Power of Prayer

This evening I want to share with you a brief story rather than encouragement. I like to switch it up. Thursday afternoon at practice I hurt my knee. I thought it was just bad luck, but I was reminded today from a very special friend of mine that it wasn't bad luck, it was simply life. That person also went on to tell me that there really isn't good luck or bad luck, good things and bad things just happen to us and what is most important is what you learn from them. The pain that I felt was unbearable. I wish that I could say it was like a pain that I haven't ever experienced before. But I have. Last summer, and the beginning of last season. I won't get into much detail about my knee because you all could probably care less about what is wrong with it.

The story that I want to share with you is something that happened today. The other day in the dining commons I saw one of my professors from freshmen year. Although I have only had him for one class, he has always been my favorite professor and a man that I have looked up to and admired from the very start because of his love for Christ and love and passion for other people. We happened to be standing in line beside each other waiting for some stir fry. My friend Grant was on the other side of the room. The professor asked me if Grant was going to play this season again because he has been out with multiple concussions for most of the year. I told him that I was not sure and that I hoped he would be. The professor then recommended to me that I bring Grant up to his office some day soon and that we would anoint him and lay our hands over him and pray. I was totally up for this idea. The very next day I get hurt in practice. It's hard sometimes for me to ask others to pray for me because I do not like drawing attention to myself but I felt God getting a hold of me and urging me to contact this professor. So I emailed him, got a time and date all set up and that was today at 11. I went up to his office and he asked me what was going on and I explained it to him. Then he asked where I was at spiritually and then had some scripture for me. It was James 5 and right before he began to read he said, "here is a passage that I am sure you are familiar with." I was definitely familiar with it because I had just read it last week....

( James 5:13-20 ) Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring it back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

The professor read through that and after he finished he asked me if I had any sins that I have not confessed to the Lord and I told him that I have confessed all my sins. He game me a deep and sincere smile and then proceeded to ask if I have ever been anointed before. I had told him that I hadn't been. (Maybe when I was a newborn but I don't remember.) He explained to me that he was going to rub some oil on my knee as he prayed a prayer of faith. Before that he had me open up in prayer and he told me to pray to God what I wanted him to do to. I was like okay, awesome! Before he prayed he reminded me that it might not work and that whatever was going to happen was God's plan. Maybe he wanted to heal it right there in that room, and maybe he wanted to wait a little bit. After I prayed, he rubbed the oil on my knee and began praying. It was one of the most powerful prayers that I had ever experienced. From beginning to end you could feel the Holy Spirit's presence in that room. As he was praying I was experiencing a feeling that I had never experienced in my life. I felt a tingling sensation in my knee and it was like I could see and feel Jesus rubbing his hand over my knee healing it. It was a moment that I will never forget and something that I want to do for people whenever I can. It was so powerful and I am really at a loss for words talking about it. I wish I could say that I got up and walked back to my room free of pain and then went to practice and was healed completely, but I wasn't. I am fine with that too because I know that we serve a patient God and to serve a patient God we have to be patient ourselves. I can say for a fact that he is healing it right now and is in the process. I was able to do a very little amount of practice and was able to get a 15 minute basketball workout in. It was incredible. Yeah it hurt and sucked, but I got to do it. The power of prayer has no limits and I hope that you never underestimate it.