Spiritual Sisters of the Internet Cafe- spiritualsisters.com

Doubting Prayer

We hear a lot about faith healing today. We hear of those who have been healed and we also know of those for whom prayers of healing did not seem to stop the course of the physical disease. The skeptical person is quick to jump upon the incidence where nothing seemed to have happened--where prayers did not seem to have been heard. They believe they have validated proof that God does not always answer prayer. Do they?

If I pray for God's help while in the back of my mind doubting that He's going to give me what I want, have I met the requirements of a true prayer request or have I set up a scenario where I am simply testing God? "....He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him." --1 Chronicles 5:20 (NIV)

"When praying for healing, ask great things of God and expect great things from God. But let us seek for that healing that really matters, the healing of the heart, enabling us to trust God simply, face God honestly, and live triumphantly." --Arlo F. Newell

I think of those I have known who were diagnosed with a slow moving disease like cancer, who in all sincerity and faith have prayed for healing, only to see the disease continue to progress. Has God not heard them? Have they not met the requirements of trust? Look at it again and see the spiritual healing that occurred and the beautiful soul emerging as the disease progressed and the person was prepared for their trip across the Great Divide. Oh, yes, their prayers were heard and their prayers were answered. They were given God's grace and mercy in order that they might live triumphantly during their last days on earth.

Please, never doubt prayer for it is a solid rock, a solid foundation.

There are times when I am deeply wounded or offended by another and, feeling powerless, turn to God to make things right for me. Is this a true prayer request or could God, who knows the heart of each of us, be seeing everything from a completely different perspective? Remember, "NO" is also an answer--just like "wait"!

"It is not possible that you could ever find yourself anywhere where God was not fully present, fully active, able and willing to set you free from any difficulty. The one thing that is required is that you shall turn to Him whole-heartedly, and that you shall expect Him to act. . . . If you turn to God in prayer, without tension, without vehemence, but quietly, steadily, and persistently, results will come." --Emmet Fox

Please, never doubt prayer for it is a solid rock, a solid foundation.

Jane Mullikin
More Articles by Jane
Spirit - Finding Hope in a World of Uncertainty