Troublesome Topic: IS PRAYER FOR HEALING TRUE PRAYER?

In regard to healing, I simply pray that God will glorify Himself. I know He will always answer that prayer, I just don’t know how or when. By praying that He glorify Himself I am allowing Him to choose whether that glorification comes through miraculous healing, perseverance, or the ultimate healing of taking His child home to be with Him.

If God shows me that His specific will for a given situation is to heal, I can claim that healing, but if He does not reveal that to me, I simply pray for Him to glorify Himself and leave the method of answering up to Him. How many beggars did Peter and John see on their way to the temple? We do not know, but we can assume there were others. But when they got to the gate called Beautiful God impressed on them that, in this case, He wanted to heal. In order to know His will we need to enjoy more time with Him. We also need to be willing to allow Him to work in a way that may not be our first choice.

So no, asking for healing is not true prayer because God has not obliged Himself to always heal. Healing is a favor. However, He will always answer the prayer to bring glory to Himself.

IS THE PROBLEM NOT ENOUGH FAITH

Maybe you have often heard that the reason our prayers go unanswered is that you don’t have enough faith.

MT 17:20 (&21) is the passage often cited for the idea of little faith being the problem. However, the Bible must be allowed to interpret itself and almost all of the verses where Jesus spoke of the power of prayer also mention the phrase “in my name”, meaning that it is limited to things that we know to be His expressed will. This verse is an exception, but it is still bound by the commonly used phrase “in my name” because the Bible must interpret itself. Also, in this case it appears that the problem was a lack of faith on the part of the disciples; they were hesitant, doubtful. But that does not mean that a lack of faith is always the problem. Yes, faith is required in prayer, but it is not the only thing that is required. A more realistic answer is that the thing being prayed for does not qualify as “in my name” and therefore, the answer was “No”. It should be unthinkable to apply an exception (Mt 17:20) to almost every situation, while ignoring the foundational rule (“in my name”) which should be applied to all our prayers. I find it highly unfortunate that what should be unthinkable has become the most common answer in some circles.

The next lesson is DOES JAMES 5 CAUSE CONFUSION BETWEEN ASKING FOR FAVORS AND TRUE PRAYER?