Pray Believing

July 25, 2019

The call came out of the blue. “I didn’t want to say anything till we got the scan results, but It’s cancer.” My friend went on to relate a few of the details, which were not very encouraging. He is planning on stopping by tomorrow on his way to his brother’s home in Buffalo. I had expected to be away, but changed plans. I want to be here to pray with him. 

We’ve shared some wonderful experiences over the years since I first met him, and have also shared some of our deepest struggles and disappointments, all in the context of our faith in Christ. We talked many times of how we might partner together for the sake of the Gospel, and now it looks as if those plans could vanish like the morning fog. I am always somewhat conflicted with news like this. It’s easy to pray for something you’re pretty certain will work out anyway. Praying for someone to recover from the flu—we can do that with confidence. Cancer? Well, that’s another story. We tend to hedge our bets, tacking “if it be Thy will” to the tail end of our petitions to cover our backs if it doesn’t happen. 

Over the years as I have prayed for many people and seen miracles and complete prayer flops, I’ve learned a few things, the most important of which is, I don’t need to protect God. I no longer pray tentatively when confronted with what look like impossible odds. If God actually answers prayers, nothing is impossible, and hedging my prayers with unbelief and doubt doesn’t seem to be a good practice. So I pray boldly for healing...even when the odds are stacked against it. Time will tell if God has other plans or if we’re dealing with an end of life situation. Generally speaking, I have to believe that God wants people healed; that’s what salvation is all about—healing of body, soul, and spirit. How God accomplishes that is his business; mine is simply to pray believing, which prayer I offer for my friend tonight.