Faith, Prayer and Healing

Well,  I began this post on Friday April 4,2014 while sitting at the Princess Margaret Hospital, in downtown Toronto waiting for my second chemotherapy treatment, and then later sitting in the chair with an IV drip in my arm and my Ipad on my lap.  (Really not ideal for writing).      The PMH is a world leader in cancer treatment and research.     The best medical science in the world is available here and I am thankful for it.     

The question may arise in some minds, "Rick, if you are really trusting God to heal you, why are you undergoing chemotherapy?"      Some might even consider my taking any medical treatment as a demonstration of lack of faith, which it certainly is not.      You would be surprised at how many people have sent me some health food formula for overcoming cancer and others on a more spiritual sounding note have wanted to send me some special prayer that I should say over myself or a recommendation of their favorite faith healer that I should visit.     I truly do appreciate the concern and I know it is all given with good intentions so I do not get upset with the questions or the well intended but often faulty advice.       I am quite confident in my understanding of God (though surely I do not know everything) and rest in a pretty solid theology. 

There are a lot of questions and certainly controversy when it comes to God, sickness, and the matter of healing.       I have some friends that suggest that my words are powerful and that God has given me all authority so that I should just command the cancer to leave.      Others have suggested that my cancer is an attack of Satan and that I should speak to him and command him to leave.       To cast Satan out of my pancreas,  so to speak.   (Some sickness can be Satanically inspired.   My issue is how we confront it).      

As I've already mentioned, some of my friends, suggest that if I was really trusting God I wouldn't be submitting myself to chemotherapy.     So, it seems good that in this Post, I share with you my theology of faith, prayer, and healing.       It is a solid theology, based in solid exegesis of scripture that I think is solid and avoids the excesses that seem to so easily attract and I believe, deceive many Christians and often leave them disappointed and disillusioned.      I am not going to argue my case so much as just present it as a working theology, to explain how I see scripture and how I seek to live it out and how it directs my steps.       My hope is that it will help you understand how faith, prayer, and healing can operate in your life too without all the erroneous hype, disappointment, and disillusionment you might hear elsewhere.

FAITH

Let's begin with faith.      What is faith?     I think that real Biblical faith is exactly not what most people think of when they talk about faith.     People often say, " Just have Faith" or "Just Believe".     It's as if for them faith is a matter of believing something hard enough that it will become true.      Maybe it’s a kind of 'positive thinking' or certainly at the least a matter of mustering up in yourself the faith to believe everything will be okay.     The problem is, this is nothing more than wishful thinking.    This certainly isn't what Biblical faith is about, and frankly, I need something more than wishful thinking.    Unfortunately this is the kind of faith many Christians practice and advocate even when they cloak it in spiritual sounding lingo like, "You just have to trust God." or "Faith can move mountains so have faith."    Faith is not wishful thinking.

Let me give you a simple illustration.     Suppose a newly married couple desire to have a baby.   Not just any baby but a ‘boy’ baby.      For whatever reason they want a boy, they begin to ask God.  They earnestly pray that God would give them a boy.     Someone tells them they just have to believe, to trust God to give them a boy.      They might even be told that God delights to bless His children so if you just have faith God will give you the desires of your heart.      So, they pray and in their hearts they have ‘faith’ that God will give them a boy.   But, when delivery day comes, it’s a girl.       What happened?    Their ‘faith’ was not really biblical faith at all but a kind of wishful thinking, a hope that was not rooted in the promise of God.    There was no specific biblical promise to them that God would give them a boy and biblical faith is always rooted in the promise of God.

Biblical faith is rooted in an unshakable confidence in the promise of God.     It is not rooted in wishful thinking or a strong desire for a certain outcome but in the confidence that God will do and accomplish exactly what He said He would do.      It is based in the fact, not of what I wish He would do, or what I hope for (wish for), but in the fact that He is faithful to His Word.      If He said it, He will do it.    It is not a matter of saying, I want this result therefore I will believe God for it.      Rather, it is a matter of having absolute confidence that God will be true to whatever He has promised.  He cannot deny Himself.  

You can have absolute confidence in the fact that God is true to His Word and that He will accomplish exactly what He said He would accomplish.     Paul says to the Thessalonians,  “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thess 5:24).  “Faithful” means “true to His Word.”      God is true to His Word.     So faith is always based not in my desire or wish, but in the fact that God is faithful to His Word.   He does what He promises He will do. 

