healing

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20001123_istruzione_en.html ..." the Instruction on Prayers for Healing released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, he offered guidance on administering the gift"

A book written by a Catholic named Francis MacNutt called Healing ---here are a few quotes:

"You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning

            in Galilee after the baptism that John preached--how God
            anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power,
            and how he went around doing good and healing all who
            were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
            We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the
             Jews and in Jerusalem (Acts 10:37-39, ......)
 
    After this, Peter speaks of Jesus' crucifixion, death and resurrection; but he sums up the entire public ministry of Jesus in terms of what He did rather than what He said , for Jesus established the kingdom of God through the power of healing as well as through preaching.
        The healing of Jesus, then, is central to the doctrine of the gospel.  To deny this is, in effect, to deny the gospel--to change it from good news into good advice, which lacks the power to transform us into a new creation.  In short, Jesus did not heal people to prove that He was God; He healed them because He was God."

pg 110

Then from page 124-5:

Faith, after all, is not in my faith, but my faith is in God--in His goodness and wisdom, in His unfailing listening to my prayers and answering them.  To claim more than this, unless it has been specifically revealed that a given person is going to get well, is to make ourselves into a counterfeit trying to play God.

                  The way, then , to pray in faith is this:

a) to turn to God in the complete trust that He knows what is best , that He loves us more than anyone else and that He has the power to accomplish whatever we need;

b) to accept as normal our doubts about our own adequacy and about what is going to happen after we pray;

c) to see that the faith-action we need to take is to pray for the sick (when our guidance in prayer indicates this);

d) to leave the results up to God. Ordinarily we need not keep after the person we have prayed for to prove results. 

end of quote. He makes a distinction between the faith in healing that all Christians have and the special "gift of  faith" the Bible mentions. This is why some will say , I believe God can heal and has the power to heal you, but I can not predict what will happen when I pray. Those with a gift of healing and discernment then can and do pray with more authority.

Pray for what we need but don't determine the way or time God may answer it. He mentions process healings . He suggests one to pray and leave the results to God. Must be in an attitude of faith and love.

"Personally, I find it easier to be myself when I pray if I am thinking only of God's love. I find no need to raise my voice, no need to assume an authoritative posture.  I can just be myself, knowing that anything good which results is accomplished through God's will, His power and His love, and not through any efforts of my own to generate a faith that the sick person does not have. In short, we must take God seriously but we must not take ourselves too seriously.  Healing is not so much a test of faith as it is the natural response to God's generous love" (pg 153)

He mentions that not everyone is healed and that is a mystery hidden from our understanding. He does affirm that it is God's ordinary will for people to be healed.

He mentions 4 things that may need healing or prayer page 162:

1)prayer for repentance for personal sin;

          2)prayer for inner healing ("healing of memories") for emotional problems

 3) prayer for physical healing for physical sickness;

           4)prayer for deliverance (exorcism) for demonic oppression.

He mentions Mark 11:24,25--need for the person to forgive others--a connection between answered prayer and having forgiveness.

James 5:16--confessing sins so you may be healed. Sometimes a need for both repentance and healing prayer together for there to be healing.

He mentions you just don't go in a hospital and try to heal everyone. There is need for wisdom, knowledge, discernment in apply gifts. This is why he often works with a team.

mentions different reasons for not healing:
1. lack of faith
2. redemptive suffering
3.a false value attached to suffering
4.sin (ie if  one has resentment no healing likely unless dealt with etc)
5. Not praying specifically
6. faulty diagnosis--ie praying for physical healing when inner healings was the basic need; praying for deliverance from evil spirits , when inner healing was the basic need; praying for inner healing when deliverance was the basic need.
7. refusal to see medicine as a way God heals
8. not using natural means of preserving health--the ordinary means of keeping balance in our lives--rest,etc
9. now is not the time. Four time sequences-some healings instantaneous, some after a dela, some a process, gradual, and others do not occur at the physical level
Perhaps now is not the time.
10. a different person is to be the instrument of healing.
11 the social environment prevents healing from taking place--some not healed until our relationships and our society are healed. root cause needs removal. I Cor 11 many weak and sick and even died v 30