To the best of my knowledge, it is not against the law for a medical doctor to pray for his or her patients to be healed. Yet, many doctors who do pray still have no better results to show for it than a relatively medically un-educated layman.
I have read a number of books authored by doctors wherein they recommend prayer for their patients. However, they don’t tell you HOW to pray to get results.
Let me give you a typical example, taken from the book The Natural Physician’s Healing Therapies, by Mark Stengler, M.D. He wrote; "There is no doubt in my own mind that prayer is good medicine...How can you control the amount of belief that someone feels?...My recommendation is simple — a daily routine of prayer, offered in faith, to enhance health and wellness". See pages 373, 374.
On the positive side, the doctor points out that (1) prayer works; and (2) you need faith. But still., he can’t tell you HOW to have faith, or how to measure your growth in faith.
Jesus said that according to your faith, it will be done for you.
How much faith do you need? Jesus said all you need is an amount as small as a mustard seed.
There are ways to grow in faith, measure your growth of faith, and have greater results in prayer. If you are in good health now, I would suggest you do this soon so that in time of need, you will be ready.
If you’re sick or in need of God’s healing, it is still not to late for you to reach out to Him for help.
But just HOW does one pray to be healed? I have some ideas which I will share with you now. However, I do not have this Holy Spirit gift. These are my opinions based on my reading, pondering, and trying to understand things.
I do know that the two best known healers of recent times, were Kathryn Kuhlman and Smith Wigglesworth. I believe that Ms. Khulman died in the early 1970s, and Wigglesworth died in 1945. So in the big picture, their ministry happened, as it were, last week.
From what I can tell, this spiritual gift requires — hold on to your hats — for it to be given to the saint from the Holy Spirit. As part of this gifting, the saint (aka Christian) has an incredible amount of faith. Their prayer life is much deeper and alive than the average Joe Christian. Plus, they are alive and sensitive to the spiritual reality of life that surrounds them.
Another absolute requirement is that the Christian must believe that this Godly gift is still available today. So they have a most amazing audacity to ask God and to then seek for this gift.
Finally, almost always, Christians with this gifting are considered by other Christians to have an incorrect theology in some manner. Presuming this is true, the most amazing thing of all is that those Christians with the best or most correct theology don’t have this gift. This has always made me wonder what a sick or dying person who was healed by Khulman or Wigglesworth, was thinking or looking for. Were they looking for the most correct theology to heal them, or were they looking for a man or woman of God who had the gift of healing?
Of course I am not advocating being a heretic. Nor am I advocating intentionally having a poor theology. What I am advocating is for Christians to allow each other, as a perhaps different body part of Christ, to fulfill its role. Plus, I am encouraging more Christians to be bold in their prayer and faith.
Some final observations are that this gift as used by Kuhlman and Wigglesworth, did not require them to be medically knowledgeable or trained. They still healed people despite barriers such as language differences, not being allowed to touch the sick, and the way they conducted their healing services was different from each other.
Lastly, I suppose it is an open question whether such faith healings would be allowed under Obama Care. If it is illegal, and you had this spiritual gift, every day you would have to choose whom you would serve: God or man.
If you wish to follow up on this topic, send your emails to mark@howtotalktogod.com
Mark B. Replogle, Esq. was a practicing lawyer in California for 20+ years. He now ministers via his book, articles, and talks on prayer and faith.
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Positive (real healing) and Negative (false prophets / healing):
(1) Positive: God still answers prayers today. Sometimes people are healed in response to prayer. But not always. How do you know how to pray, and what the will of God is? Get to know God better and pray daily. God is able to inspire faith in you that will allow you to believe your prayer will be answered. This real kind of faith cannot be manufactured. Those who fake it are either going to hurt themselves or others. As for wisdom from God about what His will is when you pray (James 1).
Give thanks in all things, even if you don't get the answer you wanted. I will never forget hearing Joni Erickson Tada weep on the radio, as she told of her disappointments going to healing crusades and NOT being healed (and how dishonest they were about it). She wept as she thanked God, that her wheelchair had become her own cross, upon which she is daily suffering, and being conformed to the image of Christ. Without it she would not have had a ministry that has led thousands to the Lord and proclaimed the gospel to millions. No one but God could have assigned her this lot in life. She will praise Him for all eternity with her "children" that the Lord has given her, as her joy and crown, to throw at Jesus feet!
But if God gives you assurance it is going to turn out the way you want, then pray that way, and don't be double-minded about it. But pay close attention to the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. Remember He is in charge, not you. And He does not answer prayer if there is sin unrepented of, or grudges unforgiven, or impure, double-minded motives. Also there is no need to announce it from the rooftops and ask people to give you money because God answered your prayer. Just who are you trying to impress anyway? There is no reward in heaven for those who try to impress others instead of giving glory to God, or make a buck from faith. (Act 8:20 NKJV) "20 But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!".
However I have experienced or prayed for healings and had answers where I am sure prayer paid a big role because the outcome was uncertain. Each of these could be explained medically though. I have not seen any limbs grow back. Anyone (like me) who has prayed through a loved one's brain injury, and seen the brain pressure rise and fall with the waxing and waining of prayer, cannot help but believe in prayer. But we'd be hard-pressed to prove it scientifically. Two of my children are in perfect health who had life-threatening conditions. Each were subjected to extensive prayer and medical care. Each beat the odds tremendously for full recoveries. GO FIGURE!
(2) Negative: It seems clear to me that there have been and will be false prophets who teach a false gospel that have and will be able to affect healings. Some of these healings in the past have been proven to be false. Here is a paragraph from Wikipedia on Kathryn Kuhulman:
For several decades there has been serious debate regarding the authenticity of Kathryn Kuhlman's ministry. Some would suggest that she was a modern day prophet exercising the power of God, whereas others would suggest that she was a false prophet, exercising a "spirit" that masqueraded as God. The debate continues today with proponents of the "Prosperity Theology" & "Faith Healing" movement, such as Benny Hinn, upholding Kuhlman as an important forerunner, but with some Christian apologists, such as[20] Hank Hanegraaff of the Christian Research Institute, considering Kuhlman to be an influential forerunner of a false Christianity that robs people of their money and propagates a distorted substitute of true Christian teachings.