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When you pray, what is it for?

When we hope for good health, is it a yearning for self-benefit that moves us to pray for healing or a wish for God to inject His will? Should we immerse our selves in self-pity, ignore the issue altogether, or should we seek God’s decree?

I noticed that when I pray, often the prayer consists of words that aim to promote my self. I believe this attitude creates a tremendous barrier between God and us. The proof is in the puddin’, or shall I say in The Word: But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” (Jam. 4:6)

So, here we confront the question. How does one move from self indulged to self-exempt when in a midst of suffering? While the answers may appear simple, their application seems somewhat more complex. Many will say, pray with a heart of humbleness or place your strife at God’s alter…let Him have your troubles; pay them no care. They will say, lay down your wants and let God’s will fill your heart. All very good advice, but how do we get to that place of humility? Where can it be found, because honestly, giving no attention to my intrinsic senses, which constantly tell me that I’m not well, seems immensely irrational. Therefore, do we pretend that a sickness does not exist, such as by doing our best to ignore its incidence? No! Not by my perspective, anyway. However, I think that that is what so many people tend to do, me included.

Several find lead into guilt for taking notice of their illness and begin to think the only righteous thing to do is to ignore the condition; in other words, take away from the enemy the power of our thoughts regarding the illness that he wants to destroy us. So, is that right? Is that what we should do, seriously, ignore it?! A better question, yet—Is ignorance the result of faith? A big ol’ NO! What does scripture tell us to do in a crippling situation, such as this?

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. (Jam. 5:14)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But [when] the desire comes, [it is] a tree of life. (Pro. 13:12)

Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. (Luk. 5:31)

Therefore, what will you do? This group is here for intercessory, to lend a helping hand in efforts to support each other in agreement for the Lord’s will to be done; however, we must remain diligent in our prayer effort and afford Jesus the reign.

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Permalink Reply by Rodney M Hall on February 16, 2010 at 7:07am

This is a very interesting and worth while topic, It will be interestig to see the responses. I think that unless we really do know what the Bible says we can really stumble when it comes to the subject of healing. From one extreame to the other. On one end there are those that believe that we should never go to the Dr. when we are sick. Personally, I believe that God gave us Doctors and medical advances for a reason. And I believe that he wants us to use them. This is not to say that God is leaving our healing totally up to what the Doctors can do. As we have all seen, there are plenty of miracles that the doctors can not explain; which only gives testimony to God's awesome power.
Then there is the other extreame; where people believe that God will heal them just because they want to be healed. I think that we need to be careful in this situation because it can lead to disappointment. And this is unfair to God. We have to remember that even though we want to be healed and do not understand why we are suffering, that God may have a purpose that is far greater than our understanding.
So I guess that my point is that when we are wanting to be healed, that we pray for God's will to be done. And even though it can be hard to understand, there wil be times that we do not see the healing that our human herats want so badly. It is very important to remember that we are only in these bodies for a short time and when we ge to heaven, we will have no more suffering.
I know that this sounds like I am saying not to expect miracles or healing. But that is not what I intended to convey. In a nut shell I believe that we need to turn it over to God and be willing to accept His will. If you receive a miracle than you have that testimony. If you don't get the healing that you want or need, then you have a great testimony there as well because people can see that even though you might be struggling, you still love God.

Permalink Reply by Pastor Bob B on February 20, 2010 at 7:39pm

I have heard of so many men especially who have ignored physical symptoms they were having, and then end up having a more serious problem because of it. God has given us warning systems in our bodies as well as in the soul.

Faith is not ignoring the problem to make it go away. But faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This hope grows in us from meditating upon the truth of the Word Of God.

Even though I might be having symptoms of something wrong going on in my body, I still have hope in my life when faith is present that God is my healer. I am not in denial of the problem, but I am trusting that God will be with me to help me no matter what I am going through.

Even if I never experience the healing in my body and I end up going to be with the Lord, I still get healed. I will have a new body one day that will never break down, and I will declare in that day it is because He is my healer that I am whole.

When you pray, what is it for?

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