IF IT BE THY WILL – WHEN TO & NOT PRAY THIS WAY

I was preaching in Dallas in 1953 for several weeks in a Full Gospel church. Then I stayed on an additional three months while the pastor took a leave of absence. Besides preaching at different times during the week, I had a daily radio program, and I also conducted some special missionary services on the weekend. One Friday night after the services had been dismissed, one of the ushers came and told me that a man and a woman from Forth Worth had come to see me. The woman was sick and wanted to be healed. I met with them, and the man related that he had been going to work one morning and had heard my radio program.

He said that I had taught on the radio that healing was for everyone. He told his wife about that statement I had made, and they began to tune in to the radio program every day. The man told me that his wife had had two serious major operations, and she was facing the third one. They had been praying that if it was the will of God for her to be healed, God would give them faith to believe that she would be healed. They had come to me so I could pray for her. I told them that it was unscriptural to pray to God for healing using the words, "If it be Thy will." When you put an "if' in your prayer in praying for anything God has promised you in His Word, you are praying in doubt. Some people think they are being humble when they pray that way, but they are really being ignorant. In other words, when you pray in faith, you don't use an "if." You will get no answer to the prayer of faith if you put "ifs" in your prayers.

But when you are praying a prayer of consecration, committing your life to the plan of God, then you can use the phrase, "If it be Thy will," because you don't know for sure what the Lord's will is. When you are praying the prayer of consecration, you are not praying to change something. But the prayer of faith is the prayer to change things. "If' is the badge of doubt, and the word "if' shouldn't be used in your prayers if you are trying to change a situation.

I had given some scriptures on the radio concerning faith, but they hadn't registered on this man whose wife was sick because he still wasn't sure it was God's will to heal his wife. I asked him, "If the New Testament said that Jesus took your wife's infirmities and bare her sicknesses, then wouldn't it be God's will for her to have her healing?" He agreed that it would. So we turned to MATTHEW 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES, and BARE OUR SICKNESSES. This man jumped up and exclaimed that it was the will of God for his wife to be healed. His wife saw it too. Then we turned to 1 PETER 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: BY WHOSE STRIPES YE WERE HEALED. Then we turned to the Book of ISAIAH 53:4,5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

The margin reads, "Surely he hath borne our sicknesses and carried our diseases" (Isa. 53:4). This couple said that all they needed now was faith. They knew that it was God's will to heal. They said that they knew they were saved; they had gone forward in a church when an invitation was given and had prayed the sinner's prayer. So I knew that they were saved. I asked them if they had asked the Lord to give them faith to be saved when they had gone down to the altar to be saved. They said no. The man related that the pastor preached that they could be saved. The pastor had read the Word to the people.

In other words, they heard the Word concerning salvation. They had faith for salvation because the Bible says, "... faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17). So I told them that they had faith for her healing, too, for the same reason they had had faith for salvation. They had heard the Word. This man said they were going to have to throw their first prayer away because it wasn't any good. I agreed with him. You see, as soon as the light comes, faith is there. This couple already had faith because they had heard and understood the Word. The woman agreed with us. She said that all she had to do now was to accept Jesus as her Healer. So I laid my hand on her head and prayed. Then I asked her if she was healed.

And she said that she surely was and that she knew it because the Word says so. Sunday night during the service at that same church, the vestibule doors swung open and there was that same fellow again. He asked the pastor if he could say a word to the congregation. The pastor gave him permission and the man told the congregation what had happened. He said that when he and his wife got home Friday night, she pulled her brace off and threw it into the closet, and said, "Thank God, I'm healed." The next day when he came home, he found her stooped over the sink washing her hair, something she had been unable to do. The woman had been completely healed! I also laid hands on the husband and wife, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in tongues. Years later, the wife was still healed. How did she get faith?
From hearing the Word!

This man had also brought his mother to be prayed for, who was in a wheelchair with paralysis. After we prayed for her, she got up out of the chair and walked out of the building that night completely well. In the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is provision for every need, salvation, deliverance, safety, preservation, healing, and soundness. Whatever need you have, the faith to receive your answer comes from hearing the Word of God. As you determine to feed upon the Word continually, you will see your faith grow to be able to receive the wonderful promises God has provided for His children. (Kenneth Hagin)