“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4).
My heart thrilled when I received an unexpected message: “You prayed for me in 1979 when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. I had health issues which caused me to fear that I would lose her.”
Soon after this incident, I was sent to a different city and lost contact. I never heard the results of my prayer until 34 years later! The message went on to say, “You said you saw a clear, healthy embryo. Today, she is 33, the mother of two.” Wow, what a blessing! So often we don’t hear back what God did for the people we prayed for or laid hands on for healing. So how do we know if it worked or not?
I remember when I was living in South Africa and prayed for Sammy. I laid hands on him and prayed for the Lord to dissolve his kidney stones. He ended up in the hospital with appendicitis!
That bothered me for years. I wondered why I didn’t get it right. When I ministered to people after that, I seemed always to have this little doubt coming up, wondering if I got it right. One day the Holy Spirit stopped me from doubting and gave me the answer.
The Lord explained to me, “When you prayed for Sammy, I dissolved the kidney stones instantly. He did have them. You didn’t get it wrong. There was more than one issue, that’s all, and he got that taken care of in the hospital.” Wow, what a simple answer and it set me free! I’ve never doubted myself in this category since.
The answer is simple: When we pray or minister out of faith, from our hearts, and do the best we know how then we can be confident that it works. Healing is always God’s will.
In the Old Testament: “For I am the Lord that healeth [is healing] thee” (Ex. 15: 26). And in the Gospels: “Jesus went about healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matt. 9: 35) and Jesus said: “They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18).
In the Epistles: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth [is prospering]” (3 John 2). James 5:15 tells us: “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
There are hundreds of scriptures about healing and many that address specific ailments. Some scriptures talk to pain, sorrow, and heavy burdens.
We can learn a lot about ministering healing to others by getting our own healings. Unfortunately, until the Lord returns, no one is exempt from Satan’s attacks of pain, sorrow, and heavy burdens. And we desperately want our most current ailments to go away, not only for ourselves, but so that we can be better ministers to others. When we’re in pain or we’re sick or we’re burdened, it’s more difficult to minister healing to help someone else.
But in our busy schedules, we don’t seem to find the time to get our Bibles and concordances out and look up what’s causing our pain or what can cure it. I admit I’m guilty of that myself. Sometimes it easier to minister healing, than to get a healing myself. Darn! The answer is right in front of us, yet we ignore it. Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If we’re not researching the Bible for our healing deliverance, we need to make a change. It’s God’s will for us to be as whole as we can be. It’s not that hard; it’s just that the devil will throw down delays, excuses and all kinds of reasons we can’t do what God’s will is for us to do.
So let’s kick the devil’s arse and let’s schedule a meeting with ourselves this week; put it on our calendars. For just 30 minutes, research what the Bible says about the top thing that’s bothering us. And if our faith is small, be assured: with persistence, it will grow. God wants the healers healed.
Paul wrote about the Christians in Thessalonica: “Your faith is growing more and more” (2 Thess. 1:3). Let’s be like the Thessalonians. The more we find out about healing for ourselves, the bigger our faith grows in the healing category, and the better we will be at ministering to friends and family as well.
Let’s never doubt our ability to heal others. It will always work, but let’s also spend some time getting into God’s Word to get our own healing as well.
Love, Carolyn
This section of WINGS: A JOURNEY IN FAITH contains 14 true short stories, opening your awareness of how to apply Christian principles to everyday life and see the miracles that take place when we make room for Christ in our lives. The chapters include:
25. RISE LIKE THE EAGLE ABOVE THE STORM
26. OUR SPIRITUAL FIVE SENSES
27. I KNOW THE BOSS AND I'M WITH HIM
28. GOING THROUGH THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE
29. DO WE HAVE TO WAIT TIL WE DIE TO GET SOME HEAVEN?
30. SEEING IN NEW WAYS
31. GOD'S SPIRIT TOUCHES OUR SPIRIT
32. NEGATIVE PRAYERS
33. ROLLER COASTER FAITH
34. HOLDING YOUR GROUND
35. THE CICADA
36. NO GLASS CEILING
37. DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS
No comments:
Post a Comment