The Healing Prayer

When I was the pastor of the Vidalia Church, I led a five night study on the healing ministry of the church.  The group that came each night was not a large group, but one of the ones upon whom the study had a profound effect was me.  It is often said that if a preacher's sermon puts the preacher under conviction, it must be a good one.  Maybe the same might be said of this particular study.  By the time I had finished the study of preparation, led each session, and had time for the Word of God to take root in my own heart, I was convicted by my failure of waiting so long and convinced that the healing ministry had to be a vital part of ministry going forward.     

Back then we had Sunday evening worship and so after the study, one Sunday night a month was focused on the healing ministry of the church.  It was not just a time for preaching or teaching about the healing ministry found in the Word, but also of inviting people to come to the altar for prayers for healing.  Those times of prayer are remembered as some of the most powerful moments of work around the altar in the years of my ministry.  I came to understand that as we knelt there together, we were doing so at a moment when human need and the power of God converged in one place which meant that it was no ordinary moment.    

The service was called "A Service of Prayers for Healing."  I was uncomfortable with calling it a healing service.  While I believed it was a means of bringing the healing power of God to bear on human need, the healing work was left to God.  It seemed to me that what He was calling the church to do was to pray for the healing of those who came.  In the book of James there is a Word which says, "Are any among you sick?  They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord."  (James 5:14)  The church has often been too timid about the ministry of praying for those who are sick among us.  Perhaps, it is because we forget that we are not called to heal, but to pray.