I am trained in prayer ministry for people who want prayer for healing. The healing could be physical emotional or spiritual. Even though my partner and I pray, we are intercessors. Jesus heals. There is no doubt about that, Jesus is the One Who Heals.
I have seen some remarkable answers to prayer for healing over the years. Many years ago I prayed with a group of friends over an old man who seemed not long for this world and I still see him at church these days with his wife. He was healed. Jesus healed him. But, conversely I remember praying with a partner over a 6 year old boy who died before the next time we met to pray for him. In fact, my partner and I were sitting at his funeral at the very day and hour we had agreed to meet and pray for him. The family had been impressed because he had not been in the pain the doctor's had predicted as he approached his death. Our prayers were answered too. That little boy was in Jesus arms while we sat at his funeral.
I have no answers about why some prayers seem to heal people to move on in their lives and rejoice and why some answers to prayers are more subtle and involve trust in God's ultimate plan for our lives. I could make some guesses, but I have no answers.
Sometimes Jesus heals through rather conventional means. I have had my foot problems prayed over a number of times. I have no doubt that Jesus healed me the way He intended those times. I would never say that the prayer was fruitless or didn't work. But, I have to praise Him that this time, the foot doctor stuck a shot in the heel of my foot and it is better. Like the healed lame man, I can walk! Even though the means of my healing was this doctor, certainly I had been praying that if God wanted me to continue to be able to walk as I served Him in this life I needed help. I guess I still have a few more miles to go.
Like the lame man who picked up his mat and danced around, I am dancing and proclaiming, "Jesus heals!"
I have seen some remarkable answers to prayer for healing over the years. Many years ago I prayed with a group of friends over an old man who seemed not long for this world and I still see him at church these days with his wife. He was healed. Jesus healed him. But, conversely I remember praying with a partner over a 6 year old boy who died before the next time we met to pray for him. In fact, my partner and I were sitting at his funeral at the very day and hour we had agreed to meet and pray for him. The family had been impressed because he had not been in the pain the doctor's had predicted as he approached his death. Our prayers were answered too. That little boy was in Jesus arms while we sat at his funeral.
I have no answers about why some prayers seem to heal people to move on in their lives and rejoice and why some answers to prayers are more subtle and involve trust in God's ultimate plan for our lives. I could make some guesses, but I have no answers.
Sometimes Jesus heals through rather conventional means. I have had my foot problems prayed over a number of times. I have no doubt that Jesus healed me the way He intended those times. I would never say that the prayer was fruitless or didn't work. But, I have to praise Him that this time, the foot doctor stuck a shot in the heel of my foot and it is better. Like the healed lame man, I can walk! Even though the means of my healing was this doctor, certainly I had been praying that if God wanted me to continue to be able to walk as I served Him in this life I needed help. I guess I still have a few more miles to go.
Like the lame man who picked up his mat and danced around, I am dancing and proclaiming, "Jesus heals!"