Why Keep Praying For the Healing?
Have you ever wondered why sometimes you’ll have to keep praying over and over again for a simple prayer to be answered? God’s not deaf. There’s a reason for it.
You’ve seen it before: A man or woman prays over a visibly sick or disabled person. Not much appears to happen after the first prayer, so they do it again, and again, and again, until the result of the change is evident. They kept praying for the healing.
I’ll be honest, it takes serious faith, tenacity, and perseverance to solidify your belief that God will change a situation after the first prayer seemed ineffective. But the truth is, this is the faith that the Lord requires of us. We must have that kind of faith.
But why? Why doesn’t the healing sometimes come through the first time around? Take this situation for instance:
To the right is a video of Todd White ministering on the streets of Las Vegas. White is a well-known evangelist who has an amazing gift of healing (through Christ). In this video, he prays to the Father in the name of Jesus for a man’s right leg to grow out to relieve him of back pain.
As you watch the video (starting at 00:34 secs), you’ll notice how White continues to pray for the man until he gets results. The man being prayed for is in awe, and in total fascination with his miracle!
What happened here? He kept praying for the healing!
Did you know that Jesus sometimes does things just to fascinate and/or amaze us? Here’s biblical proof:
“For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.” – John 5:20
Did you notice that Todd White had to pray three times for the manifestation of his prayer request to come to fruition? Again, but why did he have to keep praying for the healing? The answer is found in Mark 8:23-25:
” So He (Jesus) took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.”
In the scripture above, was the problem too big? Absolutely not! He’s God! (John 1:1-3, 14).
Jesus didn’t have to pray for or lay hands on the blind man twice. Remember, He’s the One Who, standing outside of an occupied tomb, commanded a man (Lazarus) who was dead for four days to raise back to life—and He only had to speak once!
Not only that but when Lazarus got up [from the dead], Jesus felt it necessary to complete yet another miracle that isn’t often preached about:
When Lazarus came out of his tomb, no one came to assist him in taking off the bandages (or shrouding) that he was bound in from head to toe, so Jesus commanded the bandages to “loose him”, and it did! Again, Jesus only commanded once (John 11:38-44).
Referring back to the blind man, I believe the reasoning for Jesus praying/laying hands on the blind man more than once, was for our faith. He used this method in order to show us how to strengthen our prayer life and to fortify our faith and trust in Him. We must keep praying for the healing.
The Word of God even emphasizes that we are to pray with consistency (1 Thess. 5:16-18) and never lose faith (Matt. 21:21).
How do you get that faith? The answer is simple: Ask Holy Spirit to soften your heart to receive a childlike faith.
You see, you don’t have to convince a child to believe, they just do. And this is how Jesus says we’re supposed to be. Remember, He doesn’t call us to be childish, but rather…child-like (Matt. 18:2-4). And without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews. 11:6).
In order to gain or restore this powerful kind of faith and kill your doubts, you may have to put aside some theological doctrine that you may have been taught in seminary, church, or school, and look to the Solid Source, which is the infallible Word of God. That’s what I had to do, and by doing so, I can honestly say that 85% of what I know about the Lord and His Word came directly from Him and His Word.
Holy Spirit will interpret the scriptures and bring them to life in your spirit—causing you to gain the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that only comes from time spent alone with Him.
Will you strengthen your faith, starting today?
I have a friend in whom I have been praying for. Prayers for health and happiness. I have recently witnessed this becoming answered. God’s timing not ours.
Amen! The Lord is so incredibly faithful!!!
Wonderful piece!
I’m currently going through this too, but I believe it will eventually come good.
Remember Elijah, he had to pray seven times for God to send rain. Meanwhile, he only made a simple pronouncement when the rain ceased three and half years.
Amen! Whatever the situation may be, I touch and agree along with you in Jesus’ name for complete wholeness.
“God loves us too much to answer our prayers at any other time than the right time.” Lysa TerKeurst, Forgiving What You Can’t Forget
Keep on praying! 😉
This is so true!
I really enjoyed this discussion on Faith. I am currently working through the deeper meaning of Faith. I believe Faith begins when my abilities end. So if you are the receiver of the prayer or the giver of that prayer, it becomes about what God is able to do in both lives. Yes answers to prayers are not only build Faith of the receiver but also the giver of the prayer. As we let go of ourselves and allow God to step in, he moves. So if we let go at one prayer or at seven prayers, our Faith will kick in when we let go.
Thank you Jennifer for given us a fresh look into pray, faith, and trust in God.
Steve J.
Wow! Your post is a sermon in itself!
Jesus healed one of my brain tumors awhile ago! I believe in the power of prayer!
Glory to God! Marlagro, you are a living testimony of the power of God!
The doctor didn’t catch one of the tumors was healed, my husband did! Talk about emotion when I saw the report myself! Yes, God’s power!
Your post brought to my mind the parable of the unjust judge and how the woman did not accept the answer of “no”.
She kept pestering the judge until he relented and gave her what she wanted. He knew if he didn’t she would have never stopped.
Luke 18:1-5 MSG
1 Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit.
2 He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people.
3 A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’
4 “He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think.
5 But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black and blue by her pounding.'”
What a great correlation! That’s a parable that’s sometimes overlooked.
Someone made a statement on the verse “knock and the door shall be opened.” He put it like this, knock and keep on knocking. Seek and keep on seeking.
And what if God is asking someone to carry the cross of pain or loss or doubt? Pain, loss and doubt Our Lord experienced to a greater degree than any of us will ever know. what do pain, loss and doubt tell us about this world and the next?
This is amazing. However I think something that many miss it the timing part. Thing don’t happen but we make them to. God is perfect parent. It’s His perfect timing. Even at 40 years old, I still have to be reminded about this!
Very true!
Very enjoyable post. Thank you for sharing. Many things come to mind…
– Thankfully, I’ve always had a loving relationship with God so my faith has been great and carried me through many challenging times.
– Quite awhile ago I realized that if God’s response is slower than I’d hope, He is very busy taking care of other prayers and some most assuredly greater than mine. Patience is also key. 🙂
– I’ve learned acceptance through coming to believe that if a particular prayer is not answered, God has very good reason for it…knowing He can create something much bigger and better than what I have in mind; and that my request might not be the best course of action as in “be careful what you wish for.” Again, that brings about trust and faith.
– My version of prayer has changed over the years from “asking,” to “being willing to accept whatever God chooses rather than what I might want,” to “giving thanks in advance” for God answering my prayers.”
Thank you for continuing to believe in God, and for sharing the miracles that come from doing so. Thank you also for the follow which led me to your blog.
Warmest wishes to you —