PRAYING HARD
 

Sometimes it's hard to pray, but other times we have to pray hard. And God answers our prayers. If you've ever been sick, you've probably prayed hard to get better (unless you wanted to get out of doing work!) Here's a story to encourage you to always pray and not give up.

† † †
Here's what the Bible says:

As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.

Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
 

Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

“Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him. (Matthew 20:29-34, NIV)

† † †
A few thoughts to think about:

Jesus did heal many people. Sometimes we forget what a shock it must have been when Jesus, who probably looked like a very normal guy, walked up and touched someone and healed them! How amazing!

He healed people who the doctors weren't able to heal (Mark 5:25-34). He healed diseases like leprosy for which there was no known cure (Matthew 8:3).

The Bible says, "Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them" (Matthew 15:30, NIV).

The great news for us is that Jesus is still alive and He's still doing the same things today.

We can tell God wants us to be healed just by looking at our own bodies. When we get cut, our blood thickens when it hits the air so it dries up and stops the bleeding. When we get a cold or infection, special cells in our blood start to fight the infection inside our bodies. God wants us to be healed and has designed our bodies to be healed when they get hurt.

Doctors also have learned a lot about how to help our bodies heal, and how to keep us from getting sick in the first place.

But I've found that even when everything else fails, we should never give up hope, because God tells us we can still pray to Him for healing. The Bible 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; the Lord will raise him up" (James 5:14-15, NIV).

The Bible says that Jesus had compassion on the sick, that means that he cared deeply about them. He stills cares about each one of us today.

I wish I knew the secret of how to be healed EVERY time we get sick, but I don't. But I do know that I have prayed many times for God to heal people and He has. Sometimes the circumstances were beyond hope and Jesus took them home to Heaven where they were made whole again. But I didn't stop praying... I was praying hard.

So if you're sick, or you know someone who is, don't give up praying for them. Jesus told his disciples that they should always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1-8). So I want you to do the same.

P.S.- Jesus had special authority from God to heal the sick. I think it's cool that Jesus then gave that authority to his 12 disciples.

"When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:1-2, NIV).

Then He gave that authority to 72 others:

"After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go...."When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you' "(Luke 10:1, 8-9, NIV).

The power to heal comes from God, but He's given Jesus' disciples power to do these things, too! So if you're a follower of Jesus, pray with the authority that He's given you!

TOP