Series: Flowers in the Desert
James 5:14 ESV
Years ago I had the great privilege of being part of a Healing Prayer ministry.
What was unique about my relationship with the pray-ers is that they covered me in prayer week after week and month after month at a time in my life when I desperately needed healing.
James 5:14 tells us, “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.”
James’ words resonate with us today, but in many ways they were even more vital during the first century.
We have to look at the climate and culture to truly understand why James was making a case for the first generation People of the Way (Christians).
First, the plague and sickness were everywhere during the time of the early church. In his ground breaking book, The Rise of Christianity about the culture at the time, Rodney Stark looked at the sociological aspects of Christianity. He discovered that the horrific plagues actually increased growth of the early Christian church significantly because they cared. They cared enough to go into homes to take care of the sick and dying. While the Romans simply boarded up the houses and left the families to die of the plague, the Christian’s voluntarily went in, armed with food and water and performed simple cleaning duties for the families of those who had the plague or who had been exposed. Most of all they loved them. While they prayed for the families, they also did provide essential elements for survival. The simple tasks they performed gave the infected families a fighting chance to live.
The Christians became known for their love.
Simple acts of love encouraged others to believe in Jesus.
The everyday things the early Christians did for the families who had been left for dead brought about growth in the church.
In the same way, when I went to the Healing Prayer Service week after week, the pray-ers laid hands on me and prayed. Because of the circumstances that had occurred, I had been ostracized from my church. They did not know why my marriage fell apart (and quite frankly neither did I), but they didn’t ask questions.
They didn’t treat me like I had the plague.
They didn’t ask what happened to me.
They simply knew I was devastated because my whole life had been turned upside down.
The truth is, I lost the life I had known.
As I continued to go back for prayer, I was gradually able to breath again. I was able to stop crying.
I could pray to Jesus again when I was at home by myself. Before I went to that service for prayer, I wasn’t able to do anything except cry.
After months, I was able to receive prayer without crying. Then some time after I went for prayer I became one of the pray-ers.
Eventually, I was director of that ministry.
In many ways many churches today are “missing the boat”.
They are missing the prayer boat.
Sermons and speaking the Word are important but when the Word is not bathed in prayer it can fall on deaf ears.
The churches number one priority should be prayer.
I’ll close with a story about Charles Spurgeon that I heard when I was in Seminary. It touched me deeply. “Spurgeon was a19th-century English preacher and pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London, England, later named the Metropolitan Tabernacle.The church held 5,000 people.With no sound system, it was said that his voice could be heard by all. A group of young ministers called on him one day to see the large preaching place. After showing them his massive sanctuary, Spurgeon offered to show then his “boiler room.” The guests declined but the pastor insisted. Spurgeon led them to the basement. They found about 100 people in prayer.“This,” Spurgeon said with a smile, “is my boiler room.” Whenever Spurgeon was asked the secret of his ministry he always replied, “My people pray for me.”
The healing pray-ers who prayed for me and countless others we’re praying in a boiler room.
It’s been twenty years since I started going to that service asking for prayer. Three years after started going there, God called me to go to Seminary. I was 54 years old when God called me and I thought it was a crazy idea.
Since I was no longer married, I knew I could not quit my job and I couldn’t see how I could work full time and go to school full time, but God worked out all the details. I graduated from Seminary seven years after I started and I have never regretted my time there. It was a wonderful blessing!
The bottom line is that we may face a complete life change and we may not know how life will ever be okay again, but God/Jesus will take care of all the details.
In the midst of great tragedy, God sent people to love me and love made all the difference!
Spiritual Practice: Beauty and Love
Like the lovely Lantana plant that provides great beauty in the desert, ask God to show you beauty and love in unexpected places your life.
In God, Deborah