Last Sunday I
made the point that there were three things I’ve learned about praying for
healing: First, that we pray for people who are ill because we love them. It is
simply a natural human reaction to hope (and pray) for someone’s
well-being. Secondly, prayer always
results in change, it may not be the change that we expect or want, but it’s
still changes things and it is the sort of change that might best be termed as
transformation. Thirdly, all the healing stories in scripture seem more about
justice than miracles. It’s not justice that is like revenge, but justice that
is like mercy and mercy is born out of love. Restoration to health in scripture
is often about inclusion and safety for those who are being healed or those who
are related to them.
My point for
this reminder is to say that these three things are not listed here
accidentally or haphazardly. These three things are the result of three decades
of study and practice in the art of prayer. I make no claim that this is all
there is to know, or that I am right, just that this is what I think so far.
So, it is no accident that I have listed the first thing as love. The chief
motivator of our prayer is love. I said in the sermon that we pray for others
because we love them, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pray for
ourselves. In fact, I would say that we should pray for ourselves. If God loves
us, and I believe God does, then we are worthy of love. It’s okay to love
yourself and it’s okay to pray for yourself. I doubt that my prayer has ever
changed another person, but that’s not the point. My prayer changes me and may
it be forever so!
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