09/03/2018
Have you ever asked for healing prayer and received relief from your illness as a result? When this happened did you elevate those who prayed for you? If someone sick came to you for prayer, and as a result of your praying for them they were healed did you have a feeling of accomplishment as if you had done this, or felt some small part in the miracle? If either of these is true, then you have misappropriated God’s glory.
“And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: "Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?”
Acts 3:12 ESV
Paul and John were entering the temple for prayer and came across a lame man there asking for alms. They immediately offered him what they had (the power of Jesus) and at this the man was healed. The man rose up and he entered the temple with them jumping and running as he prayed. This scripture (v12) came as a result of the people who saw this act and believed it was Peter and John who had healed him... but it was not.
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”
Psalms 115:1 ESV
There is danger in attributing the glory of God to someone else, or in claiming it for yourself. When you are asked to pray for someone’s healing you are simply the messenger to the King, and if you are the one who has received healing from the hand of the King as a result of intercessory prayer, it had nothing to do with the messenger. This is the greatest danger in interceding... the intercessor being looked on in some special way as even a glimmer of the moment’s glory is attributed to them; a glory that rightfully belongs to God alone.
Peter saw that he and John were being looked upon as if they were the healers, as if they were in some way Gods, but he quickly put an end to this false reasoning by telling them who had really healed this man...
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.”
Acts 3:13-16 ESV
This is still true today! There are no healers in our churches save God, only faithful messengers, and if these messengers should claim the glory that is God’s then that is an abomination, and if they should allow others to glorify them then that is also an abomination, and if others should glorify these messengers as anything other than good and faithful messengers, then that too is an abomination. Yet, the tendency is there to do each of these things. Piety is a sword that can easily cut the one who wields it... that is why we have been given a scabbard of humility.
“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
2 Corinthians 3:5-6 ESV
We are instruments in the merciful hand of God, and it is only by his grace that we have been picked up for use. No man heals another, saves another, or in any way performs a miracle that rescues... only God Himself does these things, and to be selected as a messenger is a humbling experience, fraught with prideful danger... not to be confused with God’s magnificent glory.
Moses had the staff that God gave Him to demonstrate that there was a separation between the miracles performed, and Moses. Without the staff then who was Moses? He was the same chosen tool of God, but the staff allowed him to overcome his fear and humility as he served as the messenger of God.
“Then Moses answered, "But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The Lord did not appear to you.'" The Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A staff."”
Exodus 4:1-2 ESV
Our prayers should be our staff. We speak nothing into existence ourselves, and can command or demand nothing of God outside His will. Our prayers are the humble link between our Holy Father and ourselves, and they are the staff that He uses to demonstrate His power and glory as He provides and cares for us. So, give glory to God alone, and guard against giving or claiming responsibility for the miracles and glory of God that rightfully are His!
Prayer,
Father, I thank you for using me on occasion as your messenger. I thank you for hearing my prayers, and providing healing, and the other things to your children by my faithfulness in coming humbly before you. Keep all who pray, and receive the answers to prayer, cognizant of your greatness, because only your hand heals the sick, allows the lame to walk, restores sight to the blind, and those other miraculous things you do for us. If I were a doctor, I might close up a wound with sutures, but only you can heal it Lord, we are given those things to do and say that point to your singular glory. Praised be your name, for you hear our prayers, and turn them this way and that as you look for their perfect fit within your will. Help us Gracious Father to know your will, and pray within it. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God; my Father who is the worker of miracles, and the one who’s hand is upon us as we pray; your hand causes us to rise up from the ground, and to walk again. Great are you, and all glory is yours forevermore.
Rich Forbes