Has the church allowed itself to be restrained, perhaps without enough consideration when it comes to prayer for healing?
I am going to discuss whether Christians should adhere to the guidelines if they feel called to minister to the sick..!
Let me just say, I am not trying to be difficult or even controversial, nor do I think this is a right that must be exercised. Yet, I 100% believe that people have a ministry of healing, it is clearly one of the gifts of the spirit in (1 Cor 12) and one of the standard things expected by Jesus of his disciples. So if people feel that they are being called by God to minister in this way, I am thoroughly of the opinion that they should. There are also those who will want to comfort and get alongside those who are in need: to work directly with those infected and to minster to them and their loved ones. The flip-side to this is, of course, that if you don't feel called to minister to the sick at this time then you should stick to the guidelines (obviously)!
What about guidelines?? I think this is easily answered by Jesus' response to rules that supposedly prohibited him healing in Luke 14. Remember, this was a question of whether one of the Ten Commandments made it illegal (within Jewish culture) to heal someone on the Sabbath. Something, undeniably, of higher order than a government guideline/law. Jesus simply made them aware that God is 100% about responding to those in need first and foremost. He had already summed up the law that it was about loving God and loving people. I think there is a wise way to do this, and I cover this at the end.
What about laying on hands?? - Jesus instructs us to lay hands on the sick... why? I have been thinking about this and I believe the answer is threefold.
God chooses to work through us, and so this physically represents what is happening spiritually. We do not have a 'removed' God who we are hoping will conduit from Heaven to Earth through us, as many modern believers feel. It is much more exciting than that. He resides in us, as the Holy Spirit, and looking to affect the world we touch around us. (I will post about this another time so make sure you follow social media)
We enact faith by action, not belief; so as we reach out to touch someone and see them healed faith is enacted.
Finally, touching a person of disease is risky today, even illegal currently. When Jesus laid hands on the sick and told disciples to do the same it was a SERIOUSLY BIG NO NO... They were not only sick but unclean sinners and infectious in a spiritual/moral sense too. So our reaching out to touch the sick is also to cut through this and show love and acceptance. In essence, to be part of the expressing the Gospel.
Having said all that, we don't 'have to lay on hands'. There are clearly times when people are healed by other means. Such as something that has been prayed over such as a handkerchief etc. I think the thing is obedience, hear what God is saying and then do what he asks of us.
People of power - It is a strange time when church buildings are closed and the church is largely, in the West at least, absent from public life. The scattered church should be salt and light within their towns, cities and streets. It is great to deliver a food parcel, but delivering healing nobody can deny is of a different order... I say this because I am afraid that we are adopting a posture that is indistinguishable from the world. Sure we do good stuff, but we do that whilst we are doing the really important stuff which is ensuring that people go to Heaven...! Healing the sick is one of the 'signs' that point to Jesus. The Kingdom of God is not just words, it is power (1 Cor) and I also think about the appeal in 2 Tim 3, that there is a kind of Christian religion which is false because it is devoid of the power of God.
I can pray that God will heal you - but can I tell you about the real problem? - The conversations that we need to be having do centre around healing but not our bodies. They need to focus around healing for our souls. An often quoted (and often misquoted) verse is in Isaiah 53, that by His wounds/stripes we are healed. This has often been, IMO, wrongly limited to physical healing, however in the context of the verse, it is more about healing from the real pandemic of sin. Why am I talking about this? One, just because I want to encourage you to always look for opportunities to share the Gospel, but more than that, when we talk about healing with someone we should always segue to the real issue that requires healing.
We don't have a mandate too stupid! - So there are lots of ways we can fulfil 'calling' without causing unnecessary concern, or even worse, outrage. Nothing says not to wear a mask, Jesus wouldn't for a minute tell us not to wash our hands etc. In fact much of the Old Testament law was given by God to keep people safe from disease etc. Even though He is also Jehovah-Rapha - the Lord that heals.
There are some things that I think would be wise to consider:
Perhaps notify your MP and police of your intentions in writing and what steps you are going to take
Identify yourself as part of the response to combat the sickness with other health workers
Be sensitive to others as your faith may be difficult for them to understand
Adhere to all PPE guidelines
Understand that other guidelines will STILL apply to you, that would include self isolating from others completely, except the infected people that you are ministering too
Again let me be clear that I am not saying I recommend this, nor that I feel personally called to it. I am saying that I feel there is a clear place for people to want, and believe, that they are called to minster to the sick at this time in this outbreak as much as any other.
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