Magnificent Prayer #277

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.

James 5:14–15

[Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth were missionaries to China in the early twentieth century. In her journal, she records the following event, one with which many pray-ers can identify.]

We were stationed temporarily at Weihuifu, in the southern part of the Honan Field. When holding a women’s study class at a distant outstation, I stayed in the home of Dr. Fan, the chief elder of the church there.

Just as the class was closing, Mrs. Fan asked me to visit a very sick boy, who had been sent home from the Weihuifu Boys’ School, far gone with tuberculosis of the lungs. It was late afternoon when we reached the boy’s home. We found the lad on a stool outside the door. My heart sank as I watched how he almost doubled up with every effort to get breath. Foam fell from his mouth, and his face had an ashen, deathly look. His mother and others gathered around as I prayed. But it seemed hypocrisy for me to pray that he might be healed, for I simply had not the faith for such a miracle. So I prayed for the mother and finally ended by praying that the boy might be given dying grace.

Then, as we started back across the fields, these words kept ringing in my ears, “Call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him.” Over and over again these words came, till on reaching the Fans’ home I determined just to obey, though I could not work up any faith that the boy would live. I would blindly obey.

But when I told Dr. Fan what I wanted to do, he at first refused to join me, saying, “Why, the boy is dying!” But I persisted, and he gave way as I said, “Dr. Fan, I honestly have not the faith to believe for the boy’s healing, but if I return home without at least obeying what seems like God’s voice, I will be utterly miserable and conscience stricken.”

The boy was brought. Elders and friends gathered about, and the boy was placed in the midst. We all knelt on the earthen floor. The elders prayed. Then I closed, praying much as I had before. The boy was taken home, and the following morning I left for Changte.

A year later, when attending presbytery at Weihuifu, I met Mrs. Fan and inquired, “Did that boy die?” (Oh, the sadness of no faith!)

The reply came, “Why, no, the lad is quite well and helping his father!”

Two years passed, and I was again at Weihuifu helping another missionary with special meetings for women. One day, as we sat at dinner and I was telling her this story, a knock came on the door, and in walked a tall, strong, fine looking young man, the photographer who had taken several pictures for us the previous day. He handed my colleague the photos with a few words; then turning to me, he said (of course in Chinese), “I see you do not know me, Mrs. Goforth.”

I replied, “No, I have no remembrance of having seen you before.”

At this he smiled and, coming forwards, gave me a bow, saying, “I am the boy you prayed for almost three years ago. I have never forgotten you.”

Words could never describe my feelings at this moment. Glad, yes, but oh, so sad and humbled! Then came a glimpse of God’s infinite love and patience in using such a faithless channel to work His miracle. Truly as the heavens are high above the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways!

ROSALIND GOFORTH

He who does not cover and supply the wants of the body by prayer will never cover and supply the wants of his soul. Both body and soul are dependent on God, and prayer is but the crying expression of that dependence.

E. M. BOUNDS