When I was younger, I thought supernatural miracles were non-existent at worst or seldom at best. I never really heard any prayers for people to be healed—just prayers that God “guide the doctors hands.” But history is jam-packed with miracles even into today. In fact, to qualify as a saint in the Catholic Church, the person has to have performed miracles!
Bernard of Clairvaux, for example, once saw 172 blind people and 200 crippled people healed in one single journey. Stories like these tend to get around, causing everyone to bring their sick friends and family members over for a healing. Like Jesus, there were times where Bernard was swarmed with crowds of people wanting a miracle—and like Jesus, many of them found the miracle they desired.
This was also the case with the Apostle Paul who, after getting shipwrecked on an island, was bitten by a poisonous viper but didn’t die. He then went on to heal a man with dysentery, which caused everyone else on the island who needed a healing to come forward and be healed as well.
So often we just want to tell or argue the gospel with those who don’t know or believe it. It often helps to also show them the gospel, and so I pray for healing wherever I find it needed.
*This devotional was created out of the themes of Acts 28:1-16 found in today’s reading at CommonPrayer.net.
Jamin Bradley 