Humble Yourselves and Pray: A Message for Intercession

by Joy Lamb
Summer 1998

In keeping with the theme of medicine and healing, I want to share a true story with you. Several years ago, I was in a small hospital in Gainesville, Fla., having surgery. As I lay recuperating and listening to the on going chatter of the nurses, the paging of the doctors and the general buzz of daily hospital activity, I wondered why hospitals don't have prayer teams to go around to each room and offer healing prayer as part of their service to the sick.

Later, when my doctor came to make his routine call, I presented him with this question. His answer was more than vague. I immediately knew that not only was this man not much of a believer, but he definitely was not a believer in healing prayer. I went a step further and asked him if he would be willing to bring me the name,of a person who needed healing. I would then take this person's name and give it to the intercessors.

He thought about this overnight and the next morning came into my room to give me a description of the person he had targeted for prayer. He said this person was a young woman with two children who had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor which was growing rapidly. She had been given about three months to live. Then, he told me the woman was his sister. What a test! I immediately began to pray and passed her name on to the intercessors.

In the meantime, I became aware of the patient next door. This man cried out in pain day and night. I questioned the nurses about him and was informed that he was very ill and not expected to live much longer. After I learned this, I was determined to somehow get into his room and pray for him. That night, I literally sneaked next door and laid hands on the poor fellow and prayed for God to heal him. I passed his name on to the intercessors, too.

One of the nurses on my floor was very much overweight and was having all kinds of family problems. I asked to pray for her. She agreed.
Six weeks later, when I returned for my final checkup, my doctor was elated that his sister's tumor had stopped growing. The "man next door" had been released from the hospital, and the nurse had lost 20 pounds.

This all happened eight years ago. I don't know what eventually happened to the man next door or the nurse, but last November the doctor informed me his sister was still doing great. However, she had not been able to get insurance. My response to that was, "No problem — we'll pray!" A week later, he called to tell me she had acquired insurance. God is so faithful.

I still wonder why hospitals and medical facilities don't offer prayer for healing. Are people afraid that if they pray and God heals, then He might be real? Are we afraid to look at Who God really is and how He relates to us? Are we afraid to give up certain lifestyles and make Him the center of our lives? Are we being blocked by a force that keeps us from accepting prayer as the most powerful form of healing? Could prayer be the answer to medical research? Are we afraid we will be ridiculed if we make prayer the solution to problems?

God tells us, "If My people who are called by My name HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land" (II Chronicles 7:14). I think God means He will heal if we are faithful.

Humble ourselves, seek Him, repent of our sins. Isn't that the message of salvation?

Joy Lamb is the Director of Intercessors at CHM.