The power of Christian prayer for healing |
|
Introduction
Prayer is one of the most important, and critical, activities that we can do in our daily lives. Not only for physical health but for our spiritual health also. Many times I have thought about my relationship with our children compared to my relationship with God. We would do anything for them but realize that not all things will be helpful and many may be harmful. We can see ahead, down the road so to speak, and want to keep them from harm. Sometimes though, it is expedient that they suffer from poor decisions in order to grow and mature. So is our relationship with God. God only wants the best for us. If our children, friends, spouse, or those we are close to, never spoke to us, spoke to us only occasionally, or when only in trouble, our communication and our relationship would be weak or non existent to say the least. This paradox exemplifies many relationships with God, many times unknowingly. When we read and meditate on his word, the Bible, he is speaking directly to us and to our heart. When we pray we are communicating our thanks, our hurts, our needs, and our recognition to God for who he is. Christian prayer for healing the physical body is the main tenor of this website but by no means do I want to leave the impression that I am devaluing the need for the many other areas of prayer in people's lives or that physical health is the most important. Our salvation is first and foremost with caring for, being good stewards, of the physical body as a part of our responsibility. Scripture tells us we are not our own. There are many other things that God has given us to care for such as money, the earth, talents, etc. Jesus exemplified Gods will that all people would humble themselves and come to repentance for the sins in our lives. And through Jesus we would all be saved because of his purpose. 2 Timothy 1:8-10 It is my prayer that through these experiences and the Bible we can uncover a few of Gods truths that you will find relevant and helpful in your physical and spiritual life. Based on the scripture passage of I Corinthians 6:19, I believe that proper nurture of the physical body is congruent with the spiritual, Holy Spirit within us. We are stewards of many things that God gives us including our bodies that he created. Throughout this website, I have been sharing information about the importance of a healthy diet, what a healthy diet looks like, the results of an inferior diet, and how we were magnificently created by God, and with that the responsibility to care for our bodies in a way that allows it to perform in a wonderful way -that it may bring glorify to God. If I were to follow the healthy diet plan to a tee but neglected my spiritual health, my only purpose would be to serve myself, the flesh. This would not glorify God! Most of us have probably known of someone or have been involved in caring for someone who was ill. We know first hand the extraordinary amount of time, effort, and physical drain on the body when there is a life-threatening disease or painful illness that may linger for years. It was important for Jesus to heal the physical body, as he spent many days healing the sick which we can read in the gospels of the new testament. This entire website is designed to offer an alternative for those who are experiencing the nightmare of a serious or mild disease, those who suffer severe mood or personality variances, mild or severe weight challenges, or those who just want to live a healthier, happier, more vibrant and energetic lifestyle. By adopting a different lifestyle we can be free to focus more on our spiritual life than on our physical lives. On the other hand, if we approach our physical health as being fit to work in Gods vineyard, serving him with all of our might, strength, and heart, we can best do this by keeping physically and emotionally fit. After all, we were created by God for his use! How to pray - and how not to pray!
Main objectives of prayer:
Jesus gave us a wonderful outline for the basis of prayer in Matthew 6:7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father which art in heaven,
This doesn’t mean that we memorize this prayer and use it as our prayer but pray “like” this. Jesus left this as our guide. But most of all our prayers need to be from our heart with the faith and belief that it has been answered. Scripture covers many aspects of prayer including the cautions we need to be aware of.
Preparing the heart
What are we praying for?
