk. And he found out later on that it was Jesus. Jesus told him, Go and sin no more, so that something greater than this will not come to you. And so not all situations are caused by sin, but sometimes too there could be a sin issue. In John chapter 9, the man who was born blind, the disciples asked Jesus, Rabbi, who sinned that he was born blind? Is it his mother or his father? He said, No, neither his father or his mother sinned, but for the glory of God to be made manifest in him. And I struggle with that. This man has been blind for 40 years. Jesus said, It is not because of anybody's sin, but for the glory of God to be made manifest in him. Tonight I want to share with you that anything that we may be going through or dealing with is an opportunity for the glory of God to be made manifest in it. When we receive any report, any diagnosis, which is not what we were expecting, I want you to know that it is an opportunity for God to manifest his glory in it. And you can ask God, God, how are you going to manifest your glory with this? Amen. Like Hezekiah, he didn't accept the report that came from God. Not from a doctor, from God. He didn't accept it. So sometimes we need to wrestle with some of the reports too. I I have a story to share. There is a woman in Ghana, and she's very old. Her dad was just a farmer, and they were blessed with many kids. He had like 11 children, but suddenly they were just dying. And he got very desperate. And he had few children left. All of them just died mysteriously. And his daughter was sick at the point of death. And he said, God, this time it's either you heal my daughter or you kill me with the daughter. And he was in his farm and he was praying and crying out to God. This was in the year 1930. This man was filled with the Holy Spirit. And he was the first man to ever speak in the language of the Spirit for the first time in Ghana. And when he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he had so much faith. At that time, the daughter was dead. And God used him to raise the daughter back to life. And the woman is still alive today. And I've met with her, I have pictures with her. And the last time I met her, she told me she's not feeling very well, but she's afraid of going to the hospital because they will tell her all that is wrong with her. Now I'm not saying that going to the hospital is wrong. Sometimes God uses doc, you know, God has given us gifted doctors and physicians that, you know, can diagnose and bring healing. But this woman, this old lady said, I know they will tell me all that is wrong with me. I already know. So I'm not going. Well, where she lives, there's no hospital anyway. So yeah. I shared it here before. You go to some places in Ghana, no electricity, no hospital, no school, nothing. They hear the gospel for the first time and they are all excited because they know that it's either God or nothing. And they will say, Oh, please pray for this water, pray over this water, because we know that when we are sick, we drink it, we'll be healed. Okay. They have so much confidence and you know, trust in God. Some of us here we are very blessed, and you know, and there's nothing wrong. I'm not saying there is something wrong with going to, you know, for checkups. You know, if we have the opportunity to do that, we can take advantage of it because God can use it to bring restoration and healing. But, you know, you understand me from where I'm coming from, right? Yeah, sometimes there are no hospitals and God still heals his people. Shall we pray? Lord, we thank you that you are a healer and you haven't stopped healing. Lord, right now I ask that you touch your people. Anyone here, oh God, who is been diagnosed with a with a sickness or is dealing with uh needing healing emotionally, spiritually, physically, Lord, let your word bring complete healing and restoration in the name of Jesus. Lord, I thank you that you heal us and by your stripes we were healed. We give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen.
