Looking for a place to feel inspired and challenged? Like to share a smile or a laugh? Interested in becoming more familiar with Canadian writers who have a Christian worldview? We are writers who live in different parts of Canada, see life from a variety of perspectives, and write in a number of genres. We share the goal of wanting to entertain and inspire you to be all you can be with God's help.
Many churches regularly pray for those who are sick. At St. Simon’s NV, we often give thanks for answered prayer, particularly in the area of healing in body, mind or spirit. Healing prayer is mysterious in its effect. In recent years, there have been a number of studies on the effects of healing prayer. Dr. Candy Brown wrote a ground-breaking book entitled “Testing Prayer” which gave preliminary indications that there is a measurable impact in healing prayer. Her research involved the ethnographic approaches of participant-observation, written surveys and oral interviews, clinical measurements and statistical tests, and narrative analysis and archival research. Dr. Brown’s team of researchers used audiometers and vision charts to test hearing and vision before and after times of healing prayer. Many but not all participants in healing prayer showed significant improved function in the post-prayer diagnostic tests. Dr. Brown suggested that the empirically observable effect deserves more research and followup, involving larger-scale more-refined clinical trials of the effects of healing prayer.
Science cannot prove why healing prayer works, but it can measure its effects in helpful ways. The founder of Christianity, Jesus, was consistently involved in teaching, preaching and healing the sick. His early followers regularly participated in healing prayer. For over two thousand years, healing prayers have been offered up for those in need. It is encouraging that careful research is being done, indicating that healing prayer makes an empirical difference. My expectation over the next number of years is that many more scientific tests will be done, that will teach us a lot more about the empirical nature of healing prayer.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
In the darkroom the negative takes form, losing identity as a picture emerges. This aptly named negative belongs to the darkness and can ... -
Write Canada is more than a professional networking conference. It’s a safe place where beginning and intermediate writers can learn ...
-
The mandate of this blog is writing - Canadian Authors Who Are Chrstian - so how do I reconcile the amazing events of the past few days with... -
by Linda Hall If you haven't seen the “Which Downton Abbey Character Are You?” quiz, you soon will. It’s all over Facebook. Being a... -
The phone rang while I was sorting through a mountian of emails. However, its incessant tones shoved its elbow in my ribs and I turned and ... -
-an article for the Light Magazine ‘Healing Pioneers’ series By Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird We will never forget seeing Kathryn ...
-
Recently, I’ve been personally challenged to accept grace and offer it unconditionally to others. It can be rather illusive at times, unti... -
Do you remember that verse in Romans 12 that talks about weeping with those who weep, and rejoicing with those who rejoice? What is the hard... -
I was reminded today of an experience I had when I lived here, in Montreal, in the 1980s. At the time our children were about seven and tw... -
Psalm 33 (Verses 6-9) By the word of the L ORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gat...
1 comment:
Thanks for this piece, Ed. Only yesterday I met a couple with whom I had a conversation in which they shared with me a story of the wife's healing, and the role prayer played in it. That occurred some years ago, and she is now senior and is very well. ~~+~~
Post a Comment