The man was taken from his house by the police. He was the pastor of a small house church in China. Their gatherings were illegal because they did not want to belong to the state church, subject to the restrictions of the government.

In the middle of the night, police agents appear; they seize him and take him away in their car—but they do not drive to the police station. They go to a house that seems like the home of the superintendent of police and his wife. Their daughter is seriously ill; doctors can do nothing further for her. “Will you pray for her?” is the surprising question. “Will you heal her?”

The answer is just as simple as it is full of faith. “I cannot heal her. I can pray for her and ask God to heal her. Then we must leave it to him.” The parents, in their despair, agree to everything. Then follows a simple prayer wherein the Lord is thanked for his goodness and wherein the heart’s desire of these people is laid before him, with a plea based on his love and grace. After this, the same police car brings the pastor home.

A few weeks later, he receives a visit from the father, mother, and daughter. She has been cured, although no one understands how. Already on that same night of the prayer, she stood up and opened the window to allow in some fresh air and asked for something to eat. The name of Jesus was praised! Three members were added to the illegal house church.

God does great things.

Leaving it to God⤒🔗

Our introduction is merely a story although it might possibly have happened. It was taken from a book, where the author acknowledges various wondrous things to happen because he is deeply impressed by Jesus Christ, who was crucified and arose from the dead, the Lord of heaven and earth.¹

There is a high demand for such books nowadays. The Christian bookstores have a separate corner for “American authors” who write in this manner. The direct intervention of God is good for one thriller after another.

But what struck me in this passage was the peace and simplicity with which the prayer for healing was uttered. Precisely in a book such as this, which magnifies what God can do, it is noteworthy that it still says that we must leave it with God. It clearly shows that the prayer is undoubtedly heard and answered but that this does not have to mean that healing takes place. God can go in a different direction: directions of sickness and health, prosperity and lack thereof, war and peace, freedom and imprisonment or worse. The Christians in China know all about that. God can do anything. He sees our suffering, and yet we cannot claim his power in order to bring immediate change into our situation.

Still There Is More, or Not?←⤒🔗

The claiming of God’s gifts and powers has, from the beginning, spoiled the atmosphere among Christians. Already in the Bible we read about it, and Paul is compelled to oppose it. Certain powers were especially coveted. People thought they were present among the best Christians. They especially coveted speaking in tongues and the gifts of healing. These became a fountain of jealousy. Instead of binding people together, God’s gifts became the cause of separation. People fixed their hopes on specific phenomena and chose that. They pursued those and forgot each other, seriously compromising the unity of the congregation. Through the ages, in waves, a similar influence has repeatedly raised its head. The “ordinary” work of the Spirit is found to be too commonplace, promptly augmenting the search for the exceptional and the spectacular.

Then, systematically, the question also arises whether the church “does enough about it.” Is enough attention paid to the gifts of the Spirit; are they being desired and pursued? Once doubt has been sown, it stands to reason that people will begin to look elsewhere. To further complicate the issue, it appears that faith healing truly does happen. There are many witnesses of it! Why then do we not do more with this? Why do we not let those who are sick come to the front during the service? Why do we not lay our hands on them? Couldn’t you, at least, try it? There are churches around us who experience a complete revival through new attention paid to the Spirit. They attract believers from all directions.

And so, it repeats itself in our time that (certain) gifts from the Spirit are handled in such a way that they create division. In a certain sense they are being claimed anew. And then again, it is about speaking in tongues and having the gifts of healing. Granted, not every believer must have them, but in a congregation, they should surely be found. Otherwise, that congregation is not really busy in the Lord; it is better and more spiritual elsewhere.

Free Grace Cannot Be Ordered←⤒🔗

Fact: we have a mighty God, who is also mighty in his grace. He can do a lot, a lot more than we can even imagine. He is also totally free to let people see this in his own time and manner.

Personally, I have experienced very much of this, in my not all too long existence. When someone tells me how God has healed him from an illness, which was not alleviated by any doctor, I believe him. For that does happen, God regularly astounds you, and that not only with physical healings, but especially with gifts of renewal of spirit and soul. People with whom you could not exchange a single believing word, are made by him to be examples in the congregation. He brings the lost back, sometimes from very far away. Others he brings up out of deep depression. He does all that, and my house would be too small to contain all those of whom I have personally witnessed this. Therefore, let no one accuse me of denying the works of the Spirit, of belittling them, of unnecessary explanation, or of anything of the sort.

What I do want to bring forward with emphasis is this: God can give much, far more than you think, but what he gives can never be claimed as a right.

