Faith FAITH AT THE BEDSIDE
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor. 12:9.
During the first year of my ministry someone called me to the bedside of a dying man. I thought that if someone could believe strongly enough, and work up enough nerve, to take the man by the hand and tell him to be healed in the name of Jesus, it would happen.
After we had prayed and anointed him, I looked around among the older people to see who would have the courage to do such a thing, and guess where they were all looking? At me! And everything went black. I couldn't do it. I mumbled some pious clichés to the effect that God doesn't always answer prayer immediately, that sometimes it's later on, and I beat a hasty retreat. The man died. And I thought I had killed him!
There is probably no other time in the work of a minister when his personal relationship with God is called into account as closely as when he is asked to pray for healing for someone in need. Many of us have held the opinion that the determining factor in whether or not a person is healed lies almost entirely in the faith of the one making the request. We have felt that if a request for healing is denied, it is most likely because the faith of the intercessor is somehow lacking.
Perhaps this idea has come from the few instances in the life of Christ where He commended the person for his or her faith. But we need to remember that faith is trust in a Person, not in answers we expect to receive.
The apostle Paul asked three times that the Lord remove his affliction, yet it was not removed. It wasn't because Paul was short on faith; it was because God saw that greater benefit and blessing would come if Paul were given opportunity to find God's strength as the answer to his weakness.
Moses' faith in God was strong--yet God refused continued life for him, and laid him to rest. God had bigger purposes for Moses. And Moses is in heaven today as a result. "Not Enoch, we was translated to heaven, not Elijah who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in the dungeon."--The Desire of Ages, p. 225. Genuine faith in God trusts Him just as much in the good times as in the bad.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor. 12:9.
During the first year of my ministry someone called me to the bedside of a dying man. I thought that if someone could believe strongly enough, and work up enough nerve, to take the man by the hand and tell him to be healed in the name of Jesus, it would happen.
After we had prayed and anointed him, I looked around among the older people to see who would have the courage to do such a thing, and guess where they were all looking? At me! And everything went black. I couldn't do it. I mumbled some pious clichés to the effect that God doesn't always answer prayer immediately, that sometimes it's later on, and I beat a hasty retreat. The man died. And I thought I had killed him!
There is probably no other time in the work of a minister when his personal relationship with God is called into account as closely as when he is asked to pray for healing for someone in need. Many of us have held the opinion that the determining factor in whether or not a person is healed lies almost entirely in the faith of the one making the request. We have felt that if a request for healing is denied, it is most likely because the faith of the intercessor is somehow lacking.
Perhaps this idea has come from the few instances in the life of Christ where He commended the person for his or her faith. But we need to remember that faith is trust in a Person, not in answers we expect to receive.
The apostle Paul asked three times that the Lord remove his affliction, yet it was not removed. It wasn't because Paul was short on faith; it was because God saw that greater benefit and blessing would come if Paul were given opportunity to find God's strength as the answer to his weakness.
Moses' faith in God was strong--yet God refused continued life for him, and laid him to rest. God had bigger purposes for Moses. And Moses is in heaven today as a result. "Not Enoch, we was translated to heaven, not Elijah who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in the dungeon."--The Desire of Ages, p. 225. Genuine faith in God trusts Him just as much in the good times as in the bad.
RSS Feed
