Does God want us to pray for healing? Yes!
Just as we cannot box God in and say he always heals, we cannot box him in and say he never heals. This is why the Bible encourages us to pray for healing (Jas 5:14).
Should we fully expect God to heal? All healing from every affliction always comes from God’s hand just as the lack of healing does. But, because the kingdom of Christ has not yet come in its fullness, we should not expect complete healing. Why should we arbitrarily single out disease – which is just one of sin’s many results – and treat it in a special way as something that Christians shouldn’t have to put up with?.
Does it show a lack of faith if people are not healed? No! Many here in Uganda think that if God does not heal you or your loved one, you have a lack of faith or are living in hidden sin. Although Jesus wants what’s best for His followers, “best” will not be an easy life with no sickness or pain. God’s idea of best may include physical hardships that drive us closer to Him.
Why does God heal some people and not others? We cannot know what God has not revealed to us. God may occasionally grant miraculous healing as a gracious glimpse a sneak preview of the coming age when the eyes of all blind people will be opened, all deaf will hear, and every lame person will walk (Isaiah 35:3-6). When people are healed "miraculously", it should encourage us to look forward to the time when healing will be for everyone. But for now we must rest in the fact that He is our Father and loves us as His precious children.
There was not healing for this little one. This was the precious son of one of Charles students, David and his wife Beatrice. He was given life for only a few days but his short little life had meaning. They had not given him a name yet, but non the less his name is in the Book of Life .
This was one of the hardest things Charles has had to do since coming here. But in the midst of the disease, pain, hunger and death there is the hope of the Gospel! Our Ugandan brothers and sisters live it and know it in a way that most American could not. Don't get me wrong there was so much pain this day but not despair!
For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife,
and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband.
Other wise your children would be unclean but as it is they are Holy.
l Corinthians 7:14
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Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
"God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away"
Revelation 21:4
Well, misery may love company, but joy craves a crowd, and there was a crowd waiting to join the church through baptism.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit long to fill the hearts of thirsty people who are spiritually dehydrated from a lack of joy. There should be such a lake of pain and misery here but in the midst of such hardships there is overflowing joy. A joy that passes all understanding. A river of joy that only the Lord can give.
"The Father is gathering an inheritance who will join Him in the river of joy that is heaven. He is heaven-bent on gathering glad souls who will make it their eternal ambition to worship His Son in the joy of the Holy Spirit." (a quote from Joni Ericson)
Here are few thirty souls who desire to join him in that river. One is our Alice. God has surely shown His mercy to this little one. Oh the joy He has given to her and these others as they were baptized and joined the crowd who know the "Joy of the Lord is their strength".
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| Alice and her adoptive momma Beth. |
From the book of Acts:
Lydia, who was a worshiper of God......
And after she was baptized and
her household as well.
There were several households baptized
due to the faith of their mother!
God is good!
All the time!
