The Theology of Healing Prayer

I would guess that there have been more books, poems, short stories, and songs written about prayer than any other religious practice, and so as I reflect on my personal theology of prayer, I am struck with a sense of awe and wonder for the power of prayer, and what it has meant to so many people from so many various religions. As I reflect on my own life( and I was taught to pray at an early age in the Southern Baptist tradition ), I associated prayer with physical healing, because I experienced a profound  physical healing through my childlike fervent prayers when I was very young.    Perhaps, this is one reason I was drawn to the Unity movement, because its underpinnings are associated with healing prayer.

If you look closely at healing prayer, you may see, as I do, that all prayer is healing in its very nature. When we pray, a healing takes place. It may be a physical healing, an emotional healing, a lack -limitation healing, a spiritual healing or a mental healing. When Jesus prayed, it was often for physical healing for an individual. Often this individual had been sick for a very long time, and Jesus would always ask if the individual wanted to be healed. I believe Jesus knew we can only be healed with our total acquiescence. If we are not 100% surrendered to Spirit when we pray, the outcome can be questionable. When we pray, are we saying that we want to be healed, or we want to have something righted that is out of place? Which is more important?  When we healed at a spiritual level, all other sorts of good things happen. There is an old adage in 12 step programs; “when we straighten out spiritually, then the physical, mental, and emotional will follow.” There have been times in my life when I just could not see the truth to this old adage. When you want something so badly, a physical healing, relationship problem righted, financial crisis averted; it is challenging to pray for spiritual understanding.

Prayer is healing, whether it is for a broken relationship or a broken arm; prayer is the power that heals. And how does this power of prayer work? It works as Charles Fillmore indicated, when he said that prayer is the most powerful form of mind action known to man. Prayer is power, healing power: and it can range in effectiveness from very effective to very ineffective. Effective prayers are rendered by those who believe fully in its power, like I did as a small child. Ineffective prayers are given by those who want to stick their big toe in the pool of prayer to see if it’s warm or not.  We are better off diving in headfirst into the deep end, throwing open our hearts and minds to the absurdness and faith in answered prayer. Think of it this way, would your prayers be more effective if they are given with humility and grace, or with an air of uncertainty and doubt. If we are indeed channels for God’s expression on this earthly level of existence, then it would only make sense that as we open our hearts and minds fully in prayer that our prayers would be more potent.

I want to thank Unity for teaching me how to pray as an adult. When I go with into the silence, and shut the outer door on thought and distraction, I can sense a connection with Spirit. It is in and through this connection with Spirit that prayers are given and answers are received. This interchange, if you will, takes place in the spiritual realm and is not necessarily discernible to the physical ear. If, as we say, Spirit is the true reality of our existence, then prayer is the way we communicate in the “real” world.