Ask and you shall receive
One of the most underrated forms of prayer is intercession. In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6, Jesus tells us: “When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (7-8)
One of the most underrated forms of prayer is intercession. In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6, Jesus tells us: “When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (7-8)
Jesus doesn’t say that God will give us what we want, but what we need.
There is a type of intercessory prayer that can have an almost immediate effect, and that is praying with someone with the laying on of hands. In the New Testament, we read about the disciples laying hands on someone to ask for healing or a miracle. The authority of our own baptism qualifies us to pray in this way, and it’s worth praying for healing like this, if you have never done it before.
A number of years ago, my wife had a former school friend who was involved in a near-fatal car accident. She had sustained terrible head injuries, was unconscious and did not move or respond to stimuli. The family had been told that, should she awake, the best they could hope for would be that she would be in a “vegetative state” — a very grim prognosis. Her desperate family invited us to pray for her to recover from her injuries. The nurses and doctors were very scornful of what we were doing and thought it was cruel of us to offer false hope to her family.
Regardless, we visited every week and prayed briefly for her with a laying on of hands, asking God to heal her. After two or three visits, she opened her eyes and seemed to be conscious, although she had no motor skills and couldn’t communicate. As the weeks went on, she gradually regained the ability to move her arms. She managed to communicate using a special board with phrases on it she could point at.
This went on for two or three months. By the end of that time, she regained her speech, got out of bed and walked up and down the ward, albeit with a limp. Both the family and the medical professionals were completely dumbfounded.
Neither my wife, nor I, have a particular gift of physical healing, as far as we know. We were just open to being used by the Holy Spirit and prayed with expectant faith — the point being that anyone is capable of praying for healing with anyone else.
If there is someone in your life who could benefit from healing prayer, why not step out in faith and pray with them?
