Into the Hands of Power
About this time I decided that seeing as how I didn’t have much control of this journey, I should really put it into the hands of someone who could take control. I made a conscious effort to commit my Epic to my Heavenly Father.
Mirror in Margao Restaurant, India
I sent, in part, the following email to a bunch of people: “. . . I will really appreciate your continuing to hold me up in prayer. Not so much for healing, as nice as that would be, but for strength and faith from the Father to rely on Him to get through this in a way that will bring honor and glory to Him. My daughter had Philippians 4:13 stamped on the new binding of my Bible: ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.’ I claim that promise in the name of Jesus.”
That added to the web of prayer that was already spreading out. Two churches I had been attending, Creekside Community Church and Oakridge Adventist Church, were both praying for me. My sister-in-law asked two churches in Colorado to pray for me. My daughter emailed her vast community of friends asking them to pray for me. My friends and sisters were doing the same. Many responded saying they were praying for me, and others said they were sending good energy or vibrations my way.
All this affected me deeply. I didn’t quite know how to take it, but it surely felt good! Do you think it had a positive affect on my attitude and state of mind? For sure!
The Anointing
Quite frankly, it had not occurred to me that I could be anointed, so I was a bit taken aback when Pastor Colin suggested it. For some reason I think of things like that as being done by someone else. It just doesn’t occur to me that I should consider it.
Being anointed . . . hmmm. I had never been to one, so I wasn’t sure what was involved. The Bible speaks about it, but really doesn’t give instructions. James 5:14 says, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” So, it seems people pray over the sick one, and he is anointed with some oil.
Verse 15 goes on to say, “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
I have heard that text quoted before, and heard of people who were anointed and then didn’t get well. The reason given for no healing was lack of faith.
If the person isn’t healed, does that mean their sins aren’t forgiven either?
That is pretty scary, isn’t it? If you are anointed, but aren’t healed, you don’t have enough faith. And, your sins aren’t forgiven. Would I be confident enough in my faith to allow that test?
Wait a minute. Should healing be a test of faith? Is this something where God will publicly lift you up, or put you down, based on your faith? Does God forgive sins based upon faith? That doesn’t sound Biblical. And, it doesn’t sound like the God I have grown to trust.
I decided to look more carefully at that passage, and I noticed something. Verse 15 does NOT say the prayer of faith shall heal the sick. It says they will SAVE the sick. Does that mean healing? It could. But it immediately goes on to say that his sins will be forgiven him.
What is involved in salvation? Healing, or forgiveness of sins? Obviously the latter.
Whew! I can handle that!
I was anointed June 19th and thus began the most profound experience with God I had had in the 20 years I have been a believer. That experience continues up to today.
That afternoon Sandra, my daughter, Adrianna, and her husband Josh, my surrogate brother/son Michael, Pastors Don, Colin and Jim were scheduled to be at the anointing and, amazingly, everyone showed up! I was sure that there would be scheduling conflicts but appointments were changed in order to be there.
Tara and Byron also came. Unbeknownst to me, Adrianna had asked Pastor Colin to announce in church that we were going to have this get-together and for anyone interested in attending should see him. At that time, I didn’t know either Tara or Byron all that well, so I was really touched they thought it important enough for them to be there.
We spent time sharing scriptures that were on our hearts and then Colin talked about what we wanted to accomplish – the total surrender of our will to God’s, trusting that He would cause something that would honor and glorify Him to come out of whatever happened. Certainly, we prayed for healing for me and I was anointed with oil, but the most important thing was complete surrender of our will to God’s will. It is ok to tell God what we want. We just need to remember that God can often bring better results by doing it His way. We need to trust in His infinite love, and just let Him do it.
The actual ceremony was short, but we had all been together for a couple of hours. The time had flown by and we all felt much closer to each other and to God. As I look back on that experience, my heart overflows with gratitude to God for bringing that wonderful group together to lift my wife and I up and encourage us.
No miraculous healing, though. I understand now why God decided that was best.