Healing always begins with God and our releasing of authority of the healing process to Him. When we need healing, the sickness we are experiencing is a state of disorder in the body – physical, emotional, and spiritual. As Man was created at the beginning of time, there was no sickness or aging. Pain, sickness, and disorder entered the world with sin. We tend to compartmentalize the healing process. God doesn’t compartmentalize. We are one person before Him: unique, wounded, and in need of healing.
We see in Genesis the world began with disorder, God spoke (rhema), and there was both power and authority in the spoken word. Disorder became order. As we read the Psalms, we see that we can experience healing and bring order from disorder by speaking the name of God. We are separated from God because of sin. The death and resurrection of Christ restored our relationship with God if we believe. Because of what Christ did, it enabled Christ to tell whose who followed that all authority was his and we could claim anything in that authority and God would answer if we believed (Matt 21:22, Matt. 28:18, John 1:12-14, Matt. 16:19, Col. 2:9-10).
Calling on God By Name
From the Psalms, we see God has many names – indeed, hundreds. God is Shield, Rock, Lord, Shepherd, Bread, Light, ezer (life-sustainer), Lover, Provider, Deliverer, Salvation, Healer, Merciful. It’s not a matter of reading some book to see all of the names and the Hebrew words for these names. It more a task of knowing what God needs to be for you so that you can experience order and healing. Then your prayer should begin by calling Him by that name. In the naming, you are placing yourself under God’s authority in terms of that name. In calling God by this name you are also telling God where you need healing.
This crying out to God is not an attempt at any manipulation, but rather a desire for intimacy and to seek His will.
I will lift up my eyes to the hills —
From whence comes my ezer?
My ezer comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
Psalms 121:1-2 NKJV
Notice how the psalmist starts. The Hebrew word used twice here, ezer, is a desparate plea for help. It is used only 21 times in the Old Testament, and is often used as a plea in a life and death situation with the plea directed to God. The psalmist is dead - God is his only hope.
This reminds me of a night I went with a lady for dinner at a nice restaurant. We were engaged in a intimate and (yes) romantic discussion for probably an hour, oblivious to anyone else in the restaurant. A waiter finally interrupted us, apologizing that the dinner had not been delivered yet and promising the dinner in perhaps thirty minutes (I don't remember the exact delay). We smiled at each other, told the waiter that was no problem, and then dropped to our intimate discussion again. So often we treat our prayer life with God as Him being the waiter. We give our orders to Him, voice any complaints about it to Him, and we may thank Him if He does a good job. In reality, our prayer life should begin much as my time with this lady - intimate and romantic conversation. What does God need from us? It is an awesome thought that God needs us and created us to answer that need. What is it? What does God want us to do?
The book of Psalms is not an academic excursion. The psalmist is revealing his or her heart, the pain, and the need. The psalms are prayers, songs, poetry, romance, and praise in action. The Psalms are best read aloud to feel the emotion and heartbeat of each word.
Often in the process we have trouble seeing where we need the healing. The brokenness may be from the far past and lost in the unconscious. If we ask, however, the Holy Spirit will reveal the source of our brokenness which then enables you to tell God where you are hurting.
A Request to Be Heard
In studying the Psalms, look where the Psalmist often starts. There is often a request to God for Him to listen.
Psalm 61:1: “Hear my cry, O God;..."
Psalm 64:1: “Hear my voice, O God…"
Psalm 55:1: “Give ear to my prayer, O God…”
Other phrases used in pleading for God to listen include “Listen”, “Draw near”, “Attend to my groaning…” The name you should use for God in calling for this help should be where you need him in terms of your healing. For example,
"Draw near to me, my Healer..."
"Hear my cry, my Rock and my Redeemer..."
Remember What God Has Done in the Past – Give Thanks
Even near the start, the psalmist tells God about his or her pain. What follows is a very personal communication. We identify our pain to God and tell God where He has acted in the past to heal that pain. As Christ asks the blind man, “What do you want me to do?” We are at the same place. We need to identify our pain and communicate it to the One who has the power and authority to heal. Part of this step is a memory step – how has God stepped in and helped in the past? That establishes authority for what you wish God to do now. Notice how often the Psalmist gets very specific on this.
