Article February 7, 1994 Issue

You can rely on prayer for healing

A spiritual understanding of God makes turning to Him in prayer natural and effective.

David L. Degler

I Recently talked with a Protestant minister who is involved in the healing ministry of his denomiation. He said that some members of his church are eager to explore healing through prayer and are experiencing healings. But others are fearful, or perhaps skeptical, and are reluctant to think seriously about the subject.

People might feel more confident about healing through prayer if they were to study even more closely the Biblical accounts of Jesus' life and healing ministry. It seems evident from the Gospels that Jesus never treated disease as a fixed fact, a solid reality that must be endured as a normal or inevitable part of life. He healed what seemed to be the most distressing of illnesses from a different standpoint. Jesus' healings show, contrary to what we've learned from our physical senses, that the basis for genuine health and healing is not really physiological.

For example, the Master once raised a twelve-year-old girl from death. In reviving the girl, according to the account, Jesus did not question her parents about the physical symptoms or conditions. He said to the girl's father, "Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole" (Luke 8:50).

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