Prayer For The Hurting

February 20, 2013 So much has been written about prayer that it seems useless to reiterate what so many have already said, but I had a call from one of my sister-in-laws who has physically hurt for so many years and the pain is getting progressively worse. She has consulted several doctors and is planning to go to another specialist for advice. The pain has disabled her to the point of hardly being able to walk, and she has requested prayer from family and friends for months. Why has she not been healed? (James 5:16) We all ask ourselves questions: 1) Do we not have enough faith? 2) Does God not care? 3) Is God not able to heal today? 4) If God is able and if He cares, why does He not heal now? 5) Will God keep His promises? Satan, our deceiver, brings all kinds of questions, doubts and fears to our minds to discredit God when we are in the throes of any kind of hurt. He accuses us of having “little faith,” but remember the story in the Bible when a father brought his son with a “dumb” spirit to Jesus to be healed. The father asked if Jesus could do anything, to which He replied, “All things are possible to him who believe.” The father responded with, “Lord, I believe but help my weakness of faith.” Jesus did heal the son (Mark 9:17-28). So how do we get more faith to believe for “all things?” Romans 10:17 tells us that, “faith comes by hearing what is told, and what is heard comes by the preaching of the message that came from the lips of Christ, the Messiah Himself” (Amp.). So we can answer question (5) with a resounding “yes!” He does keep His promises! “He is not like man that He would tell or act a lie” (Numbers 23:19). You see He is “YHWY, ELOHIM, the strong, faithful, covenant keeping God, and He Who promised is reliable and faithful to His Word” (Heb.10:21-23). Yes, God still heals today, “He is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb.13:8). He never changes (Mal.3:6). His Word never changes, “Heaven and earth may pass away but My Word will never pass away” (Matt.24:35). Nothing can stand against His Word. God Himself said that His Word is like fire that consumes all that cannot endure the test and like a hammer that breaks in pieces the rock of most stubborn resistance” (Jer.23:29). So pray the Word, repeat God’s promises back to Him, while giving thanks for answering. “God is merciful and kind and loves each of His children with an everlasting love; and His faithfulness and Truth endures to all generations” (Psalm 100:5). Yes God cares! So, we might ask, “Why doesn’t He heal me now when I am praying and trying to believe?” God’s thoughts and ways are not the way we think or would do things (Isa.55:8). His ways are so far above ours. We don’t understand His ways and His timing, but He is always on time and we must remember, “He makes all things beautiful in His time” (Eccl.3:11; II Chr.20:14-25). We must also trust Him to do His work not only in our lives but in the lives of all those who are observing our situation, our response to God’s promises and timing and our steadfast trust in a God Who will either heal us now (sometimes with the help of doctors and medications), or says to “wait” for His perfect time. Sometimes He gets more glory from perfecting our patience, hope and trust in Him while walking with us through our dark valley of testing (I Cor.10:13). His perfect time for our healing may be when we get to heaven - then we will have the perfect healing. Whether He heals us now or then I have found if we will praise Him for Who He is and thank Him “in” and “for” all things (I Thess.5:18; Eph.5:20; Ps.119:71) we can have “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” We just had a good friend die after two years of battling cancer, and we prayed all the two years. We saw some healings along the way and lived in hope of complete healing, but the Lord knew best. I never heard her say a negative or doubtful word about her condition but was always full of joy that God had kept her until then. She raised and bred sheep and trained her dogs to be sheep dogs. After she died, her husband expressed his trust in the Lord to have done what was best. He remarked to us that, “Jesus needed another shepherd up there with Him.” His response of praise and even joy toward the Lord for taking his wife Home has been such a strong witness of God’s keeping power through the greatest tribulation he would ever go through. Praising God in the middle of our “testing” will change us and grow our faith, and will change others who are watching. There was a song we had sung at our daughter-in-law’s memorial service that I think sums up what I have been trying to say. It is: When We Can’t Trace His Hand, Trust His Heart (Babbie Mason) All things work for our good Though sometimes we can't See how they could, Struggles that break our hearts in two Sometimes blind us to the truth. Our Father knows what's best for us His ways are not our own. So when your pathway grows dim And you just can't see Him, Remember you're never alone. Chorus: God is too wise to be mistaken, God is too good to be unkind. So when you don't understand, When don't see His plan, When you can't trace His hand, Trust His Heart He sees the master plan, He holds the future in His hand, So don't live as those who have no hope, All our hope is found in Him. We see the present clearly, But He sees the first and last. And like a tapestry He's weaving you and me, To someday be just like Him. Chorus: He alone is faithful and true, He alone knows what is best for you. When you don't understand, When you don't see His plan, When you don't understand, When you can't trace His hand, Trust His Heart.