Healing the Sick

This week's lesson was taught by Sis. Juli Schiess from the talk given by Elder Oaks during the April 2010 Priesthood Session of General Conference. It was a wonderful lesson with great participation. She started off by asking us to think about how many honest to goodness, science cannot explain it miracles that have happened in the Book of Mormon up to where we have read. She then asked us to think of miracles like that in our own lives. She told us that we were going to talk about one specific type of miracle like that, the miracle of healing.
As sisters, we do not hold the Priesthood but we can call on those who do. Still, it is important for us to understand how the Priesthood works and what it's divine purposes are. Sis. Schiess did an excellent job of teaching us some of those principles today. Elder Oaks said, "We have this priesthood power, and we should all be prepared to use it properly. Current increases in natural disasters and financial challenges show that we will need this power even more in the future than in the past. Many scriptures teach that the servants of the Lord 'shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover' (Mark 16:18). Miracles happen when the authority of the priesthood is used to bless the sick....There are five parts to the use of priesthood authority to bless the sick: 1) the anointing. 2) the sealing of the naointing, 3) faith, 4) the words of the blessing, and 5) the will of the Lord."
Sis. Schiess continued the lesson by discussing each one of these parts in detail.
ANOINTING- Elder Oaks explains, "The Old Testament frequently mentions anointing with oil as part of a blessing conferred by priesthood authority. Anointings were declared to be for sanctification and perhaps can also be seen as symbolic of the blessings to be poured out from heaven as a result of this sacred act." To be sanctified means to become Holy. So the anointing prepares us to be Holy to recieve the blessings of heaven that our Father has for us.

SEALING THE ANOINTING-Elder Oaks goes on to say, "When someone has been anointed by the authority of the Melchisedek Priesthood, the anointing is sealed by that same authority. To seal something means to affirm it, to make it binding for its inteded purpose. When elders anoint a sick person and seal the anointing, they open the windows of heaven for the Lord to pour forth the blessing He wills for the person afflicted." President Brigham Young taught: "When I lay hands on the sick, I expect the healing power and influence of God to pass through me to the patient, and the diesease to give way....When we are prepared, when we are holy vessels before the Lords, a stream of power from the Almighty can pass through the tabernacle of the administrator to the system of the patient, and the sick are made whole."

FAITH- Faith is essential for healing by the powers of heaven. The Book of Mormon even teaches that "if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them" (Ether 12:12). President Spencer W. Kimball said: "The need of faith is often underestimated. The ill one and the family often seem to depend wholly on the power of the priesthood and the gift of healing that they hope the administering brethren may have, whereas the greater responsibility is with him who is blessed....The major element is the faith of the individual when that person is conscious and accountable. 'Thy faith hath made thee whole' was repeated so often by the Master that it almost became a chorus." When we are the recipients of a priesthood blessing it is not enough to have faith in the one giving us the blessing but to also have our own faith that the Lord will bless us according to His will.

WORDS OF BLESSING- Elders Oaks teaches us that "another part of a priesthood blessing is the words of blessing spoken by the elder after he seals the anointing. These words can be very important, but their content is not essential and they are not recorded on the records of the Church. In some priesthood blessings-like a patriarchal blessing- the words spoken are the essence of the blessing. But in a healing blessing it is the other parts of the blessing-the anointing, the sealing, faith, and the will of the Lord-that are the essential elements." When we are recieving a blessing we hope that the one giving it to us is spiritually in tune with the Father's will and that he will bless us accordingly. However, as is mentioned above, whether or not certain words are said or are not said it is our faith that brings to pass that will.

WILL OF THE LORD-Elder Oaks continues, "As we we exercise the undoubted power of the priesthood of God and as we treasure His promise that He will hear and answer the prayer of faith, we must alywas remember that faith and the leaing power of the priesthood cannot produce a result contrary to the will of Him whose priesthood it is....we learn that even the servants of the Lord, exercising His divine power in a circumstance where there is sufficient faith to be healed, cannot give a preisthood blessing that will cause a person to be healed if that healing is not the will of the Lord....We do all that we can for the healing of a loved one, and then we trust in the Lord for the outcome."
We need to remember that we do not know all that the Lord has in store for us or for our loved ones. We should also remember that the Lord will not take us until we have finished our work on the earth that He has given us. This is especially hard to learn as we watch loved ones die or even babies die when we ourselves are not prepared for them to leave us. When we know that we have done all that could be done medically and spiritually and still the outcome leaves us with the grief and pain of death, we should take comfort in the fact that the Lord needed them home and they are fulfilling His will.

We had such great participation from the Bishop and the other sisters of the Relief Society as they shared examples and stories from their own lives. I too have my own miracle of healing story that happened to me and I am here, writing to you today, because of that healing priesthood blessing. I encourage you all to be more conscientious this week of the many miracles that happen in your life on a daily basis.