Pride and Healing

So what I’d like to do this evening, in order to prepare us for the time of prayer and healing at the end of the service, is to run through some themes that come up a few times in the book to see how it relates to how we approach healing and prayer ministry. And we’re going to look at an example from the Old Testament too and how it relates to how we approach healing and prayer ministry.

Now, first thing I want to say is this… We all need prayer. Every single one of us.

Whether we like to admit it, we all need prayer for our lives.

Perhaps not all of us need physical healing, but we all need prayer.

So the second thing I want to way is this…don’t think of this evening as a healing service. It is a healing service, but it’s also more than that. Think of this evening as a prayer ministry service.

It’s a service whereby we can avail of prayer over our lives, for situations in our lives. It’s a time where we can come forward and receive prayer for anything…and of course healing can be part of that too.

And the third thing I want to say is this…while we all need prayer, not everyone is at a place where they want to receive prayer. And that’s ok. While I would encourage everyone to come up and receive prayer, I don’t want anyone to feel pressured in doing so.

So, keep those in the back of your head as we move on.

Pause

Now, let me tell you what has happened to me over the last few weeks.

Over the last few weeks we’ve been looking at the book of Philippians - Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi - a letter to a church that is so commendable in their partnering of the gospel, but at the same time, a church that had to be reminded to get along, to have one mind, the same love, the mind of Jesus Christ.

And what I’ve noticed as we’ve studied this book, is how Paul touches on pride throughout the letter.

The middle 2 chapters of the letter address the issue of pride in different ways. And I’ve picked up on this over the last few weeks. But before we get to the letter itself, let me tell you what happened the other day in college...

So in college, we were being trained in conciliation - something that our own Paul Jamieson does. He’s part of the panel that helps people get along.

And we were taught some techniques to help diffuse situations and things to be aware of - certain types of people and how to handle them and so on.

But my classmate put up his hand and asked a question which I haven’t been able to shake since then.

He asked this...

What about the deeper issue of sin in our lives. Specifically, the sin of pride.

Because if both parties are proud and stubborn and we think we’re right, it’s really difficult for conciliation to happen. If nobody is willing to say, ‘you know what, I was wrong,’ or, ‘I could have acted differently, I’m sorry,’ then having people get along is really really difficult.

And the thing that gets in the way of that is pride.

And that’s what my friend was asking - when do we deal with the issue of the sin of pride.

And that got me thinking - it’s pride that gets in the way of everything.

Pride gets in the way of reconciling with each other.

Pride gets in the way of forgiveness, when nobody is willing to back down and say sorry, or ‘I forgive you.’

Pride gets in the way of us becoming Christians...

As you all know, many people think that they can get into heaven by being good or coming to church - and nobody likes being told that they aren’t good enough to get into heaven. Nobody wants to be told that they don’t meet God’s standards. Nobody wants to be told that they are a sinner and that their way of getting into heaven is actually sending them straight to hell.

I mean, who would WANT to hear that? And yet, that is the reality for many people.

And when some people hear that they actually DON’T deserve to be in heaven, for some people, their pride gets in the way and they say, ‘I can’t accept that.’

Because many people think they are someone, that they are important, and the first step to accepting Jesus as LORD and saviour is to humble ourselves and recognise that Jesus is LORD and not us.

And it’s those who give up their pride and turn to Jesus for salvation of their sins - they are the ones who reap the benefit of salvation and eternal life.

Pause

And when you look at chapter 2 of Philippians, Paul makes it clear that Jesus humbled himself and took on the very nature of a human, and we should have the same mind to humble ourselves.

And you can see why - because when we humble ourselves we overcome the sin of pride and accept Jesus as our saviour, we can get along, we can say, ‘I’m sorry,’ or ‘I forgive you.’

Pause

And in chapter 3, Paul continues in the theme of pride. Because in chapter 3, Paul says that if anyone has reason to be proud of their heritage, it’s him...

Philippians 3:4–8 NIV

4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ

Paul was a Jew through and through. And he could have been proud of his heritage. A Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee - and expert on the law. A zealous man - a man who could claim that he was faultless when it came to obeying the law.

So Paul COULD have been proud of where he came from, but he said, ‘actually - all that is a load of rubbish compared to knowing Jesus Christ.’

In fact - I count it loss… IN FACT, you see all of that stuff that make me stand out as a man who has a great heritage…all that stuff is a load of garbage.

And the Greek word for ‘garbage’ is the word Scubalon, which, in English, is a word that I shouldn’t say from the pulpit, because I would offend people. It’s a four letter word that could get me kicked out of the church. But Paul uses that very same word - and he is being offensive on purpose, by saying, my upbringing, my heritage, all the stuff of which I can be proud is all a load of shhhcubalon compared to knowing Jesus Christ.

Now, how many of us can say that about our heritage or our upbringing? It’s all a load of scubalon compared to knowing Christ.

Paul had every reason to be proud, but he trashed it - he knew it meant NOTHING, compared to knowing Jesus Christ and being found in him.

Because Pride gets in the way of us coming to Jesus Christ.

Because Pride says I deserve to be here, or I am important, so give me some respect.

Humility says, I don’t deserve to be here - I’m only here by the grace of God.

Humility says, I’m not important - God is the important one.

And humility says, don’t respect me, respect the Lord.

Pride gets in the way of so many things...

And Pride gets in the way of healing.

Pause

So often it is our pride that stops us from coming up to the front to receive prayer for healing. Another reason why we so often don’t go up to the front to receive prayer for healing is because we have nothing of which we need healed.

