The Order of St. Luke The Physician in The United Kingdom Benevolent Society
Healing and a New Beginning
Christian Healing Ministry Pamphlets By Hilda M. Moore
KNOWING GOD.
I have mentioned a number of times the importance of getting to know God and one of the things I have noticed when talking with people who have asked for our prayers is how little they do know Him. Someone said to me the other day "Oh yes, I do believe in God but I never go to Church." I wonder how much contact people like this really do have with Him. There are many people who only think about God when they fall sick or when they are in trouble of some kind. They do not realise what a wonderful companionship they are missing by not knowing Him.
This is one of the things that we can do for our sick friends. Besides praying for their physical healing we can also help them to get to know God; to show them how they can make a friend of Him; to show them that He is always there ready and waiting to help them in their time of need, and ready also to share their pleasures. But before we can do this we must be sure that we ourselves really know Him.
I expect most people have heard that lovely tenor solo "If with all your hearts ye truly seek Me". We hear it so often as a solo that we sometimes forget that it is part of a larger work, so here is a reminder of the story. It is from Mendelssohn's Oratorio "Elijah". In the first book of Kings (Chapter 14) it tells how Ahab the king did evil in the sight of the Lord, and how he worshipped Baal and encouraged the people to do likewise. The Oratorio tells how Obadiah, who was in charge of the king's household, was a good man and was very distressed by all this, and how he calls upon the people to forsake these idols and repent and return to God. He tells them that God is merciful and kind and slow to anger. Then follows this song.
There are very few words in it really, but what a lot these few words can say to us. What an appeal there is in the words "Oh that I knew where I might find Him." People today are still saying the same thing; still have the same difficulty in finding Him. I was talking with someone the other day who said that he himself had no belief in God and that he envied those who had and wished that he also had it. Thinking over our conversation afterwards I could not help wondering how hard he had tried to find God. The song says "If WITH ALL YOUR HEARTS". How many of us do seek Him "with all our hearts"? Jesus said seek and ye SHALL find, knock and it SHALL be opened unto you." (Matthew 7 v 7).
This is one of the promises of Jesus and we know that His promises can be relied upon, but we have to do our part towards it. We have to put ourselves in the way of meeting up with Him. If we wish to meet a friend we do not just hang around hoping we shall meet him somewhere. We go to his home and knock on the door. We seek him out. We have to make some effort and it the same with God. We can go to Church every Sunday and can listen to the sermon and join in the hymns and the prayers, and then we can go home and forget all about it till the next week. But this is no way to find God.
Why is it that so many people are uncomfortable if one talks about God? We need to talk about God if we are to get to know Him at all. We need to seek out the people who have already found Him and to discuss our problems with them. Then most of all we need to TALK WITH god Himself and bring Him into our lives and share our lives with Him.
But do we really want to do this? Are we prepared to accept the responsibilities this would bring with it? When we are in trouble we like to feel that God is there and that we can call upon Him to help us out of our difficulties, but what about the times when we are enjoying ourselves with worldly pleasures? Would all the things we do then bear His scrutiny? Would we still want to find Him then? Is this the reason why so many people are unable to find Him because they are unwilling to pay the price because they are unwilling to accept the responsibilities that finding Him brings? It may mean giving up some of the things we enjoy doing and it may mean giving our money and our time in His service.
There are many people working in our Churches who HAVE done this and I think you will find that they will tell you that anything they have given up has been well worth while; that the benefits they have received in the way of peace of mind, happiness, contentment and a sense of being a member of the family of God, are worth far more than any worldly pleasures they may have given up.
So if we would really help our friends, let us show them how to find God, and let us be sure that we are keeping our own contacts with Him in order by meeting up with Him daily. Even Jesus found it necessary to do this. There were times when He went apart from the crowd to a quiet place. He needed to turn aside like this occasionally in order to have a quiet time with His Father while He replenished Himself for the work He had to do. We also need to replenish ourselves in this way.
Whether we wish to pray for our own healing or for the healing of our friends we need to draw near to God; to fill ourselves with His peace and His love. So that all our fears and tensions will be swept away and with them will go many of our sicknesses. In fact we need to do more than draw near to Him. We need to touch Him. Coming near is not enough and will not bring healing. The woman who touched the hem of His garment recognised this need to touch Him and although it was not an easy thing for her to do she found the courage to do it.
In these days we cannot touch Him physically as she touched Jesus but we can be in close contact with Him by sharing our lives with Him and by telling Him everything. It will not always be easy to do this and we shall need to have the courage to examine our motives for some of the things we do. Some of our thoughts and feelings are not always those of a Christian but whatever our failings we can be assured of His love and ask His help in dealing with them. Then we must wait and listen for His answer.
I said this to someone a little while ago and she said "But I can't hear Him. How do I know when He is speaking to me when I cannot hear Him?" I discovered that she was actually expecting to hear a voice speaking to her. I believe that there are very many ways in which God is speaking to us without the use of words. He speaks to us through our emotions. When we feel a surge of sympathy for someone in trouble God is speaking to us. When we feel stirred by beauty of sight or sound, again He is speaking to us. I think especially at the moment of Handel's Messiah and the glorious Hallelujah Chorus, when the audience will rise to their feet and stand while it is being performed.
