Randy Clark’s conference got me excited about the Lord’s power to heal. He told us that when he prayed for people’s healing that he expected God to work. He said sometimes he felt God’s presence, sometimes he didn’t, but he always prayed in expectancy that God would touch. He encouraged us to begin praying in the same way. His teaching a few weeks ago fell in line with author Mark Batterson’s beliefs. In his book, Draw the Circle, Batterson writes, “We can’t perform miracles. All we can do is pray for them” (Batterson, 25).
In one of the bible studies that I lead, I stepped out in faith. Although the members of the study weren’t use to laying their hands on the sick, that is exactly what we did last week. One of our members broke her toe. She was in a considerable amount of pain. I asked everyone to get up and lay hands on her. With butterflies in my stomach from excitement, anticipation, and a little bit of trepidation, I touched foot with the broken toe. I prayed God’s healing and commanded the pain to leave, as Randy Clark taught us. We asked her to begin walking on her foot and to tell us how it felt. She got up and walked on her foot. A warm smile spread across her face as she began to walk around the room. She began to do things with her foot that she couldn’t do before. Her grin grew and her eyes danced with delight. “It doesn’t hurt. I feel better!” she exclaimed. We immediately began praising God. I called her just yesterday which was two days later. “I still feel no pain!” she cried out. My faith was bolstered, and I am ready to pray for everyone and anyone.
The lesson I learned over these last several weeks is the same lesson Hosea was trying to teach the Israelites in our reading today. In Hosea 5:13 it says, “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, or to cure you of your wound.” Ephraim and Judah looked to the powerful nation of Assyria to rescue them and heal them instead of God. Hosea let them know that people can’t heal people. Running to Assyria was not the answer for Ephraim or Judah. Whether spiritual, emotional, or physical healing was in order, they needed to run to our all powerful, all knowing God. He alone has the power to heal. He is not a man that He should lie. He is a God that can do the impossible. We along with the Israelites “need to trust [God] for the little things, like healing our cancer, getting us out of debt, helping us conceive,” or saving us from our sinful nature (Batterson, 22).
Lord, thank You for being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Thank You that we can trust in You for our healing. Thank You Lord for being the same God todayas You were for the Israelites. Thank You for bolstering our faith and helping us to grow as children that desire to pray and see Your hand at work. We love you, and we pray for more faith. We pray for more of You. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
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