A large percentage of the prayer requests are for the health of a friend or loved one. Using the Bible as my guide, along with personal experience, I found that I was missing an important passage in my prayer. I was not asking for wisdom! God said to Solomon “Ask what I shall give you.” He chose wisdom and knowledge. 2 Chronicles 1:7-12. James 1:5 says “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” And it goes on that we also need to ask in faith, without doubting. From the very beginning when Adam and Eve ate in the garden up until now we have experienced a huge swing in the type of food we eat and our eating habits. If you are living today you have been raised with a set of standards, so to speak, on the availability and food choices that have no resemblance of the food that God instructed the first two people on earth to eat in the Garden of Eden. And God said, “Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” Genesis 1:29 After the flood, meat, and cooked foods were added to the diet. The average age before the flood was 912 years and after the flood 110 years by the end of Genesis. It appears that Gods chosen diet for the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt was based on nutritional requirements versus their standard diet of flesh and bread when in Egypt. Mana, provided by God, was to be their food until they came to a habitable land. We can read in Exodos 16:3 of the Israelites murmuring when they had no meat or bread to eat. God blessed this nation and we became a rich nation of people and resources. Competition for the sale of processed foods created many different food choices along with the need to increase the shelf life of products in order to market them nationally. Important nutritional elements were taken from the foods, they were processed, refined, ground, bleached, etc. and then synthetic vitamins were added back to the product. Preservatives, chemicals, and additives of all sorts are added to the products we eat today. We are not regulating known cancer causing additives and will find them in a high percentage of all processed foods we eat today. God blessed this nation and today we are not only the richest nation but also the fattest and sickest nation on the planet! Our great wealth as a nation has created malnutrition, not from a lack of food as in some parts of the world, but from an overabundance of the wrong food. And this includes beverages! Crime is going up! In the decade between 1968 and 1977, a time when expenditures on law enforcement programs, courts, prisons and rehabilitation programs climbed to record figures, the number of murder rose 38.6 percent. Forcible rape nearly doubled. Aggravated assault climbed 82.2 percent, and robbery was up 54 percent. Altogether, crimes of violence increased nearly 70 percent during the period. These statistics correlate directly to the rise of fast food, processed foods, and food additives. Criminologist Alexander Schauss claims that over a million children are detained for some period of time in juvenile detention centers in our country at a cost of $6 to $35 per day to hold a child in a correctional institution. Is it possible that the standard American diet is playing a role in the huge swing of crime in our nation? You can be sure it is! Barbara Reed Stitt, a former Probation Officer and creator of a nutritional program, would tell you that a huge proportion of the people who were getting into trouble were junk food junkies and consuming 50 to 150 teaspoons of sugar daily. Many were alcoholics or heavy drinkers, and were simultaneously living on booze and sugared snacks. Eventually, their brains and central nervous systems malfunctioned. They were severely undernourished! Research shows that the probationers will not go back to crime if they stick with the program of a healthy diet. Unknowingly we have become partakers and have been led down this path of health and nutritional destruction. The pharmaceutical companies are having a hay day, providing a drug for just about every ailment ever heard of.There are even drugs for the drugs that make you sick. Even so, illness and disease are increasing at pathetic levels. The billions of dollars pumped into research for cure and treatment of the symptoms hasn’t even altered the pace of illness. Nor will it! Until the cause of the illness is addressed. Pray for wisdom: I believe that God will bless us if we pray for the wisdom to properly nourish our bodies and that the food we eat may provide health and bring glory to God. God provided man with the proper diet guidelines, through scripture, to support and maintain this incredible physical body. This diet allows a system within our body to keep us healthy and strong. This system is called our immune system. Take care of it and it will take care of us! Many thousands of people with the wisdom to change their dietary lifestyle have regained complete health and are a good testimony for this cause. God may not always heal us even if we change our lifestyle, but that is in his hands for His eternal purpose. |
"let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16
How to have eternal life in heaven! Click here!! 
" I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well". Psalms 139:14
"do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God". Philippians 4:6
2 "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus...Timothy 1:8,9
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. ICor. 6:19-20 ESV
|
Obviously the information on this page is not exhaustive. Material and information will occasionally be added as deemed necessary.
I hope you will share any experiences, encouragement, or questions relating to prayer or needs in your life.
I hope you will share any experiences, encouragement, or questions relating to prayer or needs in your life.
|
|
|
References:
Theodore B. Dolmatch, ed., 1980 Information Please Almanac (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979), p. 818.
Food And Behavior, Barbara Reed Stitt.
King James Bible
English Standard Bible
Theodore B. Dolmatch, ed., 1980 Information Please Almanac (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979), p. 818.
Food And Behavior, Barbara Reed Stitt.
King James Bible
English Standard Bible