To Heal, You Must Kneel
My 6-year-old daughter has started including in her prayers the petition to have the Savior come live with us so we can be kinder. She has brought such a sweetness into our family prayers with her simple but powerful faith in and love for the Savior, Jesus Christ. She has been taught at home and in primary that faith in the Lord is the most important thing we can do, and she does her best to live by it. Known as one of the “primary” answers, there is a reason that faith is the first principle of the gospel.
I love the account in Mark 9 where the father brings his suffering son to the Savior for healing after the disciples failed at the task. The Savior precedes it by saying “this kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting”, meaning this is a work of great faith. He then asks the father of the child if he can believe, because it is possible to heal the child by his faith. The father wants nothing more than to have his precious child healed and offers every ounce of faith he can muster, then recognizes his imperfect faith. The Lord knows this man’s heart and in a beautiful moment, heals the son of his affliction and brings unspeakable joy to the father.
Instant Healing
Have you ever wondered why you haven’t received instant healing? Why have you known the Lord can do all things, but healing has evaded you? Prayer and fasting are forms of work, they are faith in action. Patience is also a form of faith in action. It takes faith to accept that the Lord may have a reason for this experience to be so prevalent in your life.
Some healings take minutes, others may take days, months and many take years but in all these situations, it is imperative that we reach out to the Lord in prayer from our knees, that we bring our will into line with His. I know for myself that our petitions and pleas before Him persuade Him to intervene.
Mustard Seed
In Matthew 17:20, the Savior teaches, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.”
In our recent studies of Come Follow Me as a family, I was deeply touched by a comment from Bishop Richard C. Edgley. He said, “I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain. But because of faith, I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism. Because of faith, I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith, I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude. Yes, I have seen mountains removed” (“Faith—the Choice Is Yours,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 33).
Let us trust in our Savior and in His wisdom, whether we are healing a physical body, a broken mind or broken heart. The only real healing comes as we continually seek Him out.