Do you have a faith in faith healing?
An interesting report from the University of Ulster has found that believing in faith healing could inhibit your recovery from illness.
Dr Tony Cassidy and his research team at the Coleraine campus found that those who put their trust in faith healing might be less likely to stick to the medical advice their GP or consultant has given them. Of the 766 people who took part in the survey those who said they believed strongly in faith healing were also more likely to say they weren’t altogether happy with their GP.
Combine this with the fact, in general, only one-in-three of us properly follows the medical advice we’re given in the doctor’s surgery and about one-in-four ignores the advice altogether, and we’ve got a good number of people who won’t be experiencing the benefits of their prescription any time soon.
Or will they?
My dad is part of a team of people who go out from his church on a Saturday to do ‘Healing on the Streets’. No megaphones or soapboxes, just a small sign saying something like ‘Would you like prayer?’. Men pray for men and women pray for women. And amazing things happen.
One older teenager’s vision was restored. She was blind, then she could see. She went to the optometrist and her consultant during the week and came back the following Saturday to let them know her medical team were stunned, amazed, gobsmacked (I’m sure you could think of other descriptive terms that might fit the bill). She was no longer registered blind.
Someone else who had a disability (her lower left leg and foot hadn’t formed fully in the womb as she had been born extremely prematurely) was prayed for. And then for the first time in her life she was able to put her left foot on the ground and roll her foot in the ‘heel to toe’ motion she walked with on her right foot. She was able to do a wee jog. She was restricted in her movement, then she was able to move freely.
I bet you have stories that are similar.
And I bet people of other faiths and none have stories that are similar too. Faith healers, who aren’t part of what you’d call the Church, seem to do a roaring trade in my home county certainly. And there are plenty of ads in the back of the free sheets advertising people who will read your cards for you, commune with a spirit guide or mix potions to get you well.
Lots of people, Christians and others, put at least some of their faith in something other than just the GP in a bid to get healed. So when the Christian prays, it’s to YAHWEH. When the faith healer does whatever it is they do on the stage at the Ramada Inn on a Saturday night (hot buffet included in ticket price), who are they, or the tarot reader communicating with? And who’s answering the prayer or ‘prayer’ when somebody gets healed. And another thing, how much of it is just the body sorting itself out, or your mind helping you overcome the illness?
Do you put faith in faith healing?
God outside the building
A very well written piece, we the church need to see God is doing a new thing in his believers. What use are we if we only go to church once a week so we feel good in ourselves, thinking we've done our bit for God.
Not so!! if you are a born again believer filled with the Holy Spirit of God, the God that created the earth and formed you from the dust of the earth, the Christ that bore all your sins,sickness and gave you eternal life on the cross, and commanded you to GO heal THE sick, preach the gospel, cast out demons and GREATER things shall we do. Nothing is imposible for those who believe, even if our faith is the size of a mustard seed the size of this fullstop. we can do anything we ask of Him who gives us the power, thought the Holy Spirit who fills us from our head to our toes.
He said GO into all the world, that's everywhere, in our jobs, the streets, in the shopping malls, everywhere God give us opertunety, if you see THE sick pray from them, you will be amazed at how He will use you. And don't be disapointed if nothing happens, you don't know if you have planted a seed for someone else to water.
PRAYER WORKS and to see someone healed in JESUS' name is the higest buzz you will ever have, fill youself with the Word, pray at all times to keep in touch with the His small voice.
God Bless You
Jesus is the Healer and we are His vessel on earth to carry it out.
Healing
I don't have faith in faith healing, but I do have faith in Jesus to heal. Jesus was a preacher, teacher and healer, and today we continue that ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I am a member of staff at Methodist Church House, and a liaison person for the National Methodist Healing Adviser.
This interest comes from the fact that I have received healing physically, emotionally and spiritually, and so has my wife. Our son, who is now a missionary abroad, has a story of healing, through Jesus, from M.E. (chronic fatigue syndrome) after four years of total rest at home.
My wife and I are members of the local healing team, and it is such a privilege to pray with people. We do see people healed.
We also believe that God uses the medical profession's knowledge and experience to heal, so it is not right to go against their advice.
healing
I believe firmly that God continues to heal today, and believe that healing does take place. My son has benefited from the kind of healing minisrty you describe when the Drs had all but given up. I too have prayed for folk for healing and recieved healing prayer that was effective.
We must not limit God, but nor should we ignore medical advice, a diabetic friend was challenged to stop taking insulin and told he would lack faith if he started to use it again.. this is crazy, he soon returned to his medical regimne and is still healthy today.
Both medicine and the mystery of the healing ministry are God given gifts, we ignore either at our peril.