Which is why, this evening is not JUST a healing service. It’s a prayer ministry service, where each and every one of us can come up and receive prayer for whatever it is they want. It MIGHT be for healing, it might be for help, for strength, for something else.

But prayer is available for every one of us tonight, if you would like to avail of it.

And let me make it clear - some people may not want prayer tonight. That’s grand. I’m not saying that if you don’t want to come up for prayer it’s because you’re too proud.

But if you DO want prayer, if you feel that you could do with some prayer tonight, the opportunity is here for someone to pray with you tonight, but my point is don’t let pride stop you from coming up to receive prayer. Don’t miss out on this opportunity.

And that’s part of the reason why we’re asking you to come up for prayer if you want it - because the act of standing up and walking to the front in full view of everyone (although people shouldn’t be watching) is a demonstration of our humility. It’s a demonstration of the fact that we have put our pride aside for the sake of Christ in order to be prayed over.

Pause

In our Old Testament reading we heard of Naaman, who was a commander of the army of the king of Syria. Naaman had leprosy and a servant girl of his wife suggested that he contact Elisha who could heal him.

And we pick up the story in verse 9...

2 Kings 5:9–10 NIV

9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

So here we have this man Naaman who sends a gift to the king to be healed which would equate to three quarters of a billion dollars according to scholars.

The commander of the army of the king of Syria - this man was important.

And this man would have expected Elisha to come to him and wave his hand and heal him. But no. What does Elisha do?

Elisha sends his servant out to him. And this is a brilliant display of showing up this man’s pride. ‘You sent a servant to me? You didn’t come out yourself? Do you KNOW who I am?’

2 Kings 5:11 NIV

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.

And not only that, Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the river Jordan - a dirty, muddy, probably stinky river, from what I can tell.

Pause

Now, take a step back and consider what’s going on here…Elisha is challenging this man’s pride, because pride gets in the way of healing. Because to be properly healed, we need to depend fully on the Lord. And depending on the Lord requires us to abandon our own pride and allowing God to heal us.

Because Naaman’s pride said, ‘I’m important, and I want to be healed on MY terms.’ But Elisha challenged that and essentially said, ‘if you want healed, you need to humble yourself do whatever God tells you to do’

And the evidence that Naaman had abandoned his pride was that he dipped himself in the Jordan 7 times and he was healed.

There was nothing magical in the Jordan river - the act of bathing in the Jordan was symbolic. It displayed the fact that Naaman had abandoned his pride and doing whatever it took to be clean.

That’s what happens when we come to Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. And it’s what happens when we stand up and come to the front for prayer.

The act of doing that is symbolic. There’s nothing magical about coming up to the front. We could pray for everyone here from were we stand or sit, but that’s not the point. The point is that we abandon our pride and come forward to receive prayer.

And in the coming forward we’re saying, ‘Lord, I need you.’

Pause

Now, once again, I don’t want to force anyone into coming up for prayer. That’s not the point. Some people here don’t feel like they need any prayer. But some people might. I’m sure not everyone’s life is 100% hunky dory. I know mine isn’t.

But if you want prayed for by our ministry team it will require you to symbolically let go of your pride and come and let others pray for you. You don’t need to tell them anything specific of you don’t want to - you can just say, ‘I would just like you to pray for me’ and you can let them pray for you as the Spirit leads.

But I feel weird coming up to the front too. I went up for prayer at the New Wine conference in the summer, and I felt weird doing so - and that’s because of my pride. I was conscious that people were looking at me. But there were hundreds of others doing the same so it wasn’t as bad. But at that point, my desire for prayer was higher than my pride which wants me to look like I’ve got it ‘all together.’

And the truth is, it wasn’t that I felt like I didn’t have it ‘all together’…there was an opportunity for prayer and I felt that I would like to avail of it. The PROBLEM comes in because I was thinking what OTHERS might be thinking of me. ‘Oh, look at him. I thought he had it together. What’s he needing prayer for?’

‘Actually, I just want to receive prayer - is that not a good thing?’

And that’s why I’m opening this up to everyone - not just for healing - just if you’d like to receive prayer. Because that way, if anyone comes up to the front, nobody can think, ‘I wonder what they’re going up for? What’s wrong with them?’

There most likely is NOTHING ‘wrong’ with them - they might just want to receive prayer. Listen, our lives don’t have to be going down the tubes for us to receive prayer. We can receive prayer when things are going great.

So the fact that someone comes up for prayer doesn’t mean they are sick, or their life is falling apart. They might simply want God’s blessing on their lives. Which is why I’m opening this to everyone in the hope that more people come forward.

Pause

Perhaps if a few people come up, it might make it easier for others to join.

And so, in order to help people if they want to receive prayer, I’m going to ask Jonathan to play softly on the organ and I’m going to walk around the pews here and come down to receive prayer myself. Because I want to be prayed over. If anyone wants to receive prayer then follow in behind me.

Open yourself up to this. There is real power in prayer and the Spirit can move in powerful ways here tonight.

And not everyone will want to do this - that’s ok. I’m not saying that if you don’t come up for prayer that you’re too proud to come up. That’s NOT what I’m saying. But at the same time, if you feel that you would like prayer tonight, don’t let pride stop you from coming to receive prayer, whether it’s for healing or for forgiveness, or release from sin or to pray that you will have the desire to go deeper with Jesus, or that you will be more effective in your service for him. You don’t even have to tell us what it is.

This is a ministry for everyone.

Let all who are thirsty, come to Jesus and drink.

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