Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People
1 Kings 17:17-23
The Message
17 Later on the woman's son became sick. The sickness took a turn for the worse—and then he stopped breathing.
18 The woman said to Elijah, "Why did you ever show up here in the first place—a holy man barging in, exposing my sins, and killing my son?"
19-20 Elijah said, "Hand me your son."
He then took him from her bosom, carried him up to the loft where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he prayed, "O God, my God, why have you brought this terrible thing on this widow who has opened her home to me? Why have you killed her son?"
21-23 Three times he stretched himself out full-length on the boy, praying with all his might, "God, my God, put breath back into this boy's body!" God listened to Elijah's prayer and put breath back into his body—he was alive! Elijah picked the boy up, carried him downstairs from the loft, and gave him to his mother. "Here's your son," said Elijah, "alive!"
18 The woman said to Elijah, "Why did you ever show up here in the first place—a holy man barging in, exposing my sins, and killing my son?"
19-20 Elijah said, "Hand me your son."
He then took him from her bosom, carried him up to the loft where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he prayed, "O God, my God, why have you brought this terrible thing on this widow who has opened her home to me? Why have you killed her son?"
21-23 Three times he stretched himself out full-length on the boy, praying with all his might, "God, my God, put breath back into this boy's body!" God listened to Elijah's prayer and put breath back into his body—he was alive! Elijah picked the boy up, carried him downstairs from the loft, and gave him to his mother. "Here's your son," said Elijah, "alive!"
The preacher laid his hand of the forehead of the believer. He invoked, " let the hand of Jesus touch and heal you from your disability."
As if struck by an invisible force, the man fell backward into the waiting arms of the preachers assistants.
"Get up and walk," said the preacher.
The believer arose and walked gratefully from the stage.
Truth or sham?
This miraculous recovery from death is hard to believe in this modern age of a "scientific" or rational explanation for everything. However, many people in Christian congregations all over the world proclaim the power of prayer that evoked the healing mystery that cured them.
Elijah did not raise the boy from death. God did. He did it because Elijah's determined confidence and faith were strong.
As the children of God, we are made in his image. We have the capacity to learn and to act on that learning.
Each hour God reveals new knowledge of the human condition and new skills to solve human illnesses. Maybe, in time, God will reveal to us the mystery of the healing touch. Until the time when His powers are revealed in us, let us pray, Thy will be done.
Pray
deeply for the healing power of God. Pray for the comfort only God can provide to the sick and those that suffer with them. Pray that you will listen and accept God's answer. Pray for the understanding that death is not the end, but rather a transition to the next life.
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