To be concrete, if someone tells me about a godly wonder in his life, I will share in his thankfulness. But as soon as this same person goes on to contend that we in the church truly do too little with miracles, I will admonish him. The reason is that what God gives cannot be forced into a system by us, and no church can do that. Miracles cannot be ordered. You can ask for them. and following that, you must leave it to God. Otherwise you are being proud and haughty; you think that you can exercise a right to something that is a surprise.

God Does Not Give Everything at the Same Time←⤒🔗

The point is namely, that God can grant healing in many ways, but he has not promised it to us in this life. God makes everything new, but not all at the same time. He begins, here and now, in the hearts, opening them and making them into a dwelling for himself. The person who receives this, rises up into a new life! On the spot, death falls from him (John 5:24). That happens with enormous power, a power strong enough to open all graves in the future. That always stimulates us to expect more from God than we can pray for or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21). He can help us through everything, and he will certainly also do so. Do you have to go through eddying waters? The water will not carry you away! Do you have to go through blazing fires? They will not burn you! This is because you belong to me (Isaiah 43:1-3)!

Therefore, that does not mean that you will be spared the eddying waters or blazing fires. That is imagery representing everything that can make a person feel powerless, a toy for the elements and vicissitudes of life: persecution, sickness, disasters, accidents; just list the things, everything that can drag you down and destroy you. I will bring you through that, says the Lord. But nowhere does he promise that he will keep us from those things, or that he will already take away those difficulties now. That is not the way of it. We will receive a beautiful new body, totally new, but only through the grave, in the resurrection. Meanwhile, here and now, we still have to contend with functions that fail, with sickness, handicaps, and disappointments. Paul knew all about that. He had a thorn in the flesh (whatever that might have been) and he prayed for healing, but the Lord let him know that that was not happening. “My grace is sufficient for you” was the answer (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). It was sufficient to live by, and even to preach the Gospel in distant lands. God desired to show his power through Paul’s weakness. People would come to faith, not through the charismatic Paul, but through the hidden working of the Spirit, which is strong and effective for his the purpose.

Focusing Our Expectations in the Right Way←⤒🔗

That brings me to the simple prayer with and for those who are sick, in order to, together with them, expect all things from the Lord. First of all, we pray that he will be near to us in the time of sickness, then that he will fill us with his love and power so that we may be enabled to walk the difficult road. We pray that he will keep our horizons wide, the horizon of salvation, because the sickbed can make our world so small and introverted. I do really want to say, along with those who are being tested, that we still must continue to entrust our lives totally to him. We do not want to begin to doubt his intentions, for they are directed toward us in Christ. With him, we will receive all things, in God’s own time and way.

Things do not have to improve for a person to be able to be happy. God is our salvation, and he is not dependent on our circumstances in order to convince us of this, deep in our hearts. Whoever can voice that trust in his prayer receives much peace.

Next, it would be a relief if the sickness or trouble would disappear. If that is a deep longing, we are allowed to say it in that manner. As children, we do not have to hide anything from the Father; however, we do not fix our hopes solidly on that. We give him room to take us along another path. We leave that to him, so long as he himself will go with us.

Now, when we pray for each other in such a manner, is there anything missing? Would not God answer our prayers? What can we, as congregation, do more than lifting each other up and entrusting each other to the Lord, in peace and simplicity, and with a large, and especially open expectation?

What if I would invite the sick to come up on stage, and possibly lay my hands on them, would that intrinsically add anything? Would that accomplish more? I am convinced that it would not. What it would do is awaken a greater expectation that God would surely grant it now. And that is exactly what I am afraid of, for I am not in that position. I cannot intervene or decide how God hears prayer; I also do not want to give that impression in any way whatsoever. Healing may also not become more important than God himself. There are already enough people around who, disillusioned with their ailments, had to continue after a misguided expectation.

And imagine this, that we would be able to pray more intensively if we all together concentrate on one sick person. And that we would keep that up for twenty-four hours, or a week, or in a marathon. Would that help? I am convinced it would not, for God does not have a deaf ear. Think of the mockery of Elijah, directed to the priests of Baal. He advised them to call more loudly, for perhaps their God was deep in thought, or on a journey, or asleep and had to be awakened. Ludicrous! This does not represent our relationship with God. You may ask, also beseech, but prayer may not become a means to exert force. It may also not become a “happening” which drives God into a corner. Idols are served in this manner. What then must we do? Go into an inner chamber, Jesus says, and say it in a simple manner befitting your character, for God knows what you want to say; he knows the inclination of your heart.

Therefore, use a simple, open prayer. It is empowered by the Spirit himself, and our Saviour. We do not have to add that power to it; that would be a mistaken understanding.

Know What You Are Praying For←⤒🔗

In that connection, it can be an eye-opener to write a list of the topics which come forth most frequently in your prayer life.

