Kimi Harris, nonconformist

Prayer, Healing, and Trust

When Faith was diagnosed with her heart condition, I started thinking about prayer more than I had ever done before. Joel and I prayed for her healing and knew that many others were praying for the same thing. But, unlike some, we didn't feel like our faith was measured by how many of our requests God answered with a "yes".

When you read a passage such as: Matt. 21:21 "And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. "
You can feel this pressure to be "mountain movers" otherwise you will have proven your "doubt". If someone is sick, you pray for healing, thinking in the back of your mind that if God doesn't heal this person than you are at fault because you don't have enough faith. Or if you want that new job, or need money, and pray for God to bless you in a certain way, than there is this mindset that God will answer with a "yes" as long as you do your part and have enough faith.

I am certainly still on a journey of learning more about prayer but God has given me peace about certain aspects of prayer.

First of all, I never felt like if God didn't heal Faith Felicity that it was because of my lack of faith. I knew that God could heal her in an instant and I knew that He loves to bless His children, so I prayed that He would. But I knew that God was not my genie in a bottle that would answer all my requests if I could only muster up enough faith. By calling Him my Lord, and my God, I am acknowledging that He has control and I am not god. He is the one who knows what is best, not I.

I also knew that anything that I asked that was lined up with His will for my life would be answered with a yes! 1John 5:14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." The problem is that we don't always know what is best and what His will is for our lives. That's where trust comes in. We pray for what seems best, but leave the outcome to God. This gave me peace because I knew that God heard my requests and would do what was best.

Another passage that really spoke to me during this last year was Luke 22:42, we find Jesus weeping and praying to God, waiting for the guards to come and arrest Him in the garden and we hear this prayer come out of his mouth, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

It first of all taught me to bow my will to God's and be willing to say "your will be done". But another important concept struck me from this passage. Christ asked for something, for "this cup" to be removed from Him, and God did not grant that request! So I concluded that it was not a sign of a lack of faith to ask for something and not get it. This also gave me peace and helped me rest in His arms of love. I knew that His will would be done and that if Faith was not healed that it was not a punishment because of my lack of faith but because it was His will for her and my life.

I think that this is a very important concept to understand. I have heard of many families being torn apart under the teaching of those who believe they can "accomplish anything" through Christ. (The problem is not in saying that anything is possible through Christ, because it is. The problem is believing that God will do whatever YOU want.) One husband and father got cancer and the family prayed and believed in healing for him until the very end. If anyone had faith that he was going to be healed, this family did. But God did not heal him, and the family was completely crushed and turned away from God because of it. They, to this day, are not walking with the Lord. The problem with their prayer was not that they prayed for healing and believed that God would do it. The problem was they left out "but your will be done".

This can come out in smaller ways as well. When I was reading Elisabeth Elliot's biography on Amy Carmichael, she recounted how, in Amy's early ministry, she would often be lead to pray for a certain amount of converts for that night of ministry. Her partners of prayer really rebelled at this, being afraid that it wouldn't be answered. But it always was answered. God had indeed laid a certain number of people on her heart for her to pray for, and He saved them on that night. But my question is, why would it be wrong to pray for a certain number of people to be saved and have God not grant it? Does God always have to grant everything we ask for? If you do feel that way, you will be like Amy's partners and be afraid to ask anything lest God not answer. This does not promote a good prayer life!

Finally, a verse that I have been working on memorizing is Philippians 4:6-7 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplications with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus."

We don't have to be anxious about anything, but we can, with thanksgiving ringing in our hearts, make our requests made known to God and have peace in Him, knowing that He knows all and will do what is best.

posted by Kimi Harris @ 1:45 PM