Question: What part, if any, does God have in psychological healing or modern “Prayer Therapy”? I know this may help some people neurotics, psychosomatics, etc., but it is hard for me to believe God works this way. Am I wrong?
Answer: No, you are not wrong. You are exactly right. God established His own method of working in the early church and has outlined it in the Bible for humble saints and humble ministers to go by. It has never changed. It was not and is not today through the human sciences or psychology, transcendental meditation, mesmerism, hypnotism, modern “prayer therapy” and such like, but is through obeying the plain, simple instructions of God’s Word. Some of the aforesaid things are purely of human origin and some of just plain Satanic origin and relate to witchcraft and should be religiously avoided by Christian people.
In Mark 16:17-18 Jesus said, “And these signs shall follow them that believe;…they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” We see this is something that accompanies the preaching of the pure gospel of Christ and is accomplished by the laying on of hands of holy, humble people of God who believe in Christ. Again, in James 5:14-16 we read, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and the let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Here again we see that God’s method of healing is through the operation of His church by holy men of God under the anointing of His spirit and acting according to His Word and living holy, righteous lives.
God’s Word and God’s Spirit are the two agents through which all the work of God is being carried on in the world today, and God’s people receive their healing, salvation and all other benefits for both soul and body through faith in Christ, obedience to His Word and the power of His Spirit.