Now, there is nowhere in scripture where God promises to specifically give a couple a ‘boy’ child or heal Rick Hayden.       If there were, I could go to that passage and claim its promise and have absolute assurance that God would heal me because, “He remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” 
  
Let me say upfront that I reject the teaching that healing is included in the atonement.     There are many, including some who are my very dear friends who believe that just as Jesus died on the cross for our sins so He died for our disease and that being the case, they believe that just as you receive salvation by faith you receive healing by faith.        They would claim, I believe erroneously, that God has promised to heal our physical ailments in this world and therefore all we have to do is believe it and we have it just as we believe and have salvation.

This teaching is based on what I believe to be a very poor interpretive approach to two basic passages of scripture.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,  smitten by God, and afflicted.   5  But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,  and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.     25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.  (1 Peter 2:24-25)

If you carefully read the passages in their context, both Isaiah and Peter are clearly talking about the issue of sin and how Christ, at the cross, bore our sin.     The disease He heals is our sin.      It seems to me that those who believe that healing is included in the atonement jump to the conclusion, without merit in the context, that the word “healed”  refers to physical healing.     I believe that is a very faulty and dangerous interpretation that is not warranted by the context.   It’s faulty because it leads to a wrong conclusion and its dangerous because it can and has led many people to demand something of God that they have no right to demand.   
 

In my view, God has not promised to heal everyone, of every disease, at all the times, and therefore it is erroneous and dangerous to demand that He does.      If He has promised it and He does not do it even one time, He is not faithful to His Word.       Many people who have been told that God promises to heal everybody have had their faith shaken and left disillusioned when they have tried to claim this as a promise, only to have their loved one die.
 

The bottom line is this.   God is always faithful to His Word.   He will always do what He has promised to do and I can take that to the Bank.    Having said that, there is nowhere in His Word, there is no specific promise from God that He will heal Rick Hayden.  
 

“Well” you say, “then what part does prayer play in healing?”    This is an excellent question and I’m glad you asked.

Prayer

The good news is that God does invite us to petition heaven with our requests and supplications.  There are so many examples and illustrations, and there are so many things we could say about how God will give us the desires of our heart (when our heart is in tune with His), but for space sake let me just offer one scripture.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.     7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:6-7)

We are told not to worry but to “let our requests be made known to God.”    God is good and graciously invites His people to bring their requests to the God who delights in His children.   We don’t always know the mind and will of God but we are invited to come and talk to Him about the things that are a concern to us.     Of course if our hearts are humble we only desire that which would be honouring and pleasing to God.

When it comes to healing, we are invited to tell Him our hearts desire.    All over the world there are people crying out to God, indeed, storming the gates of Heaven,  asking God to not just strengthen me and my family, not just put the cancer in remission, but to clean it out and bring complete healing.    This is what they want and they are crying out to God for it.  (So am I).      Such bold prayers are good and acceptable to God.      Yes, our heart attitude is always, ‘not my will but yours’, but our willingness to submit to God’s will should not diminish our boldness or fervor in prayer.        I admit that sometimes we use “according to your will” to give God a way out.       No, God invites us to bring bold prayers before Him.      We know that God “is able to do to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, (Ephesians 3:20).        Whenever possible we must root those prayers in the promises of God as found in His Word.       When we do, we know we will receive the desired answer.        Sometimes, there is no specific promise in God’s Word and we pour out our heart’s desire to God trusting in His goodness.

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (Ps 100:5)

We also realize that prayer is much more than asking God for something.      That is certainly part of it but that’s not all that it is.      Many people who are bombarding Heaven on my behalf are experiencing deep times of fellowship with God at a level they have not before, at least not on a regular basis.      Praying for me is actually enriching their own spiritual journey and enjoyment of God’s fellowship.      It seems that God is rising up a prayer movement on my behalf that is enriching believers around the world.      I have to confess that I wonder ‘why me?’ when there are so many other faithful servants of God far more worthy,  yet,  this is what God seems to be doing.      People are encountering God in a new ways and trusting Him in ways perhaps they have not before.

In prayer, we enter God’s presence and pour out our hearts to Him and bask in His presence.      Many of us have found that even when we have nothing to ask of Him, we just enjoy Him. 

Healing

Now, what is the connection between Faith, Prayer and Healing.       We believe and know that God can heal.     In fact,  in 1996 I almost died and God did a miracle in my life and raised me up.    (I jokingly ask, “Is a person allowed two miracles in one life”).       There is no question in my mind that it was a miracle that medical science cannot account for.       So, I know, you know, we know,  God can heal.      The question in my present circumstance is “will He heal me?”

