Everything has to be fast today. Instant gratification rules. It seems that this immediate world expectation has also penetrated the prayer world. Many have seen the instantaneous miracles that occur on TV, resulting in the belief that God only does instantaneous miracles. Some even say I won't pray twice for something because that shows I have a lack of faith. Both of these beliefs are false. It's interesting to see that in the Bible, many people were healed over time, and many times, prayers were not answered immediately. Today, we will examine this reality.
Greek words for healing
Three Greek words are translated as healing in the New Testament.
The first word is Iaomia (Strong's: G2390). It is used to describe an instantaneous miracle. There are 32 occurrences of this word in the New Testament. Here is an example where Jesus healed instantaneously: "Then Jesus said to her, 'O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.' And her daughter was healed (iaomai) at once" (Matt. 15:28 NASB).
The second word is Therapeua (Strong's: G2323). We get therapeutic from this word – It means some therapy or process results in healing and well-being. Time is involved in this type of miracle. There are 48 occurrences of this word in the New Testament. Interestingly, there are more examples of time-based healing than Instantaneous healing in the New Testament. Jesus used therapeuo to heal every kind of disease: "Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing (therapeuo) every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people" (Matt. 4:23 NASB).
Paul demonstrated both of these types of healing in Acts 28:8,9. It happened that the Father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery, and Paul went in to see him. After praying, he laid his hands on him and healedG2390 him (Iaomia – instantaneous). After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases came to him and were cured G2323 (Therapeua – process healing).
The third word is Sozo – (Strong's G4982) A word used to describe the healing of our spirits, souls, and bodies.
The word 'sozo,' or one of its grammatical forms, is used over 100 times in the New Testament, especially whenever Jesus heals someone, be it physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Matthew 9:22 describes the story of the woman with an issue of blood. She touched the hem of his robe, and she was instantly healed. Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." The word healed here is the word Sozo. Healing of this type shows us that physical healing can be interrelated with heart healing and spiritual healing. This type of healing often takes time to understand the connections between heart issues and physical issues.
Jesus' examples of Persistent Prayer
Jesus did not always instantly heal people. Here are a couple of examples
Blind Man
Mark 8:22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him,
Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"
24He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."
25 Once more, Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
This is a twofold miracle. The man was blind. He may have had something like glaucoma. Jesus healed that, but then he needed his vision corrected because he could not see clearly. Jesus healed that. This is an excellent example, showing that it's okay to pray twice. It also demonstrates that power is distributed over time. It's progress healing. I also love the way Jesus just says, "Do you see anything?". This is a great example that we need to ask people: are you getting any better?
I often ask people when I pray for them, are you any better. Are you 10% better or 25% better? This is an excellent way to persist in working a miracle. Often, it takes time to see the healing come. We need to get comfortable with the practice of persistent prayer.
Ten Lepers
Luke 17:11-19 tells the story of ten lepers
11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
They were not healed immediately, but over time, they noticed they were healed. This is another example of time-based healing.
Modern-day time-based healing examples.
Charles and Francis Hunter relayed a story about praying for a man whose leg was three-quarters of an inch shorter than the other leg due to an accident where surgery was required to remove part of the person's leg. They prayed for the person's leg to grow for five minutes. After five minutes, the leg was the same length.
I have experienced many more time-based healings than instantaneous miracles. There was a time I prayed for a man who had back problems, and he was healed immediately, but most healing that I have seen is not instaneous.
Cancer healed
A friend of mine had stage IV cancer. It had been in his bowels and progressed to his liver. He had tumors in his liver. His wife and her small group were praying for his healing. I also used to go over to his house on Saturday mornings and just lay hands on him and pray for him.
Each time we prayed for him, we soaked him in the anointing and the power of God. This all took place over one year. He went for surgery on his bowels, and they removed cancer, and he also took chemo. However, there were still 38 tumors in his liver. We continued to pray, and the number of tumors dropped to eight. He went for surgery on his liver, and they said they might have to take up to two-thirds of his liver, but when they got in there, they found the tumors were gone. There were a few cysts that they removed, and only one of them had a few cells of cancer.
This entire healing took five years.
I received a message from him recently with excellent news. It's been several years now, and he is still cancer-free.
Don't be in a hurry. Take time to impart power, and don't lose heart in delivering the gifts of healing.
Compression Fracture
Another friend of mine had a compression fracture in their back. They were in severe pain and were unable to do many things that they liked to do. Each day, I would lay my hands on them and pray for them. Many others also pray for them. Over about six weeks, the pain began to subside. Now, some may say this is natural healing. That may be the case. I don't know. All I know is now they are much better.
Prostate
Another person I know had an enlarged prostate, and it caused him to urinate every hour at night. He began to speak to his prostate every night and commanded it to shrink in the name of Jesus and to put no pressure on his bladder. His nightly urination frequency has dropped, and now He only urinates three times at night. This healing took one year of nightly prayer.
Close
Luke 18:1-8 records a very unusual parable. Jesus talked about a woman who had a problem and how she hounded a judge continually to get justice. Eventually, the judge said enough and gave her what she wanted. He told us this is how to pray. It seems unusual to think of hounding our Heavenly Father, but Jesus tells us to do it.
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'
4 "For some time he refused. But finally, he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice so that she won't eventually come and attack me!'"
6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.
However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
Strange parable. This is what it means. Jesus identifies the hearers — us — with the woman and the prayed-to person — God — with the corrupt judge, a strange combination. I assume that Jesus doesn't mean that God is corrupt. The point must be that if persistence pays off with a corrupt human of limited power, how much more will it pay off with a just God of infinite power? The purpose of the parable is to encourage Christians to persevere in their faith against all odds.
Be persistent in your prayers and expect miracles and don't give up. God hears, and God will answer.
Journaling
Lord, what would You speak to me about persistent prayer?
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