I have been praying
for healing, why am I still suffering?
Since 2009 until recently, I have dealt with almost daily tension headaches. I was forced to wake up every morning with a headache, and having to take pain medicine multiple times per day just so that I could function. I would pray regularly for healing and whenever pastor would have an altar call for healing, I would be front and center. But nothing happened. I may have some immediate relief but that headache would always creep its way back in.
I was praying empty prayers.
“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” James 1:6.
I was praying but not believing in what I asked for. I was going to the altar but not expecting change. When believing you must remain steadfast in your faith. You cannot pray but then continue to live as if that problem still exists. I would pray that night and wake up the next morning. I might not even be hurting but would still take pain medicine in preparation for a headache. Since when does faith work like that?
Something else I would do. I would go to the altar for prayer, and think because pastor prayed over me and touched me, and then a miracle was going to happen. The pastor is there to help. To give a little extra when you are believing for something. Your pastor is your helper, not your healer. God is your healer.
Some people may think, “what if I have faith? I don’t need treatment, God is my healer!” Well God may heal your diabetes, but if you continue to eat unhealthy and not exercise then that diabetes is going to come back eventually. Or the healing that someone is believing for may come from the treatment of a specialist. I know a few pastors that were diagnosed with cancer, had their treatment and remained steadfast in their faith that they would be healed. They began to eat healthy and take care of their bodies, and they defeated cancer. Yes God is our healer, but sometimes the people and treatments that he has made available to us, can be the answer to our healing. Or he may decide to do the job himself. God works in MANY different ways! And he has different paths for us all to take. So please take care of your body. Eat healthy, exercise, and see your doctor if you suspect something is not right with your body. It is not God’s job to continually heal us from the damage that we inflict on ourselves regularly. Prevention is key to physical healthiness, and our Father wants us to be healthy.
“And this fame went through all of Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had palsy; and he healed them” Matthew 4:24.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” Romans 12:1.
As God’s chosen we are instructed to use our bodies, as a sacrifice, as in our bodies are to be used for God’s work. By keeping our physical bodies healthy we are making ourselves presentable. Before any job, you must have an interview. You don’t walk into a job interview with grungy clothes on, unbrushed teeth, and dirt under your nails. You clean up well, to make yourself presentable physically. And they can only see your outer appearance. God sees our appearance inside and out, our good and bad traits, our ailments, our addictions, our idols, etc. Even though God can use any person, in any state in their lives and make a testimony of them, we must learn to rise from that beginning state. So it is important to maintain our physical, emotional, spiritual and mental as much as possible so we can be presented at our best every time we got before him. And that should be on a regular basis.
Lord I pray for anyone suffering from disease or ailments that you will lead us to a path for healing, physically and spiritually. I pray we learn the true value of our temples to continue on into good health. Help us to stay away from those things that give us disease and renew our mind to way of thinking that pleases you. Amen.
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