How to Pray for Healing Francis Noordanus Feb 2016

Transcription

1 How to Pray for Healing Francis Noordanus Feb 2016 Message Praying for Healing. I have recently been asked to advise those praying for Ellen Rae to give guidance on how to pray for Ellen as she battles cancer. I have prepared some teaching that is both general and speaks to the many who pray for Ellen. Intro: I want to begin by acknowledging how sensitive and delicate this subject is. Spiritual healing is controversial and bad stories regularly hit the media about those who minister healing through faith in spiritual power not to mention hospitals as well. One feature of being sick or having a dear one living with sickness is vulnerability. For the sick person and those caring for them, sickness erodes hope to the point where people can take wrong advise or worse still, simply be manipulated while seeking hope for healing. When hope is low, quack medicines, bogus treatments and spiritual manipulation are real dangers. Add to this the way that most medical reports and prognoses involve statistics that do not deliver much certainty and those seriously ill along with their families need faith that is sound and true to avoid deception. Knowing what to believe and how to act in faith becomes a hot issue when someone is seriously ill. That is what I want to speak into today. So the question is: How do we pray for the sick? The approach I am going to describe rests on a few starting points: 1. We want to pray in a way that Jesus modeled and instructed as found in the New Testament. Amen? 2. We understand that God s physical healing, along with deliverance, spiritual healing are outworkings and illustrations of God s saving righteousness that come with God s Kingdom. Where the Kingdom of God is happening, things that are wrong are put right, justice is achieved or restored, brokenness is healed, walls are broken down, the poor are fed, the weak are defended, the earth is renewed, etc. a. This vision of God s Kingdom frames what Jesus was doing in Galilee even before he went to the cross for us. In Jesus ministry healing was a manifest illustration of the presence of Heaven s reign within the world of the fallen human condition. The manifestations and powers of sin were pushed back by the loving-dynamic-presence of God s Spirit-filled Son. This is what we the Church are to bear witness to. Amen? 3. Physical Death is to be expected for all. We do not deny death but it is seen and considered in the light of the resurrection. Against the resurrection death is not the final word but a passage into God s eternity en-route to the resurrection. Unless Jesus should return first, we will all taste death en-route to the resurrection. The Christian faith is that death has thus lost its terrible hold on humanity, Jesus has prevailed over every dimension of it and, in him so will we. Amen?

2 How did Jesus heal? Psalm 91 1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,! who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,! 2 will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust. James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. 2 Development: How Did Jesus Heal? If we had the time today it would be good to consider every account of Jesus healing. Moving in the Holy Spirit he did not always operate in the same way. Whatever example I choose will be individual and distinctive which is something to note in itself. Jesus did not apply a one-size-fits-all mode of healing to every case. With that said, I chose the example of Jesus healing his friend Lazarus from the tomb. (John 11) The story is that Jesus received word that His friend Lazarus was very ill. Jesus does not rush to the bedside to minister but says: This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. A few days later, after Lazarus has been buried, Jesus decides its time to go to the village of Bethany and see Lazarus. When Jesus got there he was deeply moved by the grieving he saw and wept. Then we get to the healing action from John 11: Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. 40 Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me. 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Unbind him, and let him go. Once the scene has been set and everyone is lined up, Jesus clearly prays in two steps: 1. He prays to his Father and he thanks his Father for hearing him. a. He had obviously been praying for sometime beforehand as well, perhaps days? 2. He commands restoration to Lazarus. Step One models how anyone wanting to be an agent of the Kingdom, needs to be relationally and spiritually related to God as King. The LORD must powerfully and deeply reign in that person s life for them to be an agent of God s Reign in the world. That is why we begin worship services with a spiritual shower. The Church took over the wisdom of the monastics who learned that daily confession, daily repentance as Jesus instructed is a way to cleanse us for God s purposes. That is also why we exchange the peace before Communion. People can share bread and wine as food any day but for God to be active and present in, through and among us we need to right the wrongs first and get clear. As I was preparing this 2 scriptures came to mind which illustrate being rooted in God as King: Psalm 91 (NRSV) 1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, 2 will say to the LORD, My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust. James 5:16 (NRSV) 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