Psalm 77:1: “I cried out to God with my voice – to God with my voice; and He gave ear to me.”
Psalm 54:7: “For He has delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.”
Psalm 78:12b-13: “In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan, He divided the sea and caused them to pass through; and He made the waters stand up like a heap.”
Tell God Your Pain
Then our prayer should shift to the present. What do you want God to do now?
Psalm 44:26: “Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies sake.”
Psalm 6:2: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.”
Psalm 13:3a: "Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes."
Tell Where God Has Created Order – Claim the Future
Finally, notice in the Psalms what happens. As the psalmist continues, there is an assertion of what God has already done in creating order:
Psalm 139:13 “For You formed my inward parts…”
Psalm 33:6a: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made…”
Psalm 30:11: “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing…”
In other words, the psalmist is praising God for what he has done in the past in restoring order and healing. The psalmist is claiming the future in doing this. This is an important part of the prayer. There is spiritual warfare involved in the healing process, and in the prayer you are affirming that God has the power and authority. The Enemy does not want to stick around to hear that.
This praise may seem like repeating what you started with. You are praising God both before and after your request. Right. The initial Hebrew name for the book was “Book of Praises.” The last sentence in the Psalms is “Praise the Lord!” The book begins (the title) and ends with praise, and in between is a bunch of gripes. Eugene Patterson says perhaps it could be called more accurately “The Book of Gripes”; but there is no authority in that title. Peterson says the title the Hebrews gave it is correct.
Man is the only thing that God has created that can vision a future, much less claim it under God’s authority. We need visions for the future of our personal lives, visions for our church, and visions for our country and the world. Then we can pray into those visions that God gives us and claim them. And they will happen.
In reading the Psalms, you will often notice an interesting pattern. The praise has been put down after the grip, even though there has been no apparent answer. Look at Psalm 13 - first the grip, then the praise:
Read the entire psalm. Notice the action words in those last verses. There is no mention if God has answered the specific requests of the psalmist. To quote Eugene Peterson on this, there is an eruption of praise even though we have seen no specific answer. It is even more than this, however. It is prophetic praise. The psalmist is seeing his request answered (completed) and thanking God for it even though the action is still incomplete. The psalmist embraces the vision as though it is already completed and thanking God for it. The Psalmist believes it is done."How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?"
...
"But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me."
By the time you get to Psalm 145 and on through the rest of the book you see nothing but praise.
Listen
Finally, God asks us to listen. What does He want us to do? I love those first two chapters of Habakkuk. Habakkuk throws two questions at God. Then he waits.
I love the Calvin & Hobbs comic strip where the dad is working at the computer and talking a about the wonders of the Internet and how it has speeded up his productivity: less driving, instant FAX, and email. Little Calvin, behind him, is compaining about the directions on a package that describes how to microwave its contents. "Six minutes?" he says, "Who can wait six minutes?" Most of us are caught in this same dichonomy.“I will stand my watch
And set myself on the rampart
And watch to see what He will say to me.
And what I will answer when I am corrected.”
Habakkuk 2:1 NKJV
Are we willing to wait until God speaks?
Notice from what we have said here is that there is an order to each of the Psalms, a pattern. Even the words draw a picture in the mind as the psalmist moves from pain to joy. Notice how often this pattern repeats in the Psalms. There are plenty of variations in the pattern, but this is the basic pattern.
Today, so often, we try to skip all this in our healing journeys. We turn to education, the Internet, the doctor, or the psychologist for answers. It’s not that these can’t help us – doctors have saved my life at times. In reality, God using the hands of the doctors as others prayed. It’s just that so often we turn to these so we don’t have to deal with God. For healing to really begin, we need to learn how to pray.
Notice also that all three persons of the Trinity are involved in the healing process. God does the work. Jesus intercedes for us. His death and resurrection restored our relationship with God and enables us to claim the authority that is needed. The Holy Spirit helps us to see the roots of our pain and actively works the healing in our life.
Want more insights? See:
Answering God by Eugene H. Peterson, who also gave us The Message.
In Pursuit of Healing, by Carl Townsend
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