Healing Rays of Righteousness

From my childhood years, I remember this motto, beautifully painted, hanging on the wall in our house. And during the many years since I have learned just how true, important, and marvelous this gift is in my life.  

Yes, I said “gift.” I have learned that prayer is one of God’s majestic gifts to us humans, a gift of gracious privilege, and a gift of tremendous value in daily enabling us through life’s uncertain and often difficult journey.

To be privileged to come into the presence of God Almighty and to speak with Him about whatever is on our hearts and minds is a gift of grace. To be privileged to come into the presence of Almighty God as his children, and to speak with him as “Our Father” is a privilege of unimaginable worth.

And yet, we tend to frequently take “prayer” for granted and fail to appreciate its value to us. We glibly “say a prayer” at mealtimes and begin meetings or special events with a prayer; most often being more motivated by tradition than by a sincere, genuine desire for God’s presence and power in our midst.

The value of prayer really was magnified to me one night while serving as hospice chaplain at Paoli Memorial Hospital. A woman’s husband was in the final hours of dying, and both had previously requested that I not pray in their presence because they were agnostic with no church affiliation. And yet she requested the nurse to phone me at 3:00 in the early morning, asking that I come to the hospital to be with her. Why?

I never felt so helpless and useless. I knew that audible prayer was not valued by her and thus not appropriate. They had no children and very few friends. I remember agonizing, how sad, how lonely it must feel to not value prayer in such times of loss. I wanted to assure her that God was present and loving her. I wanted to audibly pray with and for her, but I was not permitted to do so. All I could offer her was my human presence. And with little conversation I waited with her until her husband died several hours later, for which she thanked me. 

In Mark 9:14-29, we read that it was late morning when Jesus, with his three disciples, came down from the high mountain where the three disciples had witnessed Jesus being gloriously transfigured. But now, at the foot of the mountain, there was a crowd of excited people, and amid the crowd stood the other disciples, humiliated by their failure to cast out the evil spirit that possessed an epileptic child.

After Jesus had healed the boy and the crowd left, his disciples asked him, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”  Jesus’ reply touches one of the deepest mysteries of the Christian life. “This kind can come out only by prayer.” (Mark 9:28-29). Thus, Jesus proclaimed that prayer is a force in the universe, a super-natural force, that God’s people are privileged to tap into.

We tend to forget that our God is all-knowing and knows the opportunities and hazards of the future like the back of his hand. He is also all-powerful and able to steer and energize us through the shadowy and uncertain events of life.

Prayer brings God into our life and work, making us more conscious of his presence. And that awareness fills us with God’s enabling power in decision-making, conversation, and doing. It is the privilege of every child of God to have the super-natural power and energy of God in their life and work.

Prayer connects us to the energy of God. Isaiah said, “…those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (40:31).

Prayer is relational.  It is inviting God into conversation.  Jesus said, “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20). And, most amazingly, you can talk with Him at all hours of the day and in every situation or event in our life.

As a pastor/chaplain, prayer has been and is the strength undergirding my ministry, my one and only remedy for the healing of the whole person – body, mind, and spirit. Without the gift of prayer, I would have nothing to offer those in distress – the sick and dying person, the bereaved family, and their friends, the fearful, the troubled in spirit, and others.

Yes, prayer changes things and persons. I believe in the healing, enabling power of prayer because I have witnessed and experienced its healing balm so many times and in so many different circumstances.

Yes, God’s foremost desire is to relate to us as his sons and daughters. Jesus affirms this in saying, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – August 17, 2022

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley