There are times like these that I just don't understand. A family that I know has a diabetic teenage son (juvenile diabetes, not adult-onset). It's very serious and this morning they couldn't wake him completely and he ended up in the hospital. Thankfully, he is home now and doing well. He responded to medication.
These parents have been praying for his healing since he was diagnosed at age 6. They are godly people who are sold out for the Lord. This past Thursday when we were over there praying, we spent a lot of time praying specifically for his healing and for healing of my husband's sleep issues (which I can go into another time).
So----what is up with that? We are told to pray in faith, nothing wavering, and that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16) That's what I'm having a hard time with. I understand that God does not choose to heal every person every time we ask, but I've got to say that sometimes I have a hard time with NEVER seeing someone miraculously healed. I can't believe it's not EVER His will to heal that way. Yes, I've seen some amazing things happen through prayer and I am SO thankful for those demonstrations of His love and power. I just can't help but wonder why I have not been privileged to see a 'yes' answer to my requests for physical healings for people I've prayed for, in faith, with no harbored sin in my life or other things that hold us back in prayer. I remember going to visit one of my son's little league friends in the hospital about 10 years ago. He went from 'fine' to coma in about 3 hours. I went to visit, realizing the situation was grave. I laid hands on this boy (11 years old) and prayed in the name of Jesus with every expectation that God would heal him as a testimony to his family. He died the next day.
On a less serious note, when I was pregnant with #2, they discovered that I had a tumor on my ovary. They left it alone because although it was large, it didn't seem to be growing at any suspicious rate. I had the elders pray over me. We had great faith. Next time I went to the obstetrician, they told me they couldn't see the tumor on the ultrasound. I just assumed that God had gotten rid of that tumor. Imagine my surprise when, after I delivered my son, the doctor saw the tumor and I had to go have it removed when my son was 6 weeks old. It damaged the right ovary and tube so they were removed with the tumor. Now it was no big deal because I actually ended up pregnant 6 weeks after the surgery and then two more times after that.....but I just wondered what the deal was. Why wasn't I healed when I had already believed that I was?
I realize this isn't a particularly uplifting post, but I was just wondering if anyone else experiences that kind of frustration. We are told to have faith, but when I have, I didn't see the answer I was expecting or having faith for. I know these things are happening in other parts of the world, but I don't see them around here. I have walked in charismatic circles where we did a lot of proclaiming that a healing had taken place but in reality, I never once saw an unexplained-by-any-other-means healing. I'm not criticizing this group, I just never saw healing any more there than I did in the churches I was generally a part of at the other end of the spectrum.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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8 comments:
Karen I just want to thank you for your comments and prayers. They have really impacted me.
I will be honest with my teeth I recognize that I live in a fallen world and death and decay is just part of it. Emotionally I will admit I am having a low, but I am reassured.
My life is a miracle. With my fouth I had complications the whole pregnancy. I was bleeding internally and was even life-flighted to Loma Linda CA. No diagnosis, not placenta previa(which I had with the prior 3.
Finally at 24 weeks the staff decide to tip the bed and *hope* for the best.Their thoughts***
At 30 weeks 1 day I went into hard labor and barely was in the er, before they began opening me. I next remember the person by my head stab my neck with an IV as my veins were collapsing. The next thing I remember is that I felt like a truck ran over me. My heart stopped on the table and I am here by the grace of God. My prior 3 c-sections had caused my uterus to attach to the stomach wall, so as the baby grew I bled internally. Throughout the pregnancy I was watched when I took my iron, they didnt believe I was taking it, as it was not registering...Then they knew.
My little angel, my daughter, she kept me alive. By coming early she saved my life, as the condition I had was placenta acreta which is rare and 7-10 women die still. It is because the woman bleeds to death very quickly,once either delivering or c-section.
So my daughter has spent nearly a year in the hospital and her health has always been fragile, but through us both my family witnessed a miracle.
That is why I am so mad at myself now. I do not need teeth or perfect health to serve the Lord. But I must confess, I am having some strong grief and sadness over this dental issue.
I am aware of the solution and have been praying, and I know all will be well. I mean I have read the BOOK, and I know the outcome:)
BTW I am still chip free!!!!!
Your Chips no more Blog Buddy
Jennifer
powerful ;o]
Karen--Great post! This is something that I've been struggling with also. Why don't we see the kind of healings that seemed to be common in the first century?
