Prayer: A Conversation with God - Week 4 - 1/19/25
Healing and Deliverance
Some conversations with God begin from a place of need—sometimes from a place of weakness, a place where there is hurt, pain, or infirmity.
When we need healing, we find ourselves reaching out to Him. Maybe we need more than just a visit to the doctor—maybe we've been to the doctor more times than we can count, and we're sick and tired of the endless appointments.
Perhaps you are on a faith journey where, at the first sign of discomfort, whether it’s a sniffle or pain, you go to the Lord in prayer. Wherever you find yourself today, I have great news: the healing we read about in the Bible is still alive and active today.
We are to pray in faith, ask for healing and deliverance, and engage in continual, fervent prayer and we believe and trust Him.
Healing
There are countless scriptures about healing, and I know you are familiar with many of them.
James 5:13-16 NKJV
"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? 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. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."
Mark 5:25-34 tells the story of a woman who had been suffering for twelve years. She had spent everything on doctors, but nothing had helped. When she heard about Jesus, she touched His garment in faith, believing that she would be healed. Immediately, her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was healed. Jesus responded, “Your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
Faith is a catalyst for healing, but as I mentioned earlier, even someone like Paul, a mighty man of faith, had a condition that was not removed.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me my grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Paul—who was beaten, shipwrecked, and bit by a deadly snake, shook the snake off into a fire and kept going. Paul still had a struggle that God did not remove. But through that struggle, God's power was displayed in Paul’s weakness.
Intercession
Praying on behalf of others.
It’s a command- 1 Timothy 2:1
Jesus is praying this way for us- Romans 8:34
We’re shown in James 5:16 we help each other through intercession.
Intercession has to come from a heart of compassion and love. Not a passive prayer, but a commanding prayer willing to stand in the gap, to cover all the bases, and willing to go into the trenches of your friend's pain and suffering.
Many examples in the Bible - Jesus interceded for His disciples, Moses interceded for Israel, Paul interceded for the churches. These were men who loved these people and were willing to plead with God on their behalf.
When we take time to intercede, we are literally co-laboring with God. In Ezekiel 22:30, this is God speaking through Ezekiel. He wanted intercessors and couldn’t find any!
God is inviting us to participate in His plan for the world, and intercession is one of those ways.
Moses- great example. Exodus 32 shows how He was co-laboring with God for the Israelites, and God was about to destroy them all, and Moses interceded. He stepped into the mess and pleaded with God on their behalf. He stood in the gap between God and the destruction of people and asked God to relent, and God did. All because of an intercessor named Moses.
Our prayers are important and they are powerful. Intercession helps align our hearts to God’s will.
How to intercede:
Pray consistently and persistently.
Keep in your mind that God is listening and working on your behalf even though you may not see anything happening.
Pray with faith only allowing thoughts of a good outcome into your mind as you pray.
Unify your prayers with others. Matthew 18:19
Pray God’s word over the situation; this helps make sure our prayers are aligned with His promises.
Now, what happens when you do all of these things and it doesn’t work?
1 Cor 13:12- we don’t know why, we can’t see the reasons or the answers why it worked one time and seemingly didn’t work another. We can’t see all of the mysteries of the world. All I know is that Jesus left us no other precedent but to believe for healing when we intercede on behalf of another so that is what we can continue to do.
So my challenge to you is to take up the call of intercession. Develop a habit of interceding for others. Not passively throwing out a prayer while you’re doing something else, but daily interceding on behalf of others, being a Keeper to them, willing to go the distance.
Intercession is a privilege, not a burden, and we can live our days seeing miracles right before our eyes, knowing we co-labored with God for that miracle, what a privilege He allowed us to come alongside what He is doing on the earth. It’s an honor we can never take for granted.
Deliverance
Deliverance is another powerful aspect of God's healing. The Hebrew word Jehovah Mephalti means “My Deliverer” or “My Deliverance.”
Psalms 40:13
"Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; make haste to help me!"
Psalms 40:17
"But I am poor and needy; Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God."
David, in Psalm 40, called out to God for deliverance from his enemies and from the chaos in his mind. And in verses 13 and 17, he asks God to act quickly. King David didn’t hesitate to call on Jehovah Mephalti for help, and neither should we.
Discipleship
Our minds can be our biggest battlegrounds. We often believe we are unworthy of peace or that our past mistakes disqualify us from living a life of freedom in Christ. But I want to remind you that we negotiate poorly when we’re down.
One way to reclaim our peace and deliverance is through consistent discipleship—getting into God's Word week after week, learning what He says about us, seeing how He has worked in the lives of those who have repented. As you immerse yourself in God's Word, it will change how you see yourself, your future, and others around you.