Although raised in church, I grew up with an attenuated sense of God’s power. God was presented as a distant figure: somewhere up above. He was definitely concerned with my eternal destiny but not so involved with my day to day life. The age of miracles was over. The idea of a direct intervention in my life was a theoretical possibility but not easily imagined or expected. Prayers for help were no more than good luck charms. A rabbit’s foot might do as well. Prayers for healing were something we said, not in expectation of physical healing but in to comfort the ill.

One day I was praying with a sick woman. I was praying mechanically. When I had finished I managed to see the woman out and then I collapsed. For the first time in my life I understood the bible story of the woman with the hemorrhage. (Mark 5:25 ff) In the story the woman with the hemorrhage touched the edge of Christ’s clothes and was healed. Jesus, felt “power go out” and turned to see. I understood it, because as I prayed with that woman I felt power go out. So much power went out I could not keep my feet.

All of a sudden it occurred to me that the stories were real. Not just history, not just tales to comfort the ill, but real. I had felt power go out. A few days later I found out that the woman I had prayed with experienced a significant healing. I had experienced something that I thought was not real. I was forced to rethink how I thought about God and how He acts in the world.

In our day spirituality has been reduced to an emotion, or to a state of mind. Yet in the bible we find that the spiritual is talked about not as something internal but as a force that has a direct effect on the material. Elijah stopped the rain. The Red Sea was parted. Water was turned to wine. The blind were made to see, the lame to walk and the maimed made whole. And that is just a short list. These events are all God’s spiritual power physically changing the world around us. Indeed the bible tells us that God’s power will continue to effect and change the material world around us. John 14: 12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Specifically we are told that the gift of healing will continue (1 Corinthians 12:9).

Today many Christians in the west have pushed away the idea of a God who interacts with the world. We have become comfortable with a distant God. One who is concerned with our “spiritual life” defined as our emotional and mental health in relation to His revelation. Perhaps this is why so many Christians today believe in a spiritual heaven and give almost no thought to the general resurrection to come.

Why? Why have we diminished the power of God and the witness of His word written? Could it be that the reality of God’s power makes us uncomfortable? If God actual heals in response to prayer, if God’s power is real and present today, if God can act in the world today just the way the book says He can – what else that the book tells us might be true?

If God’s power to heal is real maybe the idea of angels might be real. If angels are real, what about fallen angels? If fallen angels are real, is Satan real? Is hell real? Is the idea of sin real? Are we really in danger of falling short of getting into paradise?

If the gift of healing power is real, is it all real? Is the devil more than just a character in a horror show? Does Satan actual move about the world seeking the ruin of souls? Do we actually need to have a saving relationship with God through His Son Jesus in order to escape the consequences of our choices? What is the importance of Church? What is it power?

Could it all be real? Hell fire, demons, eternity, the need for salvation, the command to love and the directive to participate in God’s church as it witnesses to His love and mercy.

Perhaps it’s too much to take in. Perhaps it’s too frightening. Perhaps we would rather worship a distant God. Perhaps we would rather have a God that didn’t heal. Perhaps we would rather have a good who phoned in a message of encouragement every now and then rather than a God of real power and real demands on us.

Part of the grounds of disbelief in healing prayer is the fact that we would rather sit in church with our back pain then accept that God is powerful to work in our lives today. We would rather reject the power of God than let it challenge us.