"Healing Prayers" December 19 Readings: 3 John

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2024

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New. 

Bible Readings: 3 John

Background:  

It is clear that 2 John and 3 John have the same author and the most likely candidate is John the Apostle. This letter is written to Gaius and may have been carried by the hand of Demetrius, who was given a strong recommendation by "the elder." John warns about Diotrephes who loves to put himself first - continuing the theme of warnings about false teachers. t is clear that 2 John and 3 John have the same author and the most likely candidate is John the Apostle. This letter is written to Gaius and may have been carried by the hand of Demetrius, who was given a strong recommendation by "the elder." John warns about Diotrephes who loves to put himself first - continuing the theme of warnings about false teachers. 

Daily Devotional: Healing Prayers

3 John 2 is a favorite verse among those who hold to the false prosperity gospel - John prays that it would go well with them and their health would prosper in the same way their souls prosper. See, they say, God wants us to be healthy and happy just as much as he wants us to be holy.

That's not what this verse is saying. John is simply expressing a prayer; a hope to God on behalf of people he loved and cared about. This verse is no universal guarantee that all of John's prayers would be answered or that every believer has a right to perfect health. We don't. Life can be hard and suffering is part of it. Sometimes the diagnosis comes and it is bad. Sometimes God heals. We don't know why he answers some prayers with healing and refuses others.

The takeaway for us is simple. Pray. Ask. Remember the warning in James - "You have not because you ask not." A few years back there was a big foofaraw about the "Prayer of Jabez." It was a bit of a tempest in a teapot, but the lesson of that prayer is the same as this one. Pray. Ask God. Ask God for big things. Never be afraid to ask God for things that boggle your mind because they will not stress him in the least. God is big and strong - able to do exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine.

God can handle it! Don't be afraid to ask.

Father, I ask you to fill me with the faith to ask you for things I've never asked before - things that stretch my faith but do not strain your power!

Consider God's Word:

Do you pray in faith, believing in a God who can do more than you can ask or imagine?