For many of us life is a struggle, with health worries, financial pressures, and relationship difficulties. We often find ourselves asking the question: ‘Where is God when life hurts?’

The Bible makes it quite clear that God is able and willing to meet our needs, and in Luke 4:18-19 Jesus quotes from the Old Testament: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Jesus was aware that people were physically, emotionally and spiritually ill, and he was declaring that he was the answer, that in him, and through his love, they could receive the healing that would bring restoration, and the freedom to live a fulfilling life, serving him and in relationship with him

Jesus calls us to carry on the work which he started while he was on earth. Part of this is to foster an on-going loving and prayerful concern for one another, and to offer prayer for the healing of the body, mind, soul and spirit. In his book ‘Healing’ Francis MacNutt helpfully describes the purpose of healing prayer:

“We are not ministering salves to sores; we are ministering love to suffering people. It is Jesus Christ living within us, who . . . is ministering to suffering people . . . This means that all methods are ours. We build hospitals, we train doctors and we train nurses – all in God’s image. Yet, we believe in the supernatural. So we pray, and the natural and the supernatural come together. It is not either / or; it is both / and.”

I invite you to come to our Communion service on 20 July ready both to receive healing from God, and to pray for one another’s healing.