The Signature

 "By His wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5....."Every "signature" of wounding in our lives can be covered by the signature of Christ." Beth Moore

The wounds we receive in life leave their mark, their "signature" upon us. Try as we may to conceal them, deny them, or try to forget them, they remain. They may come from many different sources, places, and people, but regardless of who was the visibly responsible one, the one behind them is our enemy, the devil. It is he who writes his signature upon our wounds, and through them, seeks to afflict us, torment us, and hold us captive through them. That this is undeniable can be seen by the great number of people held in bondage by deep spiritual, emotional, and physical wounds of their life.

Many years ago, just before I left my home in Pittsburgh to begin to study for the ministry, a man visited the store I managed. In our conversation he shared that he was a psychologist, and I, in my exuberance, shared that I was a follower of Christ, and would be leaving soon to begin studying for the ministry I felt called to. He then said something I've never forgotten. He told me that in nearly 40 years of practice as a Dr. in Psychology he didn't feel that he had truly led any of his clients to real freedom from those things that held them in captivity. He said he had come to the conclusion that the only One who could was God. He didn't profess to be a believer, but he had come to see the futility of men and women to set other men and women free from the mental, emotional, and spiritual prisons they were trapped in. My nearly 40 years of ministry have only served to prove to me how right he was. How right he remains. The only remedy for those who bear the signature of the enemy upon their souls through that which they've suffered, is to have the signature of Jesus Christ written over it.....in the healing power of His blood.

I love that great Scripture from Isaiah, "By His wounds we are healed." The blood that He shed on the cross breaks all the power of hell and darkness, and covers all who believe upon Him as Lord and Savior. As the old hymn says, "There is power in the blood." Wonder working power. Greater than all our sin, and power to heal...even our deepest and most devastating wounds.

Everywhere in the church and in the world the effects of the woundings can be seen. Lives disintegrating. Marriages disintegrating. Families disintegrating. So much of the reason for it all can be found in the wounds, the signatures of death upon all as a result of the things they have suffered. Upon them all He can write His name, in His healing blood, and bring wholeness to what has been broken. Life to what has been held in the grip of death. Joy where there has been only sorrow. Peace where there has been only turmoil.

A signature signifies much. It can bind a contract, show ownership over a story. It carries with it the authority of the one who writes it. Right now multitudes suffer the consequences of the many "signatures" that have been written upon their souls by what they have both done, and seen done to them. Those signatures exercise great and destructive power in our lives. All of them can be covered, rendered powerless by the signature of the One who writes His name in His healing blood....Jesus. Have you brought your wounds to Him? Would you have the Wounded Savior cover your wounds with His Life and His love? By His wounds we are healed....you are healed. Let Him write His Name upon yours.

Blessings,

Pastor O