One occasion I remember particularly was in Birmingham Town Hall. We were a very large choir and the Town Hall was packed. I am sure God spoke to many people that night. I myself felt very moved and uplifted and judging by the way in which the people around me were singing I think many of them felt the same.
When I was on holiday a few years ago I noticed that there was a seat in the garden at the house where I was staying and an the back of the seat it said this. "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help." The view from this seat was simply magnificent and whenever I had the opportunity I would sit there and gaze up to the mountain and listen to God speaking to me through the beauty around me. There is a house near where I live which has a plaque in the garden which says "The kiss of the sun for pardon, the song of the birds for mirth, one is nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else an earth.'' Whenever I pass I find myself saying a little prayer of thanks to God for the beauty of the earth.
These are some of the ways in which God speaks to me, but there are very many other ways in which He speaks to people. The world is full of lovely sights and sounds if only we would look and listen for them. God spoke to the people of the New Testament days through the parables and stories that Jesus told to them, many of which they did not understand at first. They had to look and listen for the meaning, and as they gradually got to know God better through the teachings of Jesus, so they were better able to hear Him speaking to them.
I think we should do well to pause awhile here and consider what we ourselves think about God. When we speak of God what kind of a picture do we hold in our minds? I have said to a number of people lately "What do you mean by God?" and every one has had great difficulty in putting it into words, One person sees Him as a Father figure who can supply all our needs. Another visualises Him in human form, similar to the pictures we see of Jesus Christ. Another described God as a vast area of darkness mysterious and unknown and another as an area of light like the sun. One person thinks of Him as a God of judgement who sits somewhere "up there'' watching what we do and marking up all our actions for or against, us ready for the Day of Judgement. Another said that when sitting on top of a mountain he had a sense of awareness, of being in the presence of the Creator of all things; the maker of winds etc., and a sense of belonging to Him. Another thought of God as the principle from which we all came and another as the intelligence behind the Universe and another as an all-enveloping love. Many of these ideas are all right as far as they go, but not one of them makes God nearly big enough.
Having said that I feel I must put forward my own idea of God, but I also find it difficult to find the right words to express my deep innermost feelings; words that are simple enough for anyone to understand, and yet at the same time deep enough to express the bigness of God. I hesitate to use the word Father, as there are many people in the world to whom their human father is a person to be feared rather than loved, and this could create a wrong picture.
To me God is a power greater than one can even begin to imagine; a power that can reach out higher, wider and deeper than we can imagine; a power that can give or withhold anything. At the same time a loving and understanding power that has such confidence in His own handiwork Man that He has given us free will, and placed us on this earth to do His work; to be co-workers with Him and help to carry out His great plan for ultimate good. God is love in action.
If we are going to be co workers with God in this way we need to practise this ministry of listening as there will be times when God will want us to listen to someone on His behalf. There are far more talkers than listeners in the world, and to be a good listener we must learn to listen with our heart as well as our ears. God needs people who are willing to share and feel and help to carry the burden of some of His other children, and by doing this to begin to point the way to Him; to that friendship with Him that can mean so much to a lonely or unhappy person; that friendship which only comes with knowing Him and listening to Him.
If we would really help another person in this way we must learn first of all to accept that person AS HE IS and to feel his troubles as though they were our own; to share with him the burden of his troubles so that he is no longer alone; to go with him as he searches for a way out of his difficulties. Not to criticise or condemn him; not to judge him, however mistakenly he has acted; just to be with him, helping and supporting him while he sorts himself out; perhaps praying with him and certainly praying for him.
Jesus Christ came into the world to share with us the burdens we have to carry and the hurts that come our way. This task He committed to His Church, to all whom follow Him, to you and to me. He now has no body on this earth; no hands, no feet, no mouth to speak and no ears to listen with. He has committed this task to us to be His body on this earth. This is a great responsibility and we need to ask ourselves if we are doing our best for Him in this way. There are many lonely and troubled people around us all the time; people who just want someone to talk to. Very often it is this need that is the basic cause of a person's sickness, and this is one way in which many of us could help our fellow men. As we learn to listen in this way on God's behalf, we shall find ourselves drawing ever nearer to Him and better able to recognise His voice when He speaks to us.
PRAYER FOR USE AT A DISCUSSION GROUP.
0 God, our Father, there are so many things within us which so often keep us from hearing Your voice as we ought. Take from us everything that would keep us from hearing Your voice today, and help us to listen, to understand.
Help us not to give up thinking, questioning, enquiring until we really find what a thing means. Help us to listen and to remember; help us not to hear and then go away and forget all about what we have heard. Give us minds which are interested, for only then can we have memories which are retentive.
Help us to listen and to act; help us to put into practice that which we have learned. And help us to remember always that words are poor things without deeds, and that faith without works is dead.
And so grant that hearing, understanding, remembering and doing may ever go hand in hand, and that the Healing Ministry once again finds its rightful place in Your Church.
These things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ.
They crossed the lake and came to land at Gennesaret, where the people recognised Jesus.
So they sent for the sick people in all the surrounding country and brought them to Jesus.
They begged him to let those who were ill at least touch the edge of his cloak; and all who touched it were made well.
Matthew 14- 34,36
“But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13 v13)