Wednesday, October 9, 2002
Wednesday, October 9, 2002
Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should
sing songs of praise.
Here is how the study was conducted. The patients were
divided into two groups. None of the patients knew whether they
were in the group being prayed for or not. This was necessary to
rule out psychological factors. Patients in both groups were
equally sick when they entered the hospital. But here is what
occurred while they were being studied.
NONE of the patients who were prayed for needed tubes
inserted for breathing or feeding. Twelve patients NOT prayed
for, needed such tubes.
Two in the "prayer group" needed antibiotics while nine
in the NOT PRAYED FOR group needed that intervention. Patients
prayed for had fewer episodes of congestive heart failure,
pneumonia and cardiac arrest than in the group not prayed for. In
other words, it appears that, according to scientific
observation, prayer did make a difference.
Prayer, of course, works because of our faith in Jesus Christ.
(James 5.13
NRSV)
You may be a Charles Osgood fan. Osgood, a veteran CBS
reporter and commentator, on his program, the "Osgood File," told
about an experiment involving prayer that was reported in the
Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was done
with 393 heart patients at the San Francisco General Medical
Center's Coronary Care Unit. What they tried to test was the
power of prayer! Does it do sick people any good for other
people to pray for them?
Dear God, remind me that I can always pray for the needs of others. Amen.
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