So often, the attitude of many Christians today is: “When all else fails, pray.” Or how many times have you heard this: “Well, brother, just pray about it.” Just pray? How about starting with prayer? How about believing that if anything good is going to happen in the church, it must begin with prayer!
To the first-century Christian community, prayer was their first choice, not their last resort (Acts 2:42). They prayed about almost everything: spiritual direction, food, finances, and supernatural healing. Throughout the Scriptures, we are encouraged to pray, even commanded to pray, yet prayer continues to be one of the last resources we turn to when problems, decisions, or opportunities arise.
I was greatly encouraged when one of the prophetic words that I was privileged to hear at a conference concerned the prayers of the body of Christ. The prophet shared a message that clearly proclaimed God planned to restore divine healing in the last days. Not contrived or manipulated “healings”; not psychosomatic healings (although mental and emotional healings will no doubt be included); not sweeping, broad generalizations regarding healing; not the sort of “pay-per-prayer” manipulation of people’s sincere faith that has been so prevalent among healing ministries. But God is going to restore genuine, supernatural healing on a widespread basis.
The prophet shared a vision he had received from the Lord, in which hundreds and hundreds of people were praying for each other and multitudes were being healed.
Interestingly, the prophet reported that, in the vision, the people who were praying appeared to be “faceless”. He interpreted this to mean that the healings would not take place through “high-profile,” well-known ministers, but through common, everyday folks. Furthermore, the message implied that God will continue to do miraculous healings so long as we do not care who gets the glory. And when we really stop to think about it, all the glory for any genuine healing belongs to our Lord God, not to the vessel through which He chooses to bring about the miracle.
As you know, Lori and I believe in doing all you can to take care of yourself so that you will be healthy. As much as you can affect your health by eating right and making other healthy choices, you should do it. But when you need a supernatural healing, don’t hesitate to call on the Lord in prayer! He is the Healer and all those times recorded in the Bible of supernatural healing are for today as well.
Love,
Jim
You are so right Jim; prayer should be the worlds highest priority. I am convinced however that most beleivers truly do not understand what prayer is. Christ taught the disciples how to pray, Christ did not teach them what to pray. I beleive many feel reciting the Lords Prayer is praying. Which it is not. The lords prayer is an outline of acceptable conduct when speaking to God. In school we were shown the outline of a proper business letter, the intro, the main body etc. This was not the actual letter, just the outline as an example to help us understand. The Lord is with us every minute of every day, we can a should speak with Him continuously, as we would speak with someone sitting right beside us. Talk to the Lord from your heart! It’s prayer.
Healing is the childrens bread,Jesus paid for it on the cross,and all the promises of God are yes and amen in Him.We must uphold one another in prayer. We are told in Ephesias 6 to put on the whole armour of God to withstand in the evil day,but we can’t forget the rest of this statement; To watch with all perserverance and supplication for all saints,so not only are we equipped ourselves but we are to stand for one another.If things are to change in this world then its going to be up to the Church,God’s intercessors and watchman.Prayer is a priviledge not a burden it halts the hand of the enemy and moves the hand of God.