For a lifetime, I have struggled with prayer. I have questioned its validity and purpose. My lifelong lessons with prayer range quite a bit, from forgiveness to cancer. In fact, cancer is my nemesis, truthfully. This year, I am stepping into a challenge with it.
Let me provide a little bit of background. When a pre-teen, my grandfather died to cancer. I spent my teen years and young adult years reasoning that prayer could not trump God's will, so prayer quickly became useless effort. As I became interested in spirituality and awakening, my journey led me to at least send positive vibes in lieu of prayer.
Though the how and my beliefs about prayer evolved, my general faith and life purpose did not. Most recently, my path is leading me back to take authority in prayer, in particular healing prayer. Faced with health dilemmas of 2020, cancer is of course in the note. At the beginning of the year, I knew this year was one for me to step into who I am.
I am still figuring out what that means, but I am just now coming to terms with stepping into Authority specifically. I don't exactly have a very trusting relationship with prayer, and in fact, a lot of doubt and question. However, I am finding that faith is the opposite of doubt. Faith proclaims.
In addition to teaching that one must have faith for answered prayers, Jesus also taught (though recorded less) about authority in healing. Yes, faith is a bigger deal; yet authority and faith go hand-in-hand. Faith is something you know from the inside, from your heart; and faith is proclaiming that into reality. Authority is not like a dictator type of authority. Rather it is about knowing your place in the realm of interdimensional healing.
Interdimensional healing is really what is going on when healing occurs. God is Energy and God is Source of that Energy. Humans who have souls are energy, simultaneously existing in multiple dimensions (our soul manifests the physical state while maintaining a spiritual/mental state). When healing occurs, the human healer stands as a middle-ground, or corridor, for healing energy to flow from Source to the one in need.
Somewhere in my childhood, I didn't complete my self-esteem lessons. In several instances throughout my life, authority was something I disregarded and also couldn't take on. However, I look at things differently now because I am taking on a new perspective of prayer.
A healer who does not know their authority does not heed much service towards performing interdimensional healing. Jesus gave his disciple authority to do certain things (Matthew 10). Speaking as God, we can see how healers have authority. Jesus showed his disciples just how to do this, of which faith was emphasized the most.
The truth is, 100% of cancers are able to be healed, but why aren't 100% of cancers gone? It can be done; a small percentage of cancers have vanished miraculously - ask a doctor who has seen it. My nemesis in healing cancer is a monster and I am scared of cowering, doubt, intellectual reasoning, defaulting to medical advice, and more. Let me pose a question. Luke, who recorded significant events of Jesus' lifetime (including from his birth to ascension), was also a medical physician. Do you think Luke therefore questioned Jesus' authority to heal diseases without use/practice of medical knowledge?
I may not be a doctor, and chances are that those fishermen didn't know much about curing health conditions either, but carnal knowledge doesn't compare to spiritual faith. I realize that Jesus gave those fishermen authority to heal, and some of those fishermen performed authoritative healings. As Jesus taught and demonstrated, faith is a critical element in prayer design. To many who believed in his healing power, Jesus continually reaffirmed that it was "[their] faith that made [them] well."
If you have watched Disney's new film, Onward, then you may know that practicing authority takes practice. (To be fair, there are some things I disagree with about Onward, but it really does bear some truth, especially to the fact that we can cause something to happen just on faith and authority.)
Having faith is in the authority. To put things in perspective, I have been told that I have authority (through Jesus) to heal sickness and disease. I have wondered for my lifetime, why it doesn't work even if you believe and pray and fast. The missing key was authority. I have authority to heal cancer. I have authority to heal heart disease. But do I have faith in my authority? That is what I am working on right now.
"While they may believe that they asked for their prayers to be answered, if their asking was simply the words 'Please let these things happen,' then he [Jesus] says that this isn't a language Creation recognizes. He reminds his disciples that they must 'speak' to the universe in a way that's meaningful."
- Gregg Braden, from Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer: The Hidden Power of Beauty, Blessing, Wisdom, and Hurt
