PRAYER POWER
by Greg Badalian
Before my mom, Joan Badalian, was healed of cancer many years back, we prayed every night it seems and cried out to God for her healing. My dad made a prayer room and he later heard an angel singing several times, "The healer is here", and sure enough, she was healed and has been for many years. Through these days of prayer, we were drawing closer to God. This became a foundation that God has been building on upon our hearts ever since.
Now, do not be mistaken, for although this site is there to share our interest in the healthy foods that God created, we are to not glorify such foods above praying to God for our wellbeing, for we read:
Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!" (Numbers 11:4-6).
Similarly, although Jesus fed the five thousand with "five small barley loaves and two small fish" (John 6:9, 10), he said, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life" (John 6:26-27). For this reason, we can see that the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden is not just a thing of the past, for anytime we become gluttons and raise the importance of food above God, even healthy food, we sin a great sin, and in light of this, it is written:
As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done. Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen (Ezekiel 16:48-50).
The Lord Jesus
One thing that you should know is that Jesus is our Lord and prayers to him are very important, for of one of the first Martyrs we read:
Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." ... While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:55-56, 59-60).
When we see Jesus as the same healer that traveled the dusty streets of Jerusalem two thousand years ago, we can know that the Father has placed him above us as the Savior who loves us and wants us to be blessed. Most of all, like Stephen, our prayer is that the blessing of eternal life can spread to those we seek to be saved.
Inspirational Passages
I pray that the you will not be afraid to pray. Seek God's presence, humble yourself and cry out to him. Below are some verses that I find very inspiration and uplifting when it comes to the amazing practice of prayer that the Bible blesses us with in giving us the keys to it's purpose and power that is to flow freely in our lives, from God's heart to ours. And with that in mind, we go first to the Gospel of Mark's account of the Great Commission:
Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. ... And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well (Mark 16:15, 17-18).
And Paul, concerning the church body of believers, irrespective of time, said:
Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way[: Love!] (1 Cor 12:29-31, 13)
And in James, we read:
If you are having trouble, you should pray. And if you are feeling good, you should sing praises. If you are sick, ask the church leaders to come and pray for you. Ask them to put olive oil on you in the name of the Lord. If you have faith when you pray for sick people, they will get well. The Lord will heal them, and if they have sinned, he will forgive them. If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot (James 5:13-16).
And finally, concerning prayer verses seeking solely the salvation of a doctor, the Bible says:
Hanani the prophet went to Asa and said:
"You depended on the king of Syria instead of depending on the LORD your God. And so, you will never defeat the Syrian army." In the thirty-ninth year of his rule, he got a very bad foot disease, but he relied on doctors and refused to ask the LORD for help. He died two years later (2 Chronicles 16:7, 12, 13).
However, if you are suffering and feel that your faith is as great as ever, then you can take comfort in these words of Saint Paul who said, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me" (2 Cor. 12:7-9), and during his time of trouble, Job said, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised" (Job 1:21). And in the Gospel of John we read:
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life (John 9:1-3).
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