Don’t Wait Until Sunday!

I recall the basics of an instance that occurred in our second pastorate in Western Australia. An English couple had started attending the church with their children. One Sunday morning before the service started, I was astonished to see the husband almost carrying in his wife and setting her down on the pew in the back row.

It was obvious something was amiss, so I went up to them to find out if I could help. It seemed that she had fallen somehow in the home and was in much pain and unable to use her legs (at least that’s how I remember it). I enquired when this had happened and was told it was on Thursday. So I said I would come down to the pew during the communion service and pray for her healing, which I did, and God healed her on the spot to much rejoicing.

I’d had enough experience by then to understand that the pastor was always the last one to know when such events occurred, so I didn’t ask any of the members if they had known about it. However, it still amazed me that the lady had endured the pain and disruption in her life from Thursday to Sunday morning, knowing that our church believed in divine healing. If others had known they would have prayed for her or finally called the pastor and I would have visited their home.

The lesson from the incident for the whole church and for you is “Don’t wait until Sunday morning. Apply God’s Word to the case right away!” Firstly, God is always on the job! “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4-5 ESV). God is spirit (John 4:24) and his spirit body doesn’t need sleep, so He is available 24/7. To slumber is to nod off from weariness, but God “never closes his eyes on the condition of his people, on the needs of the world” (Barnes).

Secondly, “The Lord said to Abraham… Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:13-14). Anything means any thing! From a headache to a heart attack in respect of our bodies, from “silver and gold I have none” (Acts 3:6) to “having all sufficiency in all things at all times” (II Corinthians 9:8) in respect of our needs, our God looks after our needs.

Thirdly, I should add “Don’t wait for the pastor!” If he has taught you the Word correctly, you know that your Father God “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). You have His power within you, so you can minister that power to others and to yourself.

The gospels record that Jesus went about “healing every disease and every affliction among the people” (Matthew 4:23). He told his disciples to do the same: “And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction” (Matthew 10:1) and then later sent out the 70 (or 72) out to do the same (Luke chapter 10). Finally, after his resurrection he commanded “those who believe” to do the same in Mark 16:18: they “will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

A gospel song comes to mind, “Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.” The second verse reads, “If your body suffers pain and your health you can’t regain, And your soul is almost sinking in despair, Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal — Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there” (Charles Tindley, 1916) (listen to it here).

If you have a need, “Don’t wait until Sunday!”