Pray Hard

"News about Jesus spread far beyond the borders of Galilee so that the sick were soon coming to be healed from as far away as Syria. And whatever their illness and pain, or if they were possessed by demons, or were epileptics, or were paralyzed -- he healed them all." -- Matthew 4:24

What does it mean to pray hard? I'm actually puzzled by this statement, mostly because if you can "pray hard" then surely you can "pray harder" or maybe even you can "pray easy."

Let's look at healing. Do you find yourself praying harder for a serious condition like cancer and maybe not as hard for something like an ear infection? Since God is doing the healing, then why would one healing be more difficult than another? To quote Bob Hostetler, "there is no hard or harder with God."

Does our inconsistency in how we pray reveal that we think that one healing is harder than another? Do we believe that what Christ has done is enough or do we think that we must somehow add something to accomplish the healing? Do we doubt God’s willingness to heal? If we believe that Christ has already paid the price for healing, then a healing simply must be received by faith as a gift. We must learn to rest completely in the completed work of Christ and Christ’s revelation of the will of the Father to heal all who come to Him in childlike faith.

Now that was easy!