This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the bestselling Prayers for Prodigals, and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray. And now, here's James. Well, welcome to Encouraging Prayer, and today's episode, you know, I don't know if you've ever experienced this, that you prayed and prayed and prayed for healing, but sometimes it doesn't come just in a big, you know, one and done kind of thing.
Right, James? Yeah, yeah. And I really want us to go there today because I've realized an error in my own thinking in this, that, you know, finally seeing that has been really freeing as we talk about praying for healing. And just like you put it, Robbie, that one and done notion, that's often how we see prayer for healing, isn't it? No, it's how I see prayer about a lot of things that I don't need to see it that way, right? Yeah, especially healing.
Yeah, yeah. I think sometimes we can feel like, well, you know, if God didn't answer that request in that moment, then maybe that request wasn't to be. And, you know, I'm not sure why we were conditioned that way.
Maybe it's simply because we want everything here and now. Maybe it's because we do see so many instances of, you know, immediate healing with Jesus in Scripture. But, you know, if you look at Mark chapter 8, there's this incident where Jesus comes to a blind man at Bethsaida, and I just want to read it.
Wait. It starts in verse 22. They came to Bethsaida and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, do you see anything? He looked up and said, I see people.
They look like trees walking around. Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened. His sight was restored and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home saying, don't even go into the village. That's a fascinating moment because it's the only one that we have of a healing where Jesus says, let's try this again.
Right. You know, I love that because here's Jesus, the perfect Son of God, but what he's showing us is that sometimes there may be impediments to healing where our prayers have to be offered a second time. And I say our prayers have to be offered a second time because, you know, I believe that every time Jesus put his hands on someone, he prayed for them. We see that in instances of his healing blind, for example. And what that means is he was always seeking the Father's love and healing power to flow through him. But in this man's particular instance, you know, there was something that was perhaps in the way.
I don't know. But all that matters is we see Jesus himself having to touch the man not once, but twice. What do you make of that? Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. It's absolutely beautiful that if, you know, Jesus needs to pray more than once in some circumstances, for goodness sakes. But it also gives me great faith that there's a reason to keep praying. Right. Exactly.
You see, that's the thing that we're after here. Sometimes when there's someone that we love who is suffering with a prolonged illness and we've prayed for them and we don't understand why they don't get better, of course, you know, the elephant in the room is, well, perhaps it's not God's will to ultimately heal them physically. Perhaps God is calling them home.
Yes, that may be the case. And God is sovereign and he alone knows. But the truth is that he also tells us to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. That's, you know, that's the actual meaning of those words in the present act of imperative in the Greek when Jesus says, ask, seek, knock. So, you know, I think what's going on here is that looking at something like this builds our faith, just as you're saying.
It's like, don't stop trying, you know, keep on. You think of the stories that Jesus tells about persisting in prayer, and we've talked a lot about that just recently. But what effect this has on me is if I've prayed for someone and they have a prolonged illness, my faith is going to continue. It's not, well, I asked and God didn't answer.
Maybe God did answer, but maybe it was just in part and I couldn't see it. So maybe the illness remains, but maybe I need to keep praying, right? Does that make sense? Oh, it makes perfect sense. And the other thing that you have certainly taught me over the years, James, is that one of the benefits of prayer is just like any other relationship. Oh, I get to talk to Jesus again, right?
This is a great thing. It's not a chore or something. It's like, oh, Lord, you know, let's talk. And like the reward of that is, to some extent, it's just in order to connect to your, you know, best friend again.
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. It's a matter of prayer, not just as requests and answers. It's a matter of prayer as being with Jesus. And again, I think it helps us to pray with more faith when we realize, okay, maybe, you know, I'm not seeing the whole picture and maybe God is doing things that I'm not aware of. In this instance, we are aware that there was improvement, but I need to keep praying. So, Francis McNutt, in a book I think I've mentioned recently, The Prayer That Heals, talks about this very thing.
He talks about meeting with a group of people. And of course, he had a gift for healing. And he indicates that when he had prayed for them, you know, he had them raise their hands, how many of them were immediately better? And maybe one or two raised their hands. But then he also said, well, how many of you improved in your condition as a result of praying?
And everyone raised their hand. And he took from that a lesson saying, keep going, keep on asking, you know, keep on seeking, keep on asking. Yeah, it's a process. It's a problem.
Like, my sanctification is glacier-slow from my perspective. It takes a continual, you know, work. But I guess this would be a terrific time for us to pray, James. Let's do it. Lord, help us to love, to love others, to love you again and again with our prayers. Lord, thank you that you do move in ways that we do not see. Help us to have faith. Help us not to be impatient, but just to keep humbly seeking you. Lord, thank you that you wait to meet us every time in Jesus' name. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.
