Faith healers

[Mustard_Seed]

Who does the praying, the sick person or the elders?

The elders are the ones responsible to pray the prayer of faith. If they do not, then they are the ones responsible for not getting the sick person well.

No where in Scripture do we ever find it being the sick person's fault for not getting healed. But there are examples of Jesus rebuking the apostles for not having enough faith to get the sick healed (i.e., the boy with seizures).

I have been thinking about this for the last couple of days and where elders, or prayer intercessors, are praying so ineffectively I would wonder about their faith, but perhaps I would also wonder about the health of their own prayer life.

That is, are they praying together and sharing fellowship (Acts 1:14, Acts 2:42); are they seeking and receiving prayer for themselves, and supported in prayer by others (Acts 14:23); and are they engaged in a prayerful relationship with God themselves?

Christ said 'my house will be a house of prayer' (Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46), so perhaps a church where the prayer of the elders and intercessors is ineffective needs to look at it's prayer life as a whole?

Blessings

 

[oboy]

Mustard Seed,

Good stuff.

What you said is very true for the Church in general. I alluded to this in a previous reply to SpiritLedEd when I said

Let's face it, how many people do you know that get constant, regular answers to prayer. If you know just one person, you're better off than most Christians (unless you're involved in a faith mission or ministry). When we get a direct answer to prayer, it shocks us.

There are more books on prayer than ever before, yet for the most part, Christians still don't know how to pray and get answers. It's a struggle in my own life, as well, even though these past two weeks have been filled with continual answers to prayer regarding finances.

Rees Howells, while teaching the students at the Bible College of Wales, said, "Unless you become men of faith for money, do not try Divine Healing, for you cannot do it, especially in a test case."* He was training them to believe God for their daily needs. If an elder cannot believe God for his daily needs, how can he believe God to heal a person that is about to die?

We need to learn to pray and get answers to our prayers.














*from an unpublished manuscript

 

[ushalk]

Is the gift of faith healing available today? And if so, how can we test them to know if they are truly from Christ?

My current stand point is that I don't believe people today have the gift to heal. I believe the Lord still heals people today only through prayer and request. Regardless, I went for the very first time to observe a person who claims to be a faith healer. I'm really confused and searching for answers.

Here is what happened.... The faith healer I observed is a man who dresses very unusual. He wears really tight jeans, and he wears what seems to be womans jewelry: flashy rings with large pink and white diamonds, fat pearl bracelets, earings and a pink belt. He said he wears these kind of garments so that we can have an image of what we will look like in the kingdom of heaven. I don't understand that at all.

He played about twelve songs recorded from a CD and at the same time he played along with his guitar. I found that odd because at first I actually thought he was singing until I noticed his mouth didn't always move. He read many passages from the Bible, all which had to do with forgiving others their sins. This entire meeting lasted 4 hours and I was almost falling asleep because his speaking really bored me. He would whisper a lot.

At the end, (3 hours and 45 minutes later), he asked people to come up who needed healing or wanted to be released of their unforgiveness toward others. Only three people went to him and he put his hand over them and said prayer. I really don't even know if they were healed because I was on my way out the door. However, as I was leaving he asked me if I needed anything healed. When I said no he asked if I had back pain, stomach ache or headaches. I actually had a bad headache but I said "no thank you". Praise the Lord I am in very good health. I do get headaches now and then but it has nothing to do with any type of disease.

I have to say that I went to that meeting with the full armour of God and not an open mind. I admit I'm a big-time skeptic but I also don't want my lack of faith to get in the way.

Since this is my first experience with faith healers I would appreciate any help you could offer. My first thought was to come to talkjesus. Thanks!

people never were given the power to heal. it was only by christ that peter healed the crippled man in front of the church. the difference is where we put the glory. but christ is never changing and is not going to stop what he has started. the problem that i see is not that it has stopped but our faith in christ has stopped. jesus stated that we will be able to do greater things than this. not us but him through us.

so many people have come to know the lies and the garbage that man has done with these things that they used it to discount the power of christ.

 

[oboy]

people never were given the power to heal. it was only by christ that peter healed the crippled man in front of the church. the difference is where we put the glory. but christ is never changing and is not going to stop what he has started. the problem that i see is not that it has stopped but our faith in christ has stopped. jesus stated that we will be able to do greater things than this. not us but him through us.

You're right on both accounts. All healing belongs to God and our faith has stopped.

May He change us.