The theological answer (that healing gifts were for another period in church history, not today) seems to make God seem a little cruel. Did He really give healing gifts once, and then withhold them from His people forever? That doesn't sound like the God I know.
I don't know what the answer is. But maybe we've gotten too used to subpar Christianity. It might take time to get back to the ancient paths.
I don't know what the final result will be. I guess the only response is to keep seeking Him in everything we do. He loves us more than we'll ever know. It's just hard sometimes to live not knowing just what He's up to.
God bless!
Jen,
Thanks for encouraging me with your story. I will do my best to keep your situation before the Lord, to see Him supply you guys with what you need to take care of all these health issues.
Inspired,
Thanks for commenting! By the way, you're from England, right? What part? I've never been but my dad was born there. My husband was in London twice last year on business and absolutely loved it.
Richard,
Thanks for coming by!
I agree that the 'subpar' thing has plenty to do with it. I think the church today is so drastically different from the original picture that was drawn for us in the NT. I'm just so hungry to see the church (including myself) walking in power...not just for things like healings or miraculous manifestation...but for touching others' lives...sharing the gospel in a way that convicts and brings life...not because of our words or methods, but because the Spirit is at work in us.
By the way, I grew up in a church with the dispensational teaching that healing, among other things, was no longer for today and it always seemed odd to me that the verses they base that on in I Corinthians 13 talk about "when that which is perfect has come" (I believe the dispensationalists would say that refers to the canonized Scriptures), the imperfect would disappear. It also goes on to say that "then we shall see face to face" and "now I know in part; then I shall know fully." I don't think there are any of us who think that we know fully yet or that we are seeing face to face at this point in time, so why do they think that "that which is perfect" has already come? Do you know what their answer is for that?..I guess I don't.
On the other hand, I have seen such abuses of certain spiritual gifts that they make me nervous, LOL. Boy am I going to have a lot of questions for the Lord with all these things that I don't understand. I'm just glad that these aren't issues that make a difference in how I need to walk. One day at a time, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith!
Karen, you have voiced what I believe all of us think and wonder about. It's part of the walking in faith.....believing in those things which are not seen.
I, like you and I'm sure most others, have prayed and believed absolutely that a certain thing would happen. Right now I am standing on promises I've stood on for 36 years and have not yet seen.....yet I BELIEVE!!!
The Bible says "I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall be find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8
I determine to remain in faith!!!
Susan
Karen,
I'm not sure I have an answer for all your questions. But I absolutely know that healing is for today as I have experienced it myself - both by believing for myself and by the gift of healing through someone else.
I've also experienced praying 'in faith' for someone else or myself, without results.
I don't know or understand what happened everytime. I do know this, GOD is never at fault. He's never withholding.
Healing is absolutely part of redemption. (Isaiah 53 and I Peter 2:24) So,the 'disconnect' has to be on our end.
When someone isn't healed, I believe there's something that I cannot see or do not know/understand about the situation.
But I'm like you, I WANT to see the miraculous.
I agree with a previous comment that we don't see as much of that today because we're compromised instead of consecrated. I don't think God is withholding. I believe HE longs for someone to rise up and BE THE CHURCH. We're just to busy loving the things of the world.
Susan, I know in my head that you are absolutely right. I will keep praying in faith because we are told to do so. Thanks for the encouragement.
D., I see what you're saying. There was an instance in the NT where the disciples were unable to heal someone because of their lack of faith...but it apparently was not the norm that they struggled so much in these areas. Oft times the people they healed were not righteous people but nevertheless were healed immediately and completely. Sometimes I think He does withhold...maybe for reasons such as the seeming inability of us as humans to keep from grabbing all the glory and turning our spiritual gift into a money-making ministry ala Benny and his ilk. Regardless, I'm not going to stop praying for these tough situations. Sometimes I think He wants us to persevere in prayer and walk in faith just knowing that it's in His control if we have laid it before Him.
This healing thing seems like a crap shoot. Sometimes God heals, more often he doesn't. I do believe that the gifts are for today, and I don't think we are holding God back or that He is holding out on us when he chooses not to heal. I believe there is someway in which in those cases, it is *best* for the situation to be what it is. Like you said, though, we are told to pray and to ask, so let's do it, and trust that God will do the best thing.
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