Some years ago actor Steve Martin appeared in a film about a preacher who went around the country side setting up a tent and holding an old fashioned revival meeting. People came from all over the place to see and hear him and the music. At the end of the service he would call people up on the stage and heal them. The only problem, he was a fake and he was doing this to defraud people of their hard earned cash.
I believe in the power of healing, I have seen it in my own life, and I know many readers will be able to tell stories of how healing has worked in their own life as well. Healing is something as old as history. Jesus and His apostles healed people and healing has been part of the church since the start.
People email me and ask me to pray for this person to be healed or that person to be healed and I am happy to do this. I offer their names each day in my prayer and ask God not for healing, but that His will be done. Ah that is the secret His will be done!
I think this is the hardest part of asking God for anything. We must be willing to accept the will of God if we ask Him for something. It is hard to explain God’s will and maybe we are not meant to understand His will in our life, but our prayer should be for His will to be done in our lives.
God does not allow us to get sick. Sickness is due to our fallen nature as human beings and perhaps because of some choice that we made at some point in our lives. God does not control our every movement and is not responsible when something goes wrong. When we pray for ourselves or for others we simple need to ask that His will be done.
We are all in need of healing. Each and every one of us is broken in some way or the other. We all have the illness of sin that comes with being human. Due to the sin of our first parents we have the inclination to sin. We are not born bad, nor is anyone evil to the core. All of us are born with the light of Christ in us, it is just hidden in there and we need to allow it to shine. It is hidden under our sin and we need to be healed from that.
In our Orthodox Christian tradition we have the blessing of Sacramental Confession. This gives us the opportunity to stand before God, and another human being, and confess what we have done. Absolution is given, but not by the power of the priest, the forgiveness does not come from the priest but from God. This is a time for healing. Standing naked and exposed before God and another human and telling our deep dark secrets can be healing. It is also a time for counsel from the priest; perhaps a single word or a thought is exchanged. The knowledge that one is forgiven, and give the assurance by another person that you are forgiven, helps to heal the soul.
What is it that you need to be healed from? Ask God for His will to be done in your life. Turn it over to Him and be happy with the answer.
I loved that movie. Mostly because there was healing despite of Martin's character, not because of him. Healing for a boy, and healing for the fallen preacher.
It always has to be "His will be done," and not ours. And sometimes that's heartbreaking.
Good post, sir.
Some times God gives us a healing and sometimes he gives a cure.
We think physical healing but their is also emotional and spiritual healings.
Sometimes the healing we ask for may not be the healing God chooses to give us.
We make ask to be physically healed but God may decide to leave the sickness but heal the emotions or the spirit because thats what he wants healed.
We are all in need of healing. Each and every one of us is broken in some way or the other.
Yes, we are indeed! Great post!
P.S. I clicked on some of your ads too! 🙂
“Ah that is the secret His will be done!”
Exactly. And your last line, “Turn it over to Him and be happy with the answer” is so key.
We live in such a word-filled-brain time in our culture… always fighting for the basic truths. Enjoyed the way you put pieces together.
His will be done… that is so difficult to accept, yet so important to grasp.
Thank you!