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On Praying for Others

By Dave Walker | August 10, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

One of the encouraging reponses I get to God in the ICU and Prayer, Medicine and Miracles, is people wanting to pray with others, particularly for healing. They often email me with questions. How do I start? How can I be sure that God is calling me to this? What happens if I pray for healing and nothing happens?

Well, here are some of my thoughts and my experience.

If you feel prompted to pray for healing, go for it. The only response to any gift that God gives us is to start to use it. And more often than not, once you take the plunge, you will know whether it is God or not. In my experience there have been many more times that I have ducked out of praying and discovered to my regret that it was God prompting me, than times when I have prayed and thought afterwards that God was not prompting that prayer. Sometimes it’s better to say, “I’ll pray unless You tell me not to.” It stops you from chickening out!

The big thing is not to get hung up on performance. It’s not up to us to heal. All we can do is to be obedient and to pray and leave the results in God’s hands.

We don’t have to explain any lack of healing. I just do what I think God has called me to do and leave it up to Him. When Dorelle and I visit the hospital to pray, my prayer beforehand is always, “Lord, let me, like Paul, not come with fine sounding words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” (1Cor 2:4) So far we haven’t seen any dramatic healing while we’re there, but we’ve seen plenty of people weeping as we’ve prayed, with a sense of the presence of God, and we’ve seen others open up and start sharing where, before we prayed they were quiet and reserved.

We often can’t see what God is doing. Very often the healing is internal, which is more long lasting than a physical one. Nevertheless, God healed physically as well, so I do long for that and expect it.

When John Wimber, one of the most influential people in praying with signs and wonders following, started to pray for the sick, for the first six months, he saw no-one healed. Then suddenly, God broke through and from then on his ministry was filled with extraordinary power. The more you pray, the bolder you will get and the more results you’ll see.

I’d love to hear about the experience of others in this field.

Praying With your Doctor

By Dave Walker | August 5, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

Asking your doctor for prayer.

Do you want your doctor to pray with you?

How would your doctor feel about that?

I prayed regularly with my patients and have seen God come through wonderfully, as I’ve written about in God in the ICU and Prayer, Medicine and Miracles. I very rarely had a patient who was not pleased to have me pray with them when I offered to do so.

But what about you as a patient? How do you feel about asking your doctor to pray with you?

Well, you might be surprised to learn that 77% out of 428 physicians who were polled by Becker’s Healthcare said they would be comfortable to pray with a patient if he/she requested it.

Yet very few patients ask for prayer. Only 12% of physicians said patients frequently ask for prayer. I suppose those are the doctors who have a reputation as believers. They confirmed that it was mostly Christians who requested prayer.

Then I thought about how I would feel about asking my doctor to pray with me. I think I’d like to have some clue about his/her spiritual commitment. I wouldn’t like someone suddenly calling on a god other than the God of the Bible as they prayed.

But if I knew they were Christian — even without knowing the depth of their commitment — I think I would ask them. Apart from anything else, if they were not used to praying with their patients it would give them the experience, and they might discover what a joy it is and how it can affect an outcome.

What do you think? How would you feel? Have you ever had your doctor pray with you?

I’d love to hear from you

A letter to my grandson

By Admin | June 12, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

A letter to my grandson

January 17, 2018 Dave Walker

A while ago I wrote a letter to my grandson who had left school and was setting off on his chosen path. As I re-read it, I thought some of the advice is worth sharing:

Dear

You have entered a new phase in your life, and I don’t know how often we’ll see you now that you’ll be in a different land for a while.

You know that I love you and enjoy your company enormously and as you enter this new adventure, I feel I want to pass on some wisdom that I have gained through the years. I know that often we learn things the hard way, by bitter experience, but I’m praying that you will be mature enough to take what I say to heart, for being taught through your mistakes is, indeed the bitter, hard way.

So here goes:

You are master of your destiny. You have the freedom – and the power – to make the right or wrong choices. The choices that you make now can affect the whole course of your life, therefore you need to take very seriously how you will live your life. Will you live responsibly or carelessly? Will you live with consideration for others, or selfishly? Will you live honourably or dishonourably? These are all choices that need to be made before you have to apply them in practice.
Nobody breaks God’s laws. You can defy them, just as you can defy the law of gravity, but you won’t win. In the end, if you try to break them, God’s laws will break you. They might crush you or wound you; at best they will leave you with a sense of failure and futility even in the midst of success. Therefore, it is the utmost wisdom to obey them.
In the workplace you will be answerable to a number of people, but in terms of your moral life, and righteousness, you are answerable to no-one but your conscience and to God. But be sure you are answerable to God. He rewards moral courage and — through His laws — punishes moral cowardice. If you bend to the norms of society which you know deep in your heart are wrong, that is cowardice and you will eventually suffer the consequences.
There is no such thing as not choosing. Throughout life you will be making choices, whether you want to or not. When confronted with a choice whether to do something or not, and you defer the decision, you have chosen not to do it. As an example, if you borrow something and do not return it, you have made the choice to keep it.
The ultimate key to success is perseverance through the tough times. There is always opposition to any good endeavour. The secret is to keep your eye on the goal and not on the surrounding terrain. The Bible uses Jesus as an example: “Who, for the joy set before Him (eye on the goal) endured the Cross, scorning its shame.” And, of course, to lean on Jesus in those tough times.
No man is an island. If you find yourself trapped in sin, don’t think you can dig your way out by yourself. Seek Godly counsel, but make sure it is Godly.

Finally, I will always be here for you. If ever you need someone to talk to, you have your parents, but you also have me.

Your loving granddad.