 I come from a pretty conservative background, one which is skeptical of God's healing power for today. Miracles, tongues, healings -- those were all a thing of the past, the "glory years" of the church.
But God has slowly opened my eyes to what He is still able and willing to do. Even in my own life. If you've read the early posts on my blog (the first one actually) you'll know that my wife has been chronically disabled for a very long time. Once a vibrant woman, she is now just an empty shell. Three years ago she spent 10 days in ICU fighting for her life. But Christians all over Canada turned to God to plead with Him in prayer to spare her life. To His glory He did, even as two other women with the same pneumonia passed away beside her. She has lived to see our oldest daughter get married, and to enjoy the blessing of our little granddaughter -- and for that she is truly thankful. God has still not chosen to heal her of her disease, but He certainly answered our prayers when He was considering taking her home.
My mother is 82. Since the early 1960s she has fought with cancer. In that time she has had five different cancers and, miraculously, she is still alive today. She should have been dead years ago. But my mom believes in God's healing hand. So do her friends. She's had 40 years of their prayers stacked up in her incense bowl that sits before God (Revelation 5:8). They've been a sweet aroma to Him, and He has responded with mercy and compassion.
When my 20 year old son was just a baby we went through a terrible time with esophageal spasms in his throat. He couldn't eat. He puked everything up. This went on for months, and he grew as thin as a blade of grass. The doctors did tests and gave him drugs, but we didnt' seem to be making any progress. My wife was going insane. I was too. Then our pastor reminded us from the pulpit that if anyone is sick we are to call upon the elders to anoint them with oil. So we called the elders of our church, and they anointed our little boy with oil and prayer. He wasn't healed immediately, but over a period of a few months the problem disappeared. In the meantime, much prayer was continually offered to God.
James tells us that it's the "prayer of faith" that moves God's heart. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that it's FAITH that pleases God, not our works. And the first verse of that same Hebrews chapter tells us that "faith is the ASSURANCE of things hoped for, and the CERTAINTY of things not seen." Jesus also said, "may it be done to you according to YOUR FAITH". It seems to have everything to do with trusting God's character and promises, even when we don't see them right away.
I know it's not popular today to tell Christians that our lack of faith may be why we haven't received a physical healing. But the Bible certainly indicates that WITHOUT FAITH we shouldn't expect to be blessed at all (James 1:6,7). Faith is what brings pleasure to God, and without it I think we probably shouldn't even bother praying -- it just becomes another case of honoring God with our lips while our hearts are far from Him. Now, I have to admit, I'm still not convinced that God will always heal our bodies every time we ask Him, but I'm certainly very sure of this -- that if we don't ask Him He likely won't step in. James said, "you don't have because you do not ask God." (4:2)
For instance, take the case of ASA. This king of Judah did what many Christians do today: he relied on his physicians and didn't bother spending any time in prayer with God about his disease. "His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians instead." (2 Chronicles 16:12) Now, to be sure, the physicians have their place. The Apostle Paul certainly relied on God's work through physicians. After all he dragged Luke all over the Middle East with him. But he also was a man who prayed frequently about his disorders (remember the thorn?). And while God didn't always appear to heal the ailments of the Apostles and their helpers, I suspect that He OFTEN DID in ways that the Apostle never even bothered to write about.
So, obviously God's calling us to a healthy balance of medicine and prayer. But sadly, my experience as a pastor has been that many Christians offer up a couple of prayers about their health, and then quit praying -- or they don't bother to pray (or ask for prayer) at all. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had Christians in any of the three churches I've served over the last 19 years call on the elders to pray over them regarding their cancers or other illnesses. It just doesn't seem to dawn on them. Perhaps they think it's too antiquated in our day of specialised medicine. Oh, we occasionally throw our needs out onto the prayer line, and that's certainly good, but even though I've preached from time to time about calling the elders for anointing and prayer, it just doesn't seem to dawn on them that this could be the missing piece in their puzzle. Like Asa, many of us seem to put most of our faith in our doctors alone, with perhaps just a "little shake of prayer here and there" for good measure.
I suspect that we've been robbing ourselves of many blessings because of this. And, I admit, I even have times of doubt myself. But, when I feel those waves of doubt slamming up against the gunnels of my soul I only have to look at either my wife, my son, or my mom to remind me that healing prayer can still make a difference if we really believe -- and not just for our physical health.
"Is any among you sick? He SHOULD call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered IN FAITH will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up." (James 5:14,15)
Labels: faith, healing, prayer |
