Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders . . . to pray over him. (James 5:14)
DURING A HEATED DISCUSSION with another pastor, I exclaimed, “I do not believe divine healings happen today. This was something God only did in the past. Educated believers do not believe in superstitious healing. I am sure John Wesley would agree with me!”
A few weeks later, this discussion resumed. My pastor friend stated, “I decided to do some research on what John Wesley did believe. For your information, Wesley did believe in, and practiced, the use of prayers for healing on behalf of others and even for ailments that he himself was experiencing.
In his journal, dated May 8, 1741, he wrote,
I was obliged to lie down for most of the day, being easy only in that posture. At the Love feast which followed (the service) beside the pain in my back and head, the fever still continued upon me. Just as I began to pray, I was seized with such a cough that I could hardly speak. At the same time came strongly to my mind, “These signs will accompany those who believe” [a reference to healing power found in Mark 16:17]. I called on Jesus aloud to “Increase my faith” and “to confirm the word of His Grace.” While 1 was speaking the pain vanished away, the fever left me, my bodily strength returned and for many weeks I felt neither weakness nor pain.
Pray that God will heal you or someone you know.
Jim “Umf” Lo is the coauthor of Unholiness: Overcoming the Forces That Attack Your Soul.
© 2018 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
