Give God the Glory

I did this, I did that, I will do, I can do. When will it al end and when will we take ideas of being in control of anything and toss them in the trash. Not to be a Universalist, I would say we choose our destiny even though we don’t control our destiny. (Not sure why I just wrote that or even sure of what it might mean. It may be a condition of my past teaching, something relatively new, or a combination but I do not believe our prayers for the healing of us or another person have anything to do with the healing or non-healing taking place. I also believe the words; “God has answered our prayers” is effectively stealing the glory from God.

Yes, I know we have been told to pray on all things, to make our desires known, and to pray with the expectation of our prayers being answered. Misunderstood, I’ve also been told several times how sad it is that I don’t believe prayer does any good or simply that I don’t believe in prayer. Not believing in prayer, would be the same for me as saying I don’t believe in God. None of this is true and I definitely believe God brings healing to people. I’ve seen in my own life where there can be no answer but the intervention of God in what has taken place. My problem comes with the thought of some who think my prayer might be the reason behind the healing and often, it may not be just the prayer I offer, but also the prayers of many others praying.

I sincerely believe we do incredible damage to the Christian walk of others by teaching them our prayers can/will bring about healing. Almost every day I hear people tell others to lift it up to God and it will go away. If not this statement, I hear people asking for the prayers of others to make pain go away or healing take place. While I can find and fully accept many positive aspects of these prayers, we teach something I am convinced is the manipulation of what prayer actually does by Satan to create doubt and frustration with God. I believe we are teaching a lie and when “apparently” abandoned without healing, the faith of the individual often takes a hit, as they feel betrayed by the promise of God. This “promise of God” is actually little more than the wishful thinking of man superimposed on the promise of God.

I was once foolish enough to buy into the attempts of men and women to explain why healing did not take place. The idea I have been told most often growing up in the church, is that God always answers prayer but sometimes His answer is NO! If this does not do the job, then we were always taught to pray, “your will be done and not mine,” or the basic “cop out,” “if it is your will.” If we are taught something long enough, it becomes the truth. I currently believe two things about prayer. First, all prayer has a positive quality, which includes not only the person praying but also a person being prayed for and so I would encourage everyone to keep praying for others. Second, is how I believe we know the will of God and the prayers offered within His will, will ALWAYS happen as promised by God. Example: We know it is the will of God for us to avoid and say no to sins that challenge us each day. If I am a drunkard, and I am going to be around a lot of alcohol, I can acknowledge to God how I know it is His will that I not be falling off of my promise to remain sober and how I need His strength to get me through the day without falling. I have tried these prayers myself and encouraged others to see if the armor of God does not surround them when praying like this to the point of not even being mildly challenged in difficult situations. I am almost totally convinced that our fall back into any sin wanting control over us is due to us not taking the challenge to God on a regular basis and simply falling prey to Satan because the “shielding” power of the Holy Spirit has been dropped.

The basis for my problem accepting the most common believe concerning prayer comes from what I have to believe in order to accept the common belief. I have to first believe God is a respecter of persons. Yes, God likes some people better than others or the prayers of some are simply better worded or more fervent to change His mind. I’ll let the those holding the most common believe tell the young couple watching their baby die a painful death how they had not prayed enough for their baby as they watch the baby in the next bed scooped up and loved with a healing and the constant statements claiming, “our prayers have been answered!” I can’t believe how cruel we make this time for others because we have set them up to question God. Hearing how the death of your child was God’s will has to be one of the most torturous things we can say and as I near the end of these thoughts, I want to say again, I believe in prayer and also how it is very powerful.

I believe God heals because it is His plan in action! He is doing something He needs done and the only way it is going to happen is by stopping Satan dead in his tracks and over turning the “ruler of this world.” God doesn’t like one or the other better and the prayers from one group or the other are not better. Simply put, for God’s will to be done healing must take place. When this is done, let us not be so quick to take the glory for ourselves, but instead, give glory to God because His will is being done on earth as it is in Heaven! (Out of context I know but the thought coming to mind)

I didn’t spend time talking about all the things I believe are accomplished in prayer, my beliefs on why we were told to pray, or the promised power we share when praying in the will of God but possibly I will share these thoughts at a later time when I’ve focused away from what I consider is a harmful attitude towards prayer.