Have you ever experienced the
power of healing prayer? It’s an intriguing question that can be interpreted and
answered in many ways. Most Christians I know will say they have prayed personally
for healing and known some kind of positive answer. Most Christians I know will
say they believe in the power of intercessory prayer. It is why we keep a list
of prayer concerns and ask the members of Seneca Presbyterian to pray for those
listed – both within our family of faith and beyond that community to include
others known to us.
Some Christians I know will say they believe in the power
of healing prayer. By this they believe that some have been given the spiritual
gift of healing and through that gift, usually accompanied by some form of
touching, the Holy Spirit can heal.
When we gathered for Bible study last Wednesday evening, we
explored two stories of healing performed by Jesus in Luke, chapter 7. In one,
Jesus healed the slave of a Roman centurion. In the other, Jesus brought back
to life the only son of a widow in the village of Nain. Both stories are
fascinating, not only for what they teach us about Jesus but also for what they
teach us about healing today. We’ll look at them more fully as we gather for
worship this Sunday.
But our “Wednesday night faithfuls” also explored what we
believe about healing and prayer. We shared openly and honestly as those who do
believe in the power of prayer to heal and make whole. Some spoke of personal
experience with what they belief was divine healing that accompanied the human
gift of healing through medicine. We affirmed the ministry of prayer in our
lives and in the life of our church family.
But our skepticism surfaced when we talked of “miraculous
healings.” I don’t think we doubted God; I think we doubted people. We’ve known
too many times when the needs of vulnerable persons were abused by those who
only sought personal gain. In good and faithful Presbyterian fashion, we
thought examples of miraculous healing were limited to Jesus and those closest
to him – in other words, the “apostolic age.” John Calvin believed that. He
also believed that evidence of God’s miraculous presence is all around us. We don’t
need miraculous moments to see it, only the eyes of faith opened by the Spirit.
Yet still I wonder…
What do you think?
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