Bringing God into the Equation

In this class we have covered so much ground, including good listening; anxiety; depression; marital issues; caring for the sick, aging, dying; addiction; and co-dependency. We’ve seen what the Bible teaches on these different subjects as well as how practically to help hurting people facing these realities. Now we are going to focus on bringing people to God so that they can get His help in the situation.

Over and over, Jesus directed people to God rather than himself (Mark 10:17-18; John 5:19, 30; 8:28-29; 12:49-50; 14:10). Jesus modeled the connection to God that all of us should strive for. Consequently, one key way we can help hurting people is to direct them to pray to God (James 5:13-18). If God doesn’t answer the prayer right away, our job is to encourage the person we’re helping to persevere in prayer with dogged determination (Luke 18:1-8).

Depending on how much experience the people whom we are helping have with God, we may need to teach them to pray just as Jesus taught his disciples. Ultimately, our goal is to help people have their own relationships with God, not to depend on us for that connection. If people we are working with have no relationship with God, we should also look for opportunities to share the gospel message with them (Matthew 28:19; Acts 8:12).

What is the connection between faith and healing? Some folks believe that faith not only makes healing possible but even necessitates it. This doctrine has a number of names, but often goes by the moniker, “Word of Faith.” This movement teaches that poverty and suffering result from a lack of faith. Thus, someone with a disability, preventing gainful employment, is to blame for failing to believe enough. Sadly, this can result in blaming the victim instead of other possible causes such as the fallenness of our present evil age. Now, we can have little doubt that Jesus taught several important truths about the importance of faith.

• Jesus called his disciples “you of little faith,” teaching the incredible power of believing (Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 17:20; 21:21-22)
• Jesus said to those seeking healing, “your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22, 29)
• Jesus did not do many mighty works in his hometown because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58)

Thus, faith is the great activating cause that makes healing possible. However, we must recognize the difference between necessary and sufficient causes. Faith is (usually) necessary, but it will not guarantee healing. (Lazarus’ resurrection would be an exception, since he was dead when he got his miracle.) So, faith is incredibly important, but it does not compel God to act or guarantee a desired outcome.

We don’t have to guess about this, because we have two clear examples in Scripture when prayers went unanswered.

• Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, and God didn’t give him what he wanted (Luke 22:42)
• Paul repeatedly prayed for the Lord to remove his thorn in the flesh but didn’t get delivered (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)

Sometimes the answers to our prayers are “No.” Other times we are doing something or not doing something necessary. For example, Scripture teaches us that sin can close God’s ears to our prayers (Isaiah 59:1-3; Proverbs 15:29; 21:13; 1 Peter 3:7). Still other times we need to persevere tenaciously in prayer for years. It’s important not to set false expectations for people. We must convey the balance between our faith and God’s sovereignty to act as He pleases. We pray, we believe, and we pursue healing, but ultimately, it’s up to Him; and we have to be ok with the answer “not yet” or even “no.” We do not serve God for what He can do for us, but because He is supremely worthy of our hearts.

Lastly, as Christians we are open to both spiritual and secular ways of helping hurting people. We believe in prayer and miracles as well as living righteously. However, we also recognize the good that can come from psychiatry, counselling, and other lifestyle changes. Even so, as Christians when we help hurting people, our primary role is always to bring God into the situation.