This post is already too long so let me take you directly to James 5.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.    14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.     15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.    16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:13-16)

This is the only clear and direct instruction in the New Testament given to the church when it comes to healing.       It doesn’t say, “if any among you is sick?    Let him run off to faith healers.”     It doesn’t say, “If any among you is sick?       Let him command the illness to come out … cast out the devil … say a special prayer formula etc. etc.”        The command is for the sick to call for the Elders of the church to come and pray over them, anointing the sick with oil in the name of the Lord and as a result, the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up.     Let me explain to you what I think this means and it will connect the dots between Faith, Prayer, and Healing.

Although there is no specific promise in the Word of God that He will heal Rick Hayden, He does invite us to bring our petitions to Him.      I believe that God is still active in the hearts and lives of those who walk near Him and at times His Spirit communicates with the spirit of God’s people and allows them to know His will in a specific circumstance.    In this case, God speaks into the heart of the Elder of the church to let them know what His will is in this specific circumstance so that when that Elder prays He can pray with faith knowing that God will answer their prayer.      This is the “prayer of faith”.      It is not based on the written Word of God, but on what God has spoken deep into the hearts of His people.    I have experienced this several times over the years so that I could pray with absolute confidence that God was going to answer my prayer in the affirmative.      The danger here is that I can always get the signals crossed.     I must be careful that I don’t attribute my emotion or my strong desire to the Holy Spirit telling me that He is going to do such and such.    This is not for the causal follower.   It demands one to be living in close communion with God so that they can hear the voice of God as He speaks into the heart.

When the Elders gather to pray over the sick, they should have sought the face of God so that they have some sense of what God intends to do.      When God places it upon their hearts that He is going to heal,  they can pray with absolute confidence that God is indeed going to heal.     It is possible that God may not be going to heal and does not grant “the prayer of faith.”       I think this also can happen with individuals who are in close fellowship with God.      There are many people who have told me that they pray “the prayer of faith” and that God has given them confidence that He is going to heal me.      In this case, the faith of their prayer is based on the promise of the Spirit of God to their spirit that this is what He is going to do.       Their prayer therefore is based in what they believe to be the promise of God, not as found in the written Word of God but as communicated to their hearts by the Holy Spirit and therefore they pray with absolute confidence.

I need to caution us that we are human and we can make mistakes as to what God is communicating to our hearts.   This is not as solid a foundation as the promises found in God’s Word.      I have misunderstood on a few occasions myself.       That’s why it is the Elders and not an Elder who come to pray “the prayer of faith.”        God is confirming His will to more than one person.      This is one reason why the church, the body of Christ and its leaders are so important in the lives of believers. 

As I mentioned, this is the only place in the New Testament where we have instruction for the church as to how to deal with healing and the sick.     I am committed to the Word of God and have asked the Elders of my church to anoint me with oil and to pray for me.        We don’t usually do this publically, but for teaching purposes and because our whole congregation at Parkway Bible Church is impacted by my sickness, the Elders have decided to hold this Anointing Service at the conclusion of our morning worship on Sunday April 27, 2014.      They will do it in simple obedience to the command of Scripture and they will trust God for the outcome.       It may be that He would grant to them the “prayer of faith” that they might pray with absolute confidence that God is going to raise me up to health and strength.

First:  

Remember, faith is always rooted in the promise of God and not in wishful thinking or in something I want to happen.   If you take nothing else away from this post make sure you get that right.    Be careful not to claim something as a promise that God has not promised.   That will lead to a crisis of faith and disillusionment. 

Second:

As our hearts beat with the heart beat of God, He delights for us to carry our petitions and supplications to Him in Prayer.    Even if there is no specific promise that you can claim, God delights in us showing our dependence upon Him and He delights to answer the prayers of His people.

Third:

When God’s people bombard Heaven with their prayers; God revives our hearts, we enjoy His fellowship and sometimes for His own sovereign purposes He does something supernatural that will bring glory to His name.     When God heals me it will not be just so I can be well.      It will be because my healing ultimately brings glory to God.     At this point, I believe healing me will remind His church in various parts of the world that He is a God who can do the supernatural and He will be glorified.

•  —If you wish to join us,  the Anointing Service will be held at the conclusion of the 10:30 am morning worship service at Parkway Bible Church – 77 Ivordale Cresent, Scarborough ON. 

• —    I will not send out an email or Face Book notice about this but I will post a medical update tomorrow along with a copy of the letter I sent to our Elders requesting they pray over me.    I want to do this simply so you have an example of how James 5:13-16 can be exercised in your church.    It seems to me that many Christians go running after all kinds of weird and wonderful claims and never actually take seriously the one thing Scripture clearly tells us to do in times of serious illness.