John 9:7
Jesus said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing."
Prayers and Miracles. Bam.
Mission Accomplished.
And then... we have Jesus Christ.
Luke 18:1
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
Why aren't our prayers answered?
The answer is always, always, always this:
Prayer is answered. The answer is, "Thy Will be Done."
Pray 70 times 7, as we have been given Mercy.
My experience with prayer is this: My mother was healed of a visible Thyroid tumor. About to be operated on we all headed to Church of The Resurrection Garland, Texas. Prayed for by Reverend Ted Nelson and accomplished and healed with Love and Joy by the Only Healer - Jesus Christ. She felt like she was being microwaved.during the prayer of the Wednesday healing service. By Thursday, an R.N. at Methodist Hospital realized, during tests for the operation, her 4-year tumor was gone. 1977. The seven women who accompanied my mother to the prayer service (my mother and me included) forgot to look to see if she was healed........... Realizing again how Merciful the Lord God is to us.
My own experience with prayer is different. Longtime prayer projects have the realization, hey, this is all working out!!!
Why? I'd guess as Jesus is the Only Healer we ask believing God is hearing us and His Will is Good. We pry our fingers and white knuckles off what we want and let Jesus have the Father's Good Will.
How many times will we pray... why not 7 times 70?
Jesus did unusual things when He healed.
Matthew 19:25
25 When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 “Look,” Peter replied, “we have left everything to follow You. What then will there be for us?”
Jesus told the great crowd following Him - "You are here for the food." Probably being Jesus, He also meant the awe and astonishment of seeing Healing. Being Spiritually Nurtured. The Crowd was Trying to be The Prime Director of Rewards Membership. Peter went through enough after walking on water and being crowed at - Peter was not about to think Peter is all that. Peter lived realizing he was not to be a Prime Rewards Director. Peter walked with the Son of God the Almighty and found truly we live "Thy Will be Done."
Jesus is displaying God. These men had so many prayers amazingly answered and God only suggested they leave everything to follow Jesus.
Does God always require this service? No God is God and decides each and all circumstances of Thy Will Be Done. One time Jesus told a man carrying for the ill, "Let the dead bury the dead." God sees incredibly further than we will ever see.
God is seeing how the conversation we call prayer continues.
Luke 17:14
When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
What's unusual about this. Jesus was in the "wilderness." Jesus is proclaiming our Body is a Temple. Jesus is saying He is the Son of God filling every Word of God and dot and iota. How are we going to make this into a logical idea? In Baptism, Jesus said to his cousin and two by two minister, Jesus would show Baptism as an Innocent of God Himself because this was fitting for Righteousness. Jesus is putting these men on a path of being cleansed and righteous. Jesus is making a straight path out of the wilderness. We could say Jesus is prying their own will off their conversation or prayer and putting His Will be Done. Jesus is healing them of being stuck on the outside of their illness and placing them in the midst of mankind. Jesus is healing in this odd after request - actually Jesus is taking hold of them as if they were the blind man requiring Jesus to take hold of him after seeing trees walking and making the path clear. Jesus is Healing.
Because God sees so much further than we ever see.
Luke 13
31 At that very hour, some Pharisees came to Jesus and told Him, “Leave this place and get away, because Herod wants to kill You.” 32 But Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I will keep driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach My goal.’
Idle conversation? No. This is the Son of God. Jesus has given them something literal to do. Why? I'd guess with a strong inclination the God of Love, Mercy and Encouragement is trying to heal the men from trying to derail God's Own Plan. I'd suppose and wonder and have awe in the thought if they went to see Herod - they might actually See.
Conversation with God is called prayer. The answer is "Thy Will be Done."
Numbers 6. Lift up Your Face upon us, Father God. We want God to shine and smile upon us.
The man Jesus seemed to heal twice from blindness. And actually, brain damage requires more care.
Mark 8:26
Jesus sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
I can't help the absolute feeling of heart-warming insight and humor. Jesus is perfecting the Healing as Jesus is keeping the man out of public opinion. This miracle is going to "take" permanently and the circumstance is stay out of the wild wind of life to allow peace.
A Miracle is a freebie.
Jesus didn't always see this to be the truth. Jesus was telling a lot of people to participate in Action and Words and Deeds of Prayer.
And. The Principal of "And".
The Continued Conversation with God.
Matthew 4:4
Luke 4:4
Man shall live by 'every' Word of God.
Mark 9
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”
19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”
20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.
21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Scriptures tell us God is on time. We can wait for prayers answered.
Luke 1
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord.
My mother has a friend who has a PhD in Psychiatry. Patricia was facing being blind in her late 40's from heredity blindness of the failure of blood vessels to her eyes. Her Grandmother, Aunt and other family had all been blind from this in old age. Patricia started going to every Church healing service and flying wherever Reverend Francis MacNutt and Judith MacNutt Master’s Degree in Psychology flew to have a healing seminar. This Christian Healing has gone back to Agnes Sanford in 1947. Until you consider we have been finding Jesus is the Light since Genesis 1.
So Patricia was being literally yelled at from professional concern from her eye doctors telling her she was being obtuse to insist on God healing her. Patricia went back in when she realized she had a huge increase in blindness, again to be yelled at by her eye doctors. Patricia had developed Cataracts from increasing blood loss. Patricia asked for immediate Cataract removal surgery and was met with anger that surgery would finalize the blindness. Get with learning Braille. And instead, Patricia went to more healing services. One day Patricia realized she had had an up-surge in seeing. Her eyesight felt better. She made an appointment and fully expected to hear "good day, bad day" in disease progression. Her eye doctors called in more people into the examining room. Her blood vessels had been at 10% capacity and failing. Now her eyes had 85% capacity. 30 years later Patricia has her eyesight. Patricia kept telling Jesus she felt she was a healer and needed her eyesight to benefit her patients. Patricia insisted to Jesus this miracle was Good News. Please provide the miracle. And when did this occur? When the asking for a miracle had become routine. Gradually her prayers were answered over about a three year period. Was this expected? Only by Patricia. Patricia met the times of increasingly bad news with faith. Like Mark 9 above about prayer times of faith regardless of success.
We have seen Mother Angelica on Catholic TV used to say "Pray and Pay the Light Bill." I've had real healing in my back from exercise and reading about pain removal with continued Prayer. I was telling someone at Church today I swim in cold water about 55'. And as we went to lunch, we met a lady who says she not only swims and bathes and showers in cold water, her back surgeon told her to then put her feet in hot water and this really helps. What would we call this? Participating in Healing. What does the cold/chilly water do? It reduces inflammation. We participate in good health and have belief Jesus is healing. My back hurt from 2003 until 2007. And healed.
One of the key points of healing and healing groups is never to stop the prayers of loud and frequent praise of Answered Prayer. When we see multiple miracles - if we do not stop to give Thanks and Give God Glory - the people praying are bewildered and will depart. We never should consider the Goodness of God not worthy of our Thanks and Praise to God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Abba,
We give You Thanks for Today. We give You Thanks for Your timing. We give You thanks for Your Goodness.
We thank You for Your provision and triumph over the times past and the days to come. Thank You for the people we Love. Love Cherish and treasure our families with Love. The Truth of Your Goodness. For the Church giving strength. For the Nation. You are always a God of Love.
Bless the Children of God with Your Presence. And the Nations trusting in You.
And I'm asking prayers for Beaux Springer Spaniel's ear improving and then needing prayer.
In Jesus Christ is the Victory.
Amen and Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †