{"id":602,"date":"2019-04-09T18:51:38","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T22:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/?p=602"},"modified":"2019-04-09T19:26:27","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T23:26:27","slug":"doubtful-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/doubtful-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Doubtful Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cImmediately the father of the child cried out and said, \u201cI\nbelieve; help my unbelief!\u201d\u201d \u2013 Mark 9:24 (ESV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\nlong has it been? I remember the ones we lost. Those who have left us. They\ndied. Of cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How I\nhate that disease. From the count of those who suffered and passed away, it has\nso far, proven to be unbeatable. Not even our prayer availed much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friends\u2019\nfathers have died from it. I know many who suffer from it. I know many more\nthrough stories of others who have passed away because of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite our prayers, there was no healing. No testimony of God\u2019s miracle. There are only monuments. Graves. Flowers. Memories. And grief that doesn\u2019t completely go away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That cry of healing from a father on the behalf of his son is something I think we all can relate to. There\u2019s the desperation, a glimmer of hope against all hope that God will come in and save the day. The hope that there will be healing and rejoicing. And fear, fear is always there too. Through doubtful prayer we groan in grief and pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a\nparadox! We believe, but we also disbelieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whenever\npeople pleaded for a healing, asking, \u201cIf you are willing\u2026\u201d Christ always answered:\n\u201cI am willing\u2026\u201d (Matthew 8:3; Mark 1:41; Luke 5:13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why?\nWhy did our prayers go unanswered? Why was there no healing, even though Christ\nis always willing? Why did they pass from this earth? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ncannot say. I cannot say and there are times I\u2019m afraid to even begin praying\nfor a healing when hearing of someone becoming terribly sick. I\u2019m afraid I\u2019m\ncoming to God as a hypocrite, someone who doesn\u2019t believe and yet\u2026knowing He still\nlistens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I cannot tell you how many times I\u2019ve wrestled with my own faith \u2013 even while having my own personal testimonies of God\u2019s faithfulness. But I tell you this, even though I continue to struggle in my unbelief regarding healing, I still go to God in prayer, having faith that He hears. We don\u2019t always get what we desire, and our circumstances don\u2019t always change. But He gives us strength to get through the day and love to comfort others in spite of our troubles. Joy to look forward to the life we have in Him, and peace knowing that regardless of what happens to our physical bodies, our soul is secure in Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSurely\nhe has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,\nsmitten by God, and afflicted. But he was\npierced for our transgressions; he was crushed\nfor our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,\nand with his wounds we are\nhealed.\u201d \u2013Isaiah 53:4-5 (ESV)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cImmediately the father of the child cried out and said, \u201cI believe; help my unbelief!\u201d\u201d \u2013 Mark 9:24 (ESV) How long has it been? I remember the ones we lost. Those who have left us. They died. Of cancer. How I hate that disease. From the count of those who suffered and passed away, it … Continue reading Doubtful Prayer<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions\/605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}