Healings
I don’t believe I am writing these things. Is it a sort of therapy? Will it do any good? So far, the first two entries have seemed to make my mood darker. The TV preacher in the back ground is talking about healing, saying that it is a sure thing. If you have faith, you will be healed. He’s not the first one today that has declared this. How dare they? My dear friend says that every verse in the Bible means what it says. These guys are quoting scripture, emotionally, to an enthusiastic audience. He just said that this was going to be a “Spirit filled, anointed teaching, straight from the Bible.”
I can read it for myself. James 5:14-16. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him…the Lord will raise him up…so that you may be healed. What about Joni Erickson Tada?
What about Sandy, Teresa, and Celeste?
Sandy was a twin. Her sister Erica was in my first grade class at a Christian School. Sandy was in a wheel chair. She was blind, had no language, a severe case of CP caused by doctor error. I only saw her a few times. It was the era of the Toronto Blessing, and the church that sponsored the school brought down an evangelist to share the blessing with the locals. A three night event turned into an eight day affaire with holy laughter, holy barking, and healings. I did not attend. I was a United Methodist at the time. Sandy’s family went every night. Each morning in school, Erica seemed tired and sad. About midweek she came up to my desk and put her head on my shoulder. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that they had gone to church again, and the whole family went forward for prayer. She said that her dad fell down, and her mom fell down, and her 3rd grade brother fell down, so, as she put it “I had to fall down too.” But Sandy still wasn’t healed. What do you say to a six year old, who is learning that God is Love, and God answers prayer?
Teresa was a normal three year old, until her father, in a drunken rage, threw her against a wall and caused severe spinal cord damage. She was adopted by a loving and faithful Christian family. I met her when she was in High School. She is a beautiful young woman, but her body, from the waist down is dead. She had been prayed over several times. She and her adopted mother had received a word of prophecy that she would walk down the aisle at her graduation and someday she would dance at her own wedding. She gets around remarkably well. She drives a big ol’ pick up truck outfitted with hand controls. She’s taking courses at the local college, but she is still in the chair. Where is her healing?
Celeste. Some day I will dance on the streets that are golden with this sweet young lady. Every week at Church, I whisper in her ear, “Some day Celeste, we will dance together. And she acknowledges our little secret with a great big smile. Her father is a widower, a great man of faith. When he is worshiping the LORD you can see the glory of God shining through him. And when he carries Celeste from the van to the church you can see the compassion of Jesus. Celeste has no language, and is fed by a feeding tube.
Last summer we were at a camp meeting. Our church was leading worship, and it was outstanding, prophetic, and dynamic. The speaker was one of those Charismatic types, pacing, shouting, sweating…and he spoke of healing. Celeste was sleeping in the van. The evangelist invited people who needed healing to come forward. He laid hands on them and prayed, many of them were slain in the Spirit. Celeste’s dad seemed to hesitate, but as the frenzy built he went to get Celeste, put her in her chair and pushed her up front. The evangelist didn’t even seem to see her. He did not come over to them, he did not lay his hands on her or anoint her with oil, she was not healed.
What do we say? Maybe if their faith was stronger. Maybe there is a problem of secret sin. Maybe they aren’t good enough. Maybe healing is only for the very few select, elect, and predestined. Early in my walk with the Lord I had a friend, younger in the LORD than I was, call me in tears.
Her little girl was sick. Actually it was just a cold. But she was miserable and kept her mom up all night. The mom had prayed for her, but it hadn’t seemed to help any. My friend sobbed to me, “I must not really be saved.
The guy on the radio says that if you are saved, and if you believe, God will answer every prayer and heal the sick.” What do we say? And mustn’t we be very careful about what we do say?
4 comments:
Radio and Television "claim your healing" types make me sick to my stomach.
A good friend of ours passed away from cancer a few years ago, and some IDIOT (that's the nicest word I can think of just now) had the audacity to tell his teenaged daughter that, if they'd only left our church and gone to the local "health & wealth" church, her dad would still be alive. That was REAL encouraring for a 17-year-old grieving her father's death.
We pray for healing because it's biblical to do so. I've seen one woman (22 years old) miraculously healed of inoperable cancer -- she'd been given six months to live, but walked out of the hospital three days later completely cancer-free, and continues to be cancer-free now, 14 years later.
One of the teenagers that prayed for this girl's healing also has cancer, and has had many operations, but is not cancer-free. That doesn't make sense, but that's the reality of it.
When our first son, Dallas, died of a heart defect, it surfaced the same questions for us -- why was this girl healed when we prayed for her, and why not our son?
I have no answers, except to say, God is still on His throne, and I trust Him.
I just spent some time rereading the multitude of words I've written since I started blogging.
In the one I wrote way back in April about Death and Dying I sort of addressed this same question...
life as we live it, three scores and ten if we're blessed, is but a drop in the bucket. Death is horrible for the people who are left behind...but for the innocent
and for the believers, it is pure joy! In one of those old time Bible epics there is a scene where the main character encounters a woman on a litter. She is playing a harp and singing. Once he realizes that she is a Christian, and an eye witness to this Jesus of Nazereth, he asks why couldn't Jesus heal her? And her answer was, He healed my bitter heart.
Thanks for the comment!
Now, Flip, you really should find a Charasmatic fellowship to visit...just for fun...
People go forward for prayer, there is alot of crying and speaking in tongues, and the leaders come and lay hands on you and pray for you, and then you fall over backwards, sometimes it looks like a fit, some churches have fancy little blankets in front to cover the people who fall.
There are often catchers on hand so the people who fall don't get hurt. There is no biblical presidence for this event. Now, don't get me wrong...I have a lot of friends who go in for this stuff. It has happened at our church when we have guest speakers. My Husband, Pastor Art has done the job of catching at some camp meetings and stuff...
Actually I first saw it on a Benny Hinn Show...He was praying for a large crowd and sending Holy Spirit annointing to all parts of the auditorium. He put out his hand in a certain direction, shouted some prayer or other, and the whole section would go down...Holy Spirit Bowling...I believe that Benny Hinn is a false teacher...I think sometimes God in heaven just shakes his head and sighs...Like a parent who is watching their two year old acting wild and crazy...
There is a story that I have heard and shared several times that I will cut fairly short, under the suspicion that not only will the point get across, but you may be familiar with it.
A faithful boy gets up every morning and starts his day by telling God he loves him. He goes to sleep each night, ending his day by telling God he loves him. While playing with friends one day, he is struck by a car. The last thing that he hears is God's voice saying, "I love you too."
It is during the most difficult points in our lives that we best notice the blessings that are granted to us. We set our store too much on the perfection of health and the perfection of our lives. We sometimes forget that it is an impossible goal.
I have learned through my own health trials in the last year that among other things, one can get used to anything. Not exactly spiritually uplifting, but true. More importantly, my problems have drawn people to me. People who I in turn have the opportunity to touch and inspire by the fact that I have just lived my life through this.
I am not an exceptional person, and in truth, my trials have not been as great as they have been for others, but I still have the opportunity to touch others through this odd gift.
Prayer is about conversation, not demands. Your Father knows best what he needs to do to refine you as a tool for him, and to use you as that tool to refine others. Trust in God, for even in your own writings you have indicated blessings in each story of pain.
You have been called, and painful as it has frequently been, you have answered the call remarkably. In seizing the opportunity to do so, you have been incredibly fortunate.
Blessings to you and yours.
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