This is an appeal to Christians across the board to restore the ancient and biblical practice of healing prayer in the name of the Risen Savior Jesus Christ. Such prayer ought always to be conducted with the stated knowledge that God is sovereign, that no one merits or deserves healing, that we do not know why God heals some people but not all people, but that we do not want to go lacking simply because we do not ask. Special healing services may be times of quiet blessing with no fanfare, but marked by a powerful sense of expectancy and the presence of the Lord Jesus by his Spirit.
Jesus came to save the whole person (1 Thes. 5:23). On the cross, He bore the sins of our soul and the sicknesses of our body (Isa. 53:4-6; Matt. 8:16-17; 1 Pet. 2:24). In the mighty name of Jesus, which represents all that he did before God in our stead and on our behalf, we proclaim healing and salvation (Acts 4:10, 12) according to God’s sovereign purpose (Acts 4:28). The New Testament is full of people coming to Jesus and his representatives to ask for healing — and of God answering many of those prayers. How can we claim to be “New Testament” churches if we never see anything that even faintly resembles that? Of course we cannot heal. God is the healer. But we can pray, and we can invite others to come ask God for healing in the name of his blessed Son, Jesus Christ.
I would observe that for its first 500 years, the Church proclaimed Jesus as Savior and healer, victor over sin and Satan and all his works, the bearer of God’s Kingdom which comes with visible power to transform lives and to heal bodies, minds and spirits as God in his kindness sees fit. Once again, I believe, God’s people throughout the universal Church are being renewed to proclaim and to live out the original vision brought by Jesus Christ — a vision of the Father as eternal, sovereign God; of Jesus Christ as all-sufficient Savior and Redeemer of the whole person; and of the Holy Spirit as the personal, powerful Presence of the Risen Jesus and of his heavenly Father in our midst. Let us be found in the center of that vision!
