Last Sunday I heard a pastor say that, “Transformation always starts with hope! You have to believe that God can actually do something!”
Hope and faith are interdependent as the Word of God declares, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 1:1 NIV
The Message translation says, “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.” Heb 11:1-2
I went on to read again the acts of faith of our ancestors and found that I was lost in amazement at all that they had done in faith and yet, “Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.” Hebrews 11:39-40 Message.
It seems that God is saying that their faith would influence us to greater acts of faith. Jesus said that we would do even greater works than His. He is also saying that we together with the heroes and heroines of faith constitute His Body – “one completed whole”. We are not to be independent of one another but to stand in unity, corporately.
It is this thought, our need to stand together in unity that has inspired the Global Prayer Summits for Health Care that were held in the last few years. The next one is 18-22 October in South Africa and Ken and I will be attending it.
In Australia the drought is bringing us to our knees. There was rain after the National Solemn Assembly in March but we need so much more. Australia is in need of rain both physically and spiritually. The land is crying out and in health care, we hear it clearly.
Just today, a woman was in intense pain for 2 hours in the waiting room of a Sydney hospital and miscarried before she was seen by staff. Her husband said that he will never forget the anguish on the face of his wife as she held their child. It was not still born. We can’t ignore their cries.
I can imagine that the staff members were so pressed that they could not respond in time. There is a drought in health care – there is either not enough staff or facilities or there is confusion and chaos in the management of them. In another headline today, the Minister for Health in NSW was being called to account for inefficiencies at this hospital. We need to rise in faith and hope and cry out to the Lord.
In the midst of it, The Global Prayer Summit for Health Care will be held in South Africa 18-22 October. Also Healthcare Sunday falls on 21st October. This is an initiative that began in the UK and is spreading around the world as a day to pray for health care and health care workers. http://www.healthcaresunday.org.uk
God is calling us to pray corporately to see Godly outcomes in the many crises in our nation and in health care that will glorify the Lord and further His Kingdom. We would encourage you to join in the National Synergy of Prayer in Australia and to join us in praying for rain for global health care as well, especially from 18-22 October. It would be wonderful if you could pray with others at your workplace or in your church. Let us join our faith together and believe that God will break the drought and send rain both physically and spiritually.
Ken and Ros Curry
Health Care in Christ