Fertile Ground - Inspiration
The Mighty Power of Prayer
Angie Ledbetter
The power of prayer in promoting healing and recovery from illness has been much in the
spotlight recently. Check out publications such as Reader's Digest and Ladies Home Journal
for stories and study results showing patients who pray and are prayed for during the
course of their illness or hospital stay fare much better than their counterparts who do
not take advantage of prayer.
Major universities and medical research facilities are finding surprising results in this
area. In August of 1988, Duke University studied 4000 residents of North Carolina who were
age 65 and older. Those who partici-pated in religious activities were found to be 40%
less likely to have high blood pressure and increased risk of heart disease.
Reliable research has also shown that religious people are less likely to suffer from
depression, deal better with addiction issues and have healthier immune systems than the
non-religious.
In a double blind study this year, positive therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer in
a coronoray care unit population were found. Patients at the San Francisco General Medical
Center were randomly divided into two groups for the study. The names of patients in Group
A were given to a group of Christians who prayed for them while they were in the hospital.
Group B got no such support. Overall, Group A recovered faster, left the hospital sooner
and did better over all than did Group B.
The same results apply to people who suffer from trauma in their emotional lives,
anxieties, depression and the like. Stories abound from the far corners of the globe of
those once troubled regaining peace and health of mind and spirit from dedicated prayer.
Such a story comes from a dear friend who gives permission to share, in the hope that
others will find similar relief.
"I watched my Daddy suffer for nine months before he was released from cancer. You
have to go through the grieving process, there is no way to avoid it, unless you
internalize. Doing so is worse than grieving though. When we do not deal with hurt or the
things that are bothering us, we only suffer more."
"I want you to know that it IS possible to get total freedom from a person or a
situation; (even from) the person who raped you. Rape has touched my life, so I DO
understand. I believe in divine healing from God. I also believe in divine EMOTIONAL
healing healing from God. I have seen it happen in my own life."
"It (healing) can happen instantly, just by asking God for it. But usually, it
requires daily going to God, and letting HIM, not a psychologist, bring things to the
surface as you can handle them, deal with them, give them to Him, and let Him get rid of
it."
"During this process, we grow in maturity, get to really know and depend on God, and
learn how His universe works. Most of the time we push Him aside totally, or say a quick
bedtime prayer. Or we drag Him out on sunday morning. He wants to be a part of our daily
lives."
"There are many steps to take to receive emotional healing. We learn that praise is a
weapon. We learn that satan is the one tormenting us with our past. We learn that we CAN
resist him (satan). Learning to depend on God brings freedom and gives US control over our
lives again, not whomever has hurt us."
"It is the world's track record that teaches us that major events in our lives have
to take years to get over, or that we never really get over it at all. This is because we
don't take God and the Bible's teachings seriously. We say we couldn't have made it
without God, yet we never really let Him do anything. We just struggled and did all the
work ourselves, THEN gave Him the credit."
"He wants us to learn to rest in Him and let Him love us back to healing. It'sso much
more preferable to going it alone. It's hard though, to retrain ourselves to dig, dig,
dig, into a deeper relationship with Him. We usually just scratch the surface, blame Him
when things don't go right, or give Him credit (read: blame) for everything by saying it
was His will or it wouldn't
have happened. What a cop out. God allows evil to exist so we can have a free choice, but
He certainly isn't an assassin who throws kids in front of speeding cars so their parents
will get saved. And He doesn't send rapists so we'll be driven to get to know Him better
later. He just wishes we'd let Him love us. He desires to gather us into His arms as a hen
gathers her chicks."
Scripture Reference
Psalm 6:2 -
"Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in
agony."
Psalm 30:2 -
"LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me."
Psalm 107:20 -
"He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave."
Isaiah 58:8 -
"Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healingwill quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your
rear guard."
Matthew 4:23 -
"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the
good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people."
Mark 10:52 -
"And Jesus said to him, 'Go; your faith has made you well.' Immediately he regained
his sight and began following Him on the road."
Luke 8:48 -
"Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."
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