We Often Don’t Receive Because We Often Don’t Believe

“It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:8)

I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Finally, medicine and faith could be mentioned in the same sentence with some credibility.

That’s right. A Duke University psychiatrist has proven that men and women of faith really do recover faster from health-related disorders. “Science can never prove the existence of God,” says Dr. Harold Koenig. “Its tools are designed to study natural phenomena. But we can show that people with faith can recover faster. We can show that it helps people cope.”

Koenig is not only a doctor. He also has a deep and abiding Christian faith. And that’s through the eyes of News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) reporter, Catherine Clabby, who noted: “Step inside Harold Koenig’s small ranch home…, and it’s obvious that religion dwells at the center of his family life. A poster next to the kitchen door announces that ‘Jesus Heads This Household’. The radio is tuned to a Christian station. A delicate cross bought years ago in Bethlehem holds a prominent spot in the professor’s small study.”

Koenig is making headlines these days. He published a paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry showing that Duke University Medical Center patients with a strong Christian faith recovered more quickly from clinical depression. And that’s not all. Koenig and his colleagues have started finding evidence that faith eases anxiety over death and other fears that are often associated with the elderly. Why he even found that faith improves survival rates after heart attacks. He also notes that it helps prevent people from turning into alcoholics.

Koenig’s findings don’t come as a surprise to some Christians. He’s just repeating what some of us we have known all along: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17)

You know what? Most Christians don’t believe that nothing is too difficult for God. At least that’s how we act. The truth is we often blame God and ask him why instead of counting on Him to come through for us.

So what science is now proving, some Christians have known all along. You can’t just believe in God. You have to believe God!

When Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you,” he meant it. (Matthew 7:7) He imposed no conditions on that promise. The hard reality is we often don’t receive because we often don’t believe.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not professing a name-it-and-claim-it theology. The point is not whether God will respond to our prayers. It’s believing that he can.

Dr. Larry Dossey is another prominent physician who was so convinced about the healing power of prayer that he wrote a New York Times Bestseller about it. He remembers what a terminally-ill patient taught him about faith. Dossey couldn’t help but notice his patient praying every time he entered his room. Finally, he asked the man, who had only a few days remaining, “What are you praying for? You know you’re going to die.” His patient responded: “I’m not praying for anything. I’m praying because I know that I am not alone.”

There may be times when the circumstances seem hopeless. But in Christ, all things are possible. All it takes is a little faith. That’s why Jesus said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)