Day 11 of my 90 Day Journey to Experience More and there didn't appear to be anything spectacular happen today except for pursuing the Father's presence. Out of the 10 people that I contacted only 5 people wanted to receive prayer; 4 people had an obvious need of prayer and 6 people did not. I met a lady at the checkout who was concerned for her 22 year old daughter who was moving out of state. I also prayed for an 88 year old man and his wife who was at home recuperating from surgery that removed a tumor from her intestines. There was an older man who was wearing a back brace that starred at me for a long time when I asked him if I could pray for him. After awhile he said I guess so. But when I asked if I could pray for him now, he declined and walked away.
I approached a wonderful Christian lady from a well known denomination that was telling me all about the importance of prayer and that she believed in the power of prayer. Then she proceeded to tell me how she labored over praying for others every week with many people being added to the church's prayer list every week.
I remembered those prayer lists and the weekly prayer meetings that I used to attend. We met every week and reviewed a list of those in the hospital or at their home who were sick. The pastor or one of the leaders would gave us information of each person on the list. Then when we finished the list, two or three leaders would pray for the list of people sometimes reciting their names but often referring to the prayer list and always ending their prayers, "If it be the Lord's will for them to be healed." Most of the time was spent going over the list and then only a few minutes it seemed spent in actual prayer. Attendance was always low and few people if any on the list got miraculously healed. Most answers to prayer could be attributed to human effort or medical intervention.
No wonder why a lot of Christians who have attended one of these prayer meetings come to the conclusion that prayer doesn't seem to work. They only use prayer as a last resort and give a token prayer assuming that God is going to do His will anyway. Maybe that is why the one guy who I met today starred at me for the longest time then decided he didn't want any prayer after I confronted him.
I don't believe Jesus had in mind that we should gather together and pray over a list. He instructed the disciples to, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8, NAS). He never told them pray for the sick, rather He commanded them to "heal the sick."
James 5:14-16 says, "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. . ." Maybe instead of praying over a list in a meeting we should do what Jesus commanded the disciples to do. Go to the person that is sick and command them to be healed in faith for ". . .the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well." It doesn't say that they might get well. It says that our prayers "will make the sick person well."
Last week I experienced over 46 people being healed of various sicknesses and I expect even more to happen as I step out in faith and believe what Jesus told us to do will come true in our lives (Look at Day 8 of my journey). Jesus promised, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it." (John 14:12-14, NAS)
I can't wait to see what God's going to do this weekend and on Day 12 of my Journey to Experience More. Come back often to see what miraculous things God is going to be doing. Leave a comment and let me know what you think or send me an encouraging word. They are very helpful in my journey.
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