Afraid of praying for healing

I dont think so. I believe He does heal. But he doesnt have to because we ask for it. I think we shy away from the laying on of hands and annointing of oil. The healing doesnt come from that, as we all know, but there have been many a twisted scripture around this topic.

 

I pray for healing for myself and others on a regular basis. That has nothing to do with the Pentecostals who believe in the defunct gift of healing by men. I have personally witnessed a man be completely cured of cancer from the time he got on the plane until he arrived at the hospital, and have experienced second-hand a man cured of cancer (at the point of death) from the time he got on the plane until he got to the hospital.

Personally, I believe my injury is God's way of telling me that I need to listen to him a little better sometimes. But, I continue to pray for healing.

 

JAS 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

We are given a process to run through. We should ask the elders to pray for us. If we neglect this I don't see why He should heal anyone but He does. If we do not neglect this process the elders might not get the required faith. But they will because that is the process set up by God to achieve healing.

I approached an elder recently on behalf of one of our Church members and quoted this scripture and asked her to get the elders to pray for him. She looked at me as if I was mad. HaHa! I relayed this back to my friend and told him that he should call the elders. He has not done so and is still unwell.

I think faith is weak. What possibly stops us is the belief that a miracle will not happen and may cause us more doubt. We do not trust Him enough.

john.

 

I don't think it's a matter of not trusting God enough, but rather for some, a matter of a fear of holding Him up to ridicule if there is no healing after it has been prayed for. There is so much garbage on television now an in some ministries (NOT just Pentecostals, God bless them!) which involves healing, especially if money is involved..., that many associate it with making God and faith in God look silly. And we don't want to do that.

I have gone to elders twice in my life with a request for prayer for healing. Once for my leg and the answer from God was 'yes.' My artificial knee joint is now almost 26 years old.

And once for our profoundly retarded son, when viral encephalitis changed him from a happy, active toddler to a child who could no longer speak, would always be in diapers, is autistic...
The answer from God then was 'no.'

The first time, for my leg, I was doing it out of pure obedience and had -- quite honestly -- no faith in the prayer or process at all at the time. I figured God had let my leg get the way it was because that was the way He wanted it! That was it. Period. But God answered the prayer of a believing elder, even when I was so hesitant.

A few years later, with me believing entirely, several of the elders came to our house where Chris was so sick with a bug (a few years after the encephalitis) and was throwing up constantly and we prayed for his complete healing from all effects of the encephalitis. Chris, at 21 today, is now and always will be in diapers (until heaven), is still autistic and still cannot speak. His IQ is un-measureable, which means 'under 20'.

So faith being strong or weak honestly has nothing to do with it, John. It's a matter of simple obedience and then being willing to accept God's answer no matter what that answer will be.

Maybe it's that so many of us simply aren't obedient, rather than having weak faith...

And maybe it truly is because we have seen this idea so abused that we don't want to be party even to any seeming abuse of it.

Nevertheless, I would encourage those who are not simply suffering from ten days' worth of stuffy noses and such to ask the elders for prayer.

Sometimes God says yes.

 

Hello Helen.

I see James as an internal Church process and not meant to be applied to those outside. No ridicule but God's will be done.

I agree with you but we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water. It's the elder's responsibility to pray when asked.
As to your personal circumstances all I can say is that I am a father of three, two girls, one pregnant, and a son and if anything happened to them it would be so devastating. I'll remember you in my prayers.

No I know it has nothing to do with an healing but the asking in the first place has to do with faith, obedience is faith. (If you love me you will obey me.) I do not entertain the belief that anything good originates in us but all good things come from God and that means the amount of faith a man has depends on how much a man has been given.

And so would I.

john.

 

I am a member of a SBC that practices James 5:14, but I find that most Baptists often hold back because they are afraid of being labeled "Pentecostal." For a Baptist church to put James 5:14 into practice certainly falls way short of the Pentecostal form of practice and worship.

I would certainly oppose the dancing, slaying in the Spirit, speaking in gibberish, rolling around on the floor, animal noises, and all the other unbiblical practices that go on in a Pentecostal church. But for a Baptist to put James 5:14 into practice, they should not worry about being labeled a Pentecostal.

 

I've been in several SBC assemblies and I've never found one afraid of healing or praying for healing. We do it every Wednesday night at "Prayer Meeting." I'm probably the only one that, in my present church, when led by the Spirit, will walk up to a person, lay a hand on them, and pray for their healing. I've never heard anyone say anything but "Thank you, brother." I don't know why others hesitate. We lay hands on Deacons when they are ordained.

 

This happened to me. While in a pennycostal church, I went to hear an evangelist speak, I was asked by a pastor to pray for little nine-year-old girl's healing. This little girl had a knot or bump on her neck which was to be operated on the next day. The next morning when she out of bed the knot was gone from her neck. When I again was at this church later the pastor and the deacons asked me in front of the congregation to leave the church. And I did so totally without any ill feelings towards them, but what an interesting interesting happening. The very people(Pentecostals) who say they believe in healing were literally blown away when it actually happened.

 

Maybe my take is different, or maybe I'm just wrong...

I think most Baptists do pray for healing. I just think many of them do it privately...why the reluctance for public prayer/anointing/etc.?

-Some folks are shy, and don't want others to know stuff about them or their family.
-Some ARE scared of being labeled "pentecostal."
-But I think most would respond, "I don't want to have this big public thing, and then my prayer not be answered." Maybe because we're scared today to be real with each other. Maybe it's because some moron will come up to that person and say, "Well, if you would have had more faith..." Maybe it's something else.

Don't misunderstand this post...I'm not justifying the above reasons...just offering some possible explanations.

RB

 

My mom in the early 70's was diagnosed with a tumor on the brain. We were attending a Baptist church and she asked the pastor if he would anoint her, along with the elders, with oil. He replied that he had never done it before but, because it was Scriptural, he did not object.

The pastor and elders came over to our house and the pastor anointed her with oil, and he, the elders and myself laid hands on her and prayed a simple prayer in obedience to the verse in James.

A week later, my mom went back to the doctor, and, low and behold, the tumor was gone! The doctor confirmed it by x-ray and admitted that it was indeed a miracle. It gave my mom a wonderful opportunity to witness to the doctor of God's love.

So...there you go. Believe and obey what the Word of the Lord says...it works!!


Ray

 

I'm certainly not afraid of healing. However, just because I'm not healed the way I wanted to be healed, doesn't mean I'm not healed. Not my will but His.

Some people aren't satisfied until they get wnat they ask for, even though they're given all they need. And some people are afraid to ask, for fear of being disappointed in the results.

 

One extreme of thinking:

"I'm not going to see a doctor or take precautions health-wise. God will miraculously heal me."

The other:
"Miraculous healings don't happen."

Most of the gang seems to understand the fallacies of each extreme.

Expounding on what I said earlier,

I think it would do us good to all have churches where people feel "real" enough with each other to share their deepest prayer needs, to wrestle with the gravity of what we ask God for, and to even admit to each other (and God) "Help my unbelief!"

When our churches cease to be so full of perfect people, I think God is going to bust something pretty incredible on us.

(for free copies of this sermon, hit "ctrl + c")