Excerpt:
Introduction: Healing was
central to the ministry of Jesus. It was a sign of God's kingdom, bringing
renewal and wholeness of life to those who turned to God in their need. Jesus
sent out his disciples with the commission to 'proclaim the kingdom of God and
to heal. In every act of worship, the Church celebrates the grace of God who
desires wholeness of .body, mind and spirit.
Message:
Jesus Never Told Us to Pray for the Sick, He Told us to Heal Them!
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Certainly praying for the
sick is scriptural (James 5: 14-15: "Is anyone sick among you? Let them call on
the church to pray"), but isn't it interesting that Jesus never specifically
asked his disciples to pray for the sick?
Jesus told his disciples, and since we are Jesus’ disciples too, he told us to
heal the sick, Healing is a big, big part of the gospel story, And according to
the instructions Jesus gave the 70 he sent out, healing should not be an
isolated occurrence, healing should occur everywhere at all time, "So they
departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing
everywhere."
And since the gospel didn’t
change, healing should still occur at the hands of the church all the time and
everywhere, And yet, strangely, the church today is not exactly associated with
healing, at least not with supernatural healing, The Church is known for
supporting and even owning hospitals and bringing healing to people through
modern medicine, Two of my children were born in a Catholic hospital, one of
them in a Methodist hospital, But what about healing people the Jesus-way?
Maybe, the church has a power we don’t yet know we possess?...
Every year, millions of people die from Malaria in Africa-mostly children, a
disease that is primarily spread by mosquitoes, A few years the United Methodist
Church has partnered with the Global Fund in their efforts to stamp out Malaria,
Millions of dollars were raised,...
There are hundreds of things
we can do to bring healing to God’s creatures everywhere, Remember when we
collected money for the purpose to have a water well built in a village in
Africa or Asia? Well that too was a way of putting our healing powers to work,
And what about our Church’s mission for the mistreated and abandoned women in
the Congo? What about our mission to end human trafficking, All these things
bring real healing to people, families and communities.
And we can also donate money toward finding a cure or an immunization for the
Corona Virus, It’s not just helping our neighbors, but quite possibly, we will
help ourselves as it’s not yet known how far and wide this virus will spread
across the globe,...
And it isn’t just about
giving money, There is so much more the church can and should do, Such as
raising our voices to make sure that our country and eventually the whole world
has a decent health care system....
Prayer:
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
We pray for the sick in our community,
and those in foreign lands,
We pray for those in hospital or at home,
for those whose minds
are beset with anxiety and fear,
for those oppressed or broken in spirit;
for those who turn to us for healing ...
