Selfish?

I received a call the other day to go and visit a couple who desperately needed counsel. When I arrived I was greeted by a middle aged couple. The room that I was escorted into was comfortable at best, and their hospitality was more than gracious. The look that both of them had was one of both pain and despair. You could feel the tension as well as the confusion as it thickened the air. After the normal introductions we gathered together and I asked what I could do to help them. She began by telling me that she was given news that they were not prepared themselves for. Her doctor has done all that he could for her and there was nothing else that they could do. They knew that this day would eventually come but had not expected it this early.

They both seemed to take turns talking as one was over come with distraught or anxiety the other would take up where the other left off. They were both just recently retired and they had plans of growing old together and now this news came crashing in. Her time was now running out and there was noting immediately that doctors or medicine could do for her. There were no more possibilities of surgery; nothing left for the doctors could do to help.

She was now beyond her expertise; they were told that there was little that anyone could do for her. They had gone home and poured themselves into each other, they wept and held each other for hours not knowing what to do or where to turn. Asking each other what can we do or where can we go. What is left for us? Was 45 years of marriage going to end this way or is there anything left?

As I listened the first thing that I knew that I needed to do was to give them hope and encouragement from the Word of God. My first thought was to make sure that they knew Christ. I had to make sure that they knew Him as their personal saviour. After the affirmation that they knew Him I began to give them the assurance that only Christ Himself can give.

I clearly remember her saying, “I do not want to pray selfishly.” To which I replied, “What is praying selfishly?” Are we not allowed to ask anything for self? Does God only answer prayers that we ask for others needs and not our own? I do not believe that is what Christ intended or desires of us. The Lord’s Prayer clearly tells us to ask. We find that there are other scripture that teaches us the same. “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 18:189 (NKJV) “…ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (James 4:2b-3 KJV) “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3 KJV)

We find that King Hezekiah prayed for healing and was granted 15 more years as found in Isaiah 38. Can this same thing not be true with us today? Are we not allowed to ask for healing? Is not the God that Hezekiah served is the same one that we do and He is still on the throne? God heard his prayer and answered, cannot God hear and answer a similar prayer form His children today?

The bible also tells us something very interesting about Elijah (or Elias which is the Greek transliteration of Elijah), it says that he was a man of like passion as we are in James 5:17-18, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. (18) And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” Though this passage talks about rain, we find that in the entire passage found in 1 Kings 17-18 that Elijah had a great confidence in God to ask what he wanted. He also asked for healing of the widow’s son in chapter 17.

If we go to 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 we cannot help but notice the pleas of the apostle Paul in verses 7 & 8, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. (8) Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.” (NKJV) Paul was troubled by some personal illness that he requested relief from though God said no, He did not rebuke him for asking for personal healing.

It is not wrong to request health and healing form God, nor is it entirely praying selfishly and this dear lady thought. We must also remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (NKJV) Notice the words “…in everything by prayer and supplication…” God says in everything, which would include what some call “selfish” prayers.

So the question is, Can God hear and answer our prayer when it comes to healing? Or, do doctors have the last say? Can the prayer, asked in faith overcome that which reality and all actuality say it can’t? The answer is absolutely! James tells us, “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.” James 5:17 (NKJV)

One final thought, our position in Christ should be such that we should yearn to go home to Christ which is better as Paul states in Philippians 1:23-24, “For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. (24) Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.”(NKJV) Yet at the same time, our desire is to be here with family friends and loved ones. It is the human side of us that desires to stay and be with family. It is the human side that finds it hard to let go. We do know that the believer has a heavenly home. If our family belongs to Christ here on earth, we will see them again once we are reunited in our heavenly home.