It is so, that God has promised us very much, and that Jesus guarantees us, that when we ask for it, that we will also definitely receive it because he has paid for it, and he himself also prays as our Mediator. Much of that he has compiled for us in the prayer “Our Father.” We may pray that “in his Name,” for he has taught us to say that. When you look into the content of the prayers, using, for example, the tool of the catechism, you realize your life will be totally filled when God gives you all of that. You will stand amazed that you may call upon your Father and that you may receive the same love from him as Jesus, his eternal Son. He desires to fill you with his Name, the Name he reveals through all his works. You are completely involved in it; he does it also for you. He makes your heart a dwelling for the Spirit in order to govern you for salvation and bring all of his kingdom over you. You receive a permanent guard of angels. Your will, which was dead, is made alive. You begin to desire wholeheartedly, like he does. Together with him, you begin to find your joy in his will, a joy that always remains. He gives you boldness to be a Christian, always and everywhere. He grants you forgiveness of sins, eternal life, personal attention, and the world as heritage.

Then you have a lot to ask for, don’t you?! For God desires to hear that you eagerly desire to receive all this from him. For it was not cheap, and it also is not ordinary. Moreover, we totally need his help in order to be able to receive all this during our lives. It is so great and so much that it is beyond us in every respect. Still, in faith, we may grasp it and unwrap all those gifts from heaven. Besides that, we may also pray for that which God has not promised to give us in this life: things such as freedom, health, healing, prosperity, a marriage, children, a diploma, a career and job, and so on. In themselves, these things are good things to long for; that longing may even be very intense, but one cannot expect all of that in this broken life. You may definitely ask for them. You may express everything before the Father, but do it with the understanding that all of this was not promised for this life. That becomes even more clear when you begin to pray for more money, a new bicycle or beautiful weather. You may honestly ask, but give this request a lower order position, since your salvation is not dependent on these things.

Well, now that you have roughly two lists of prayer requests, the promised and the not promised, think seriously and honestly about which one receives the most attention in your prayers. What is the deepest desire of your heart? Does this shock or alarm you?

The trouble is, namely, when the focus lies in the wrong place, that people can so easily announce that God does not answer prayers. Then they have focused themselves on the subjects of the second category, and they let themselves be persuaded that they needed to pray more intensively in order to be granted hearing. Yes, they should expect more from prayer, is the refrain. The conclusion is that they did not receive because they did not have enough faith. Meanwhile, actually they underappreciate the truth of what they did actually receive, through the Spirit; too much to fully understand in this life.

Because the subjects in the second category are not promised, they can never have a reason to claim that God does not answer us. Therefore, they also do not offer a good basis for the thought that, in a congregation, too little is asked of or received from God. When the church prayerfully concentrates on that which God has promised, she will be richly blessed. However, together, we must be willing to see it, and we should probably express it more frequently than we do.

The Gift of the Spirit in All Times←⤒🔗

I came across a totally different remark in this connection from the well-known theologian J.I. Packer. He knows the charismatic movement from the inside out, he values the good in that movement, but he is also not sparing in his critique. He points out that it is not correct to conclude that the gift of healing, which people claim to have, is a continuation of the gift of healing that we read about in Scripture. This is usually the movement’s strongest argument. What Jesus gave to his apostles in the time in which the Bible was gathered together has timelessly been brought forward to our century.

But, how did they heal? How did Jesus do it? They healed directly through their word or through touch. Healing was immediate and enduring. In this way, sometimes, even the dead were raised. They spoke with authority; they did not say a prayer. What the charismatics claim to have today, is therefore, at the most, something that appears to look like it, and wherein, at certain moments, it appears that the touch of God is still as powerful. But that is a totally different thing than saying that in the acts of these people, the New Testament gift of healing is revealed once again.² In the prolonging of this empowerment, many more questions arise.

Arbitrarily, so it appears, it is the less controllable gifts that are pushed to the fore. For example, Jesus also walked on water, and multiplied bread, and the apostles also spoke in all kinds of understandable tongues (languages), namely on the day of Pentecost. Why do people not bring those things to the forefront?

In addition: For Jesus the special gifts and wonders were subordinate to the Word. As soon as they became the most important, when people came for them, Jesus hid himself. Therefore, they cannot be so important now that a faithful, believing congregation, would be judged of shortcoming for that reason (more or less). Note that these are a few concluding remarks, for the purpose of making us think and causing us to be careful. But let us not make ourselves appear to be strong by discrediting what others experience or receive, according to their conviction. Let it be our strength that we prayerfully concentrate on what God has promised and on what he gives. When your life is open to that, you will grow towards him, and you will receive, in him, more than you ever asked for. That is the gift that, in the Spirit, is important at all times.