Articles on Spiritual Warfare
Articles on Prayer
Articles on Discipleship
Articles on Our Identity in Christ
Articles on the Hereos of the Bible
Safe Haven for Teens is a organization that focuses at this time on providing teens with a safe place to hang before school, where they get a free breakfast and a place to talk. In the summer we will be moving into providing a afternoon place for the teens to hang where they can do art, skate board, music and hang out. |
For Where Two or Three Come Together in my Name
The question that seems to be dreaded by many Christians is the simple question "How can we pray for you today?" God longs to bless us if we would only ask Him, but we find it safer and easier to ask for prayer for our third distant cousin with a stubbed toe than to reveal anything about ourselves. The idea that God would love to have the opportunity to meet our needs seems to elude us.
Why is it so hard for us to have someone pray for us? It seems that even in small groups when the prayer question is raised, many people feel uncomfortable. A person could be in need of a gentle touch from the Lord, and could be aware that they have a need for something, but they either don’t connect that this need can be significant enough for God to be concerned (I should only bother God with my ‘big’ stuff), or they are simply uncomfortable bringing it up. Many Christians believe that if they reveal any area of weakness, they are regarded as weak among their peers. But if we are reluctant to ask for prayer, we will be missing out on what the Lord might have for us. We each need our brothers and sisters to support us in prayer. As we turn to Scriptures we find many occasions of people being encouraged to pray for one another. In the book of James, for example, it says:
"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise; is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective"(5:13-16).
People may also struggle with receiving prayer because of the characteristics displayed by some evangelists and faith healers. It is hard not to be exposed to the caricatures portrayed by the mainstream media in this area. There have been many people who have been turned off to God’s works instead of towards it. The example we need to follow is that of Jesus. In Matthew 8:2,3 we find the perfect willing example of Jesus: "A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing’ he said, ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cured of his leprosy." Jesus always combined healing with proclaiming the kingdom of God.
There are many different types of healing found in the Scriptures. The Gospels record at least forty-one instances of physical and mental healing by Jesus. One type of healing is the healing of the spirit. This is where our relationship with God is renewed and restored from a spiritual sickness caused by sin. The key to our spiritual healing is becoming new creations in Christ and living our lives as fully forgiven and reconstructed people. In 1 John 1:9 it says: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." The most freeing experience with this is when we are able to go before our brothers and sisters and confess our sins. In doing this true freedom can be found. According to Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together he says,
Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of a Christian brother, the last strong-hold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders; he gives up all his evil. He gives his heart to God, and he finds the forgiveness of all his sin in the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother.
Prayer for "inner" healing has to do with emotional and psychological hurts. These could be painful events in someone’s childhood or because of some recent difficulties in a relationship, or a wound that has been inflicted by others, even by someone within the body of Christ. Another area of prayer is physical healing. This could range from praying for a headache (or that third cousin’s stubbed toe!) to a battle with cancer. Other areas to request prayer could be for: wisdom on the job or in our relationships, improvement in our devotional life – wisdom in using our time; discernment in hearing God’s voice, asking for more faith, there is nothing to small or big to request prayer for. In Philippians 4:6, we are called to present all of our requests before God, and to pray on all occasions. There is no need or request that God will not honor when we go to our brothers and sisters for prayer. It is also important to remember when we ask for prayer to know what our motives are as in James 4:2,3 "You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive; because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
The only way that we can begin to understand the awesome rewards in praying for others and receiving prayer ourselves is by simply beginning to ask. I would like to encourage everyone to begin to be more open to receiving prayer, whether in your individual house church or the All-Group Service. In Matthew 18:20 Jesus says: "I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
I would like to share part of my story with you in response to this. I have been in counseling and many inpatient treatment programs for emotional and mental issues. The devastation of my past has affected every area of my life. I have been treated with a variety of types of medication. However, I will testify that the real freedom that has happened in my life has been through healing prayer. A few years ago I found myself in quite a desperate situation; I was trying to do everything I could to begin to live in true freedom in my walk with Christ. However, I continued to struggle with a large dark cloud of depression over my head. No matter what I did I continued to struggle daily with suicidal thoughts of hopelessness and despair. It was only as I began to receive emotional healing prayer was I able to really receive freedom. The freedom I have found has not been from the people who have continually prayed for me, even though their devotion is truly amazing, the freedom has rather been through the saving grace of God and my being willing to surrender all I have to him. It has been in my continually responding with a "yes," no matter how painful or difficult. I receive prayer regularly and daily I am always open to responding with a "yes" to people’s request of "How can we pray for you today?"
|