3 3 Those who live in God s shadow and are lined up with his righteousness are agents of God s power and know how to trust in Him. Jesus lived in that mode yet there were times when he pressed in deeper. The Garden of Gethsemane is an example. Even though he was personally upset for his friends and deeply involved here, his first focus of prayer was plugging into God. Step Two is Jesus speaking directly to Lazarus who is laid up in the tomb. Once he knows what God s Kingdom agenda is he moves into action as an agent of God s Kingdom. It s just three words of authoritative proclamation spoken as personal address. Lazarus, Come Out! The purpose of this here is two fold: A. to restore Lazarus and B. to demonstrate to those watching that Jesus is the Son of God, bearer of his Kingdom. In other healings Jesus rebuked the spiritual basis of the illness or simply commanded well-being and healing saying things like: Take your mat and walk 1, Receive your sight 2 etc. Another example of this two step method is described in Acts 9:40 where St. Peter brings God s healing to a woman named Tabitha or - Dorcas in Greek. 40 Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, Tabitha, get up. Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. Jesus did it, He trained his disciples to go out and do it, Peter did it and James told people to do it. So how might we do this? Let s look at how the various voices of prayer compare to what Jesus did in raising Lazarus. Petition This is perhaps the basic mode of prayer. Prayer goes up, grace or blessings come down. I suggest this is where we probably start. This is not distinctively Christian so is prone to some pagan influences. Telling God what to do. Seeking to manipulate God with a good performance. Model 1 Petition Basic Starting Point? OK - but Prone to Pagan influence and superstitions In Matthew 6:7 we hear Jesus say: When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles (Pagans) do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Believing in special words or formulae to bolster faith. Even the phrase In the name of Jesus can be used as a formula rather than a confession of this being the Lord s will. 1 John 5:8,11 & Mark 2:9 2 Luke 18:42

4 4 All this may amount to tickling God but God is gracious and acts accordingly! One version of this I find difficult to accept is how some people engage God with statements in scripture that they consider promises but I cannot read that way. As I have reviewed them it seems at times that God is nagged with Bible verses as if that will make him act. The big promises God has made to us are that he will always be with us and that we who have died in Christ will rise in Christ. To make other verses sound like promises for various circumstances that can be cashed in once God is reminded does not in my mind sound like faithful prayer. This is a step up, as it involves listening to God and seeking to pray in his guidance and will as the Holy Spirit leads. (Rom. 8:26) Intercession Seek Holy Spirit s guidance to pray in unity with God This is what intercession could be as one standing for another as God directs. Model 2 Guided Intercession The Holy Spirit guides A in praying the Father s purposes for person B. Guided Intercession One very good reason to pray as God leads is because when people ask for healing prayer the symptoms they are suffering are very often not the deepest spiritual issue that needs God s healing. While cells may be misbehaving or blood pressure and stress symptoms abound, the things God wants addressed may be a few layers below and that requires spiritual revelation and direction. In my experience this has at times been the break through for healing. The symptoms are just that, symptoms, the deep sickness is what actually needs to be addressed. After prayer to seek and enter God s Kingdom will, God s Kingdom purpose is prophetically directed to the sick person. eg: Be healed. Representing the King Prophetic declaration This is Jesus raising Lazarus and several other cases as well. Model 3 This requires a clear ear and bold faith.

5 James 5: Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. 5 A combination of the previous models allowing for God s distinctive leading in different cases. Ready For All Combination to apply as led This is what I relate to. Model 4 Guided Guided Intercession & The Power of Amen! Finally, I want to draw attention to the shared power and responsibility in healing Prayer. The Holy Spirit does gift some individuals within the church with gifts of healing. At the same time the commands of the Lord to heal the sick is given to the whole church. One place where we receive concrete instruction on this is from James. Listen to the way he encourages this church to step out in faith to pray for those needing God s healing The Prayer of Faith James 5: Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. I hear James bringing together many of the things I have covered with the emphasis that prayer for the sick should happen because people ask for it and it should involve the experienced, wise, capable people who lead and oversee the church. He really emphasizes the role of confession and forgiveness with prayers in faith for the sick. Testimony & Exercise?