Page 64 - The Importance of Prayer Student Textbook

Using the ACTS Acronym to Gide Your Prayers

The following is an acronym used by many teachers to help guide people on how to pray. I prefer to use
the Lord’s Prayer which is like this model:

Adoration

Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication

Modern Medicine and Prayers for Healing

It is only in the last 200 years that there has been an explosion in modern medicine. I view the birth of
modern medicine as God answering the prayers of the saints who for centuries have cried out for God to
be merciful. He has answered these prayers with medical breakthroughs. This also seems to be a
fulfillment of Biblical prophecy as found in Daniel 12:4. Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the
book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase. Do not
quickly read over what I just said as this is a culmination of centuries of prayers being answered. The
secular man may picture this as part of the evolutionary process of mankind, but I see it through the lens
of God’s mercies and fulfilled prophesy.

How do we look at passages like James 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let
him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and 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. How do we reconcile modern medicine, James 5:13, and a modern-day faith
healer asking for people to send in an offering to him for miracle spring water. (See next paragraph)

The Miracle Spring Water is a powerful Biblical point of contact. There is nothing magical or mystical
about it. The Bible uses points of Contact in numerous locations to release miracles. So many people
have used the Miracle Spring Water and their lives have been changed! Let me send you the Miracle
Spring Water Acts 19:11-12 in the Amplified Bible says, And God did unusual and extraordinary miracles
by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or towels or aprons which had touched his skin were carried
away and put upon the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. The
anointing of God is transferable and can be imparted from one person to another. This is made evident
as the power of God that worked through Paul was transmitted through “prayer cloths.”

Psalm 103:3 tells us that He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. A modern-day faith healer will
take this passage and interpret it to mean that God wants to heal all of your sicknesses. I have trouble
with this interpretation as I watch these faith healers grow old, begin to wear glasses, lose their hearing,
and all die. I would interpret this passage that healing is ultimately in the hands of a sovereign God. Yes,
I have seen people confined to a wheelchair rise up and walk. However, I have also seen people like a
Joni Erickson Tata who did not rise up and walk but her Christian walk has so challenged me. I do believe
that we need to continue to practice James 5:13 along with consulting our local medical professionals. I
do not believe that we need to take an either-or position. However, I am not about to send in an
offering for miracle spring water.

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