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Our last lesson looked at interceding for people who are sick. We saw that prayer is powerful, that God responds to our intercession and heals the sick person. That is good news for those of us who have a sick friend or relative. We can pray in confidence that God hears our prayers. We can pray with the expectation that He will answer and heal the person that we are praying for.
But what happens when the "shoe is on the other foot" so to speak? What if you are the sick person, and you don't have someone who will step up to pray for you? Are you in trouble because you don't have an intercessor? Do you have to stay sick because there is no one to pray for you?
I have good news for you. God doesn't just answer prayers prayed on the behalf of other people. He also hears and answers prayers that go like this: "Lord, I am sick, please heal me!" In fact, we have many examples in the Bible of God healing a sick person when they for them self.
My favorite example comes from the life of Hezekiah. You might remember him from our last lesson. He was the young king who interceded for the backslidden people of Judah, and God healed their sick. His destiny was to turn a very backslidden Judah back to the Lord. He taught the people to trust God for their deliverance, and how to worship Him. He restored the broken-down temple and he reinstituted the Passover.
Hezekiah did such a good job at fulfilling his destiny that he finished his God-appointed tasks relatively early in his life. God was ready to take him home and he became "sick and near to death" (2 Kings 20:1a). So God sent the prophet Isaiah to tell him, "Thus says the Lord: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live'" (2 Kings 20:1b).
It is not unusual for God to take someone home after they complete the tasks that He gave them to do. For instance, Jesus did not stay on earth very long after He fulfilled His destiny of dieing for our sins and raising from the dead. He spent about 40 days to equip the disciples, then He ascended to Heaven, going back to His Father.
God told Hezekiah to prepare to die. God did a similar thing with Moses after Moses had served God well for many years and completed his job. Look at Deuteronomy 32:48-50: " 48 Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying: 49 'Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; 50 and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people."
Moses' reaction was different than Hezekiah's. Moses obeyed God and set his affairs in order. He appointed his successor (Joshua) and spoke one final blessing on the people of Israel (recorded in Deuteronomy 33). "Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land" that He was about to give to Israel (Deuteronomy 34:1). "5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 6 And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day" (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). Moses knew that he would go to be with God when he died, and he was ready to do that.
But Hezekiah's reaction was different than Moses'. Hezekiah did not want to give up and obey. He began to earnestly plead with God to change His mind. In short, He prayed and asked God to heal him. This is recorded in 2 Kings 20:2-3, "Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 'Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly."
Do you know what God's response was? God heard Hezekiah's prayer and changed His mind. "4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5 'Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, "Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years."'" (2 Kings 20:4-6). Verse 7 tells us that Isaiah treated Hezekiah with medicine and Hezekiah recovered. His recovery was not instant, it was a process. That is why Hezekiah asked Isaiah for a miraculous sign that he would in fact get well (verses 8-11). But God healed him in response to his prayer.
God listens to our prayers when we ask Him to heal us. In fact, David prayed this way many times. I can imagine that as a soldier, he got his occasional battle wounds, plus he probably got sick form time to time while he was hiding in exile. When he did get sick, he looked to God to heal him. The Psalms are full of prayers for God to heal and praises that He answered those prayers:
We see a similar prayer in Jeremiah 17:14, "Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for You are the one I praise."
I had a similar experience recently, where I asked God to heal me and He did. My elbow gives me problems from time to time. I usually endure it for a couple of weeks and if it doesn't get better, then I have to go get a cortisone shot. It has been bothering me a couple of weeks and it was getting progressively worse. I knew I would need a shot. But those cortisone shots are so painful that I decided to go get prayer for healing on Sunday at church, just in case God might heal me so I wouldn't need the shot. As it turned out, the pastor did a special altar call for physical healing and asked the healing team at church to come up and pray for the sick. I wanted to go up to receive prayer, but God told me to go pray for others instead. Of course, I obeyed Him and I saw Him heal some of those who I prayed for. But it took so long to pray for everyone that when I finally finished, everyone else on the healing team had left and there was no one for me to ask for prayer.
I almost felt like God had set me up. It did not seem fair to minister to other people's healing needs and not have anyone to minister to my own need. So I mentioned it to God. He replied, "Teresa, why don't you just ask Me to heal you?" I said, "Ok, God. Would you please heal my elbow? It hurts." God said, "Ok, I will heal you." I had basically just prayed for my own healing.
The next morning, my elbow as noticeably better. I decided not to make the doctor appointment for the cortisone shot. My elbow did not get all the way better. It still acted up from time to time, but it was noticeably improved. That went on for a couple of weeks. I asked God about it again. "Hey, God, what gives? I thought You told me that you would heal my elbow, but it is still not all the way better."
"That's right," God replied. "I said I'd heal you, but I did not say I would do so instantly. Your elbow is continuing to improve and in a while you won't have any symptoms at all." That was about a month ago (as I type this lesson). In the past this problem has never gotten well on it's own, it has always required a cortisone shot. But now the symptoms are almost completely gone. It doesn't bother me at all in normal day to day use--I lift things without any pain. However, if I test it, it still hurts a little. I am probably about 95% healed at this point. I am positive the other 5% will come shortly. This is a case where I asked God to heal me and no one prayed for me about this condition. Guess what--God answered my prayer!
If you have a physical condition that needs healing, why don't you stop right now and ask God to heal you? I would not be at all surprised if He answers your prayer.
The New Testament is full of people who came to Jesus and asked Him to heal them. That is basically the same thing as praying and asking God to heal you. In each case, Jesus healed the person who asked. Let's look at a few examples from the gospels:
Jesus shows Himself to be a healing God over and over again. If you have a need for physical healing, don't be shy. Go to Him and ask Him to heal you.