God Still Heals

James 5: 14-15 "Are any of you sick?  You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.  Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well."

Please excuse my grumbling, but I tell you, I am just sick of being sick.  And I am sick of having little ones that are sick.  The saying is true..."when it rains, it pours".  Here has been our last couple of weeks.  Tues: Tessa, my 4 yr. old, came down with a horrible cold with lots of congestion;  Fri: Gillian, my 9 mo. old, came down with a cold as well;  Sat: we take Gillian to the doctor for an ear infection;  Sun:  I come down with the stomach flu;  Mon: I'm still sick & the girls are still full of gunk;  Tues: I go to the doctor for strep throat;  Wed: I get a cold too!  It truly felt like we were living in some kind of crazy horror movie.  Our lives were in ciaos....and my poor husband....bless his heart.  Praise God, today we all feel a lot better.

God planted a seed in my mind, via our nurse practitioner, on Saturday when we took Gillian to convenient care for her ear infection.  She said that Americans actually over-treat ear infections.  She told us she could prescribe an antibiotic or we could wait a couple days to see if the infection cleared up on its own.  I, of course, did not want to deal with a fussy child, so I asked for a prescription.  At the time I was not acting in faith, but acting in the moment of despair and fear.  Now, with a clear mind, I wonder why do we over treat/medicate infections and illnesses?  Why do we run so quickly to the doctor?  Do we lack faith?  Do we think God can't heal us?

James writes in chapter 5 (see verse at top of post) that a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick.  God does heal the sick.   Some may say, "God created brilliant minds to create medicine".  (Be cautious....check out 2 Chronicles 16:12 to see why Asa displeased God).  This statement is true.  Sometimes there is a time and place for medicine; and it is most certainly a part of God's plan to heal some.   It does seem that we don't see as many miraculous healings today as we read about in the Bible.  But we do know God is a god of His word.  If His Word says He will heal....He will heal.  God calls us to "walk by faith, not by sight" 2 Corinthians 5:7.

There are testimonies of God healing cancer and diseases that just bring me to tears.  My question is, "Why limit our faith and only call on Him to heal the "big" stuff?".  Can He not heal my little baby's cold?  Can't he heal my strep throat?  I encourage you to before you run to the doctor, get down on your knees and pray for healing.  Ask your spouse or a loved one to join you in laying hands on your little one, and pray fervently for healing.  Ask fellow believers to pray for the healing you need.  Call on God to be your "Great Physician"....that is one of the names of our great and powerful Lord.  Maybe God will urge you to go to the doctor after your time in prayer....maybe He will ask you to wait and walk by faith. Either way, healing will come and we will praise Him for it.

I'm wondering if my lack of faith allowed our time of sickness to be prolonged.  Maybe if I had fell to my knees on Tuesday, when Tessa came down with the cold,  God would have stopped it all right then and there.  I guess I will never know; but I am sure that the next time one of us gets sick, I am running first to my "Great Physician", not to my greatly over-priced physician ;)

"for I am the Lord, who heals you." Exodus 15:26
"The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results."  James 5:16