Gaylord Diaz's Blog

My sister-in-law’s been fighting an aggressive form of cancer for the last couple of years. She’s been in the hospital for the last couple of weeks fighting for her life. Thankfully, the Lord brought her back from the grave, as it were, and we were able to hear her talk out loud again, smile as always, pray, sing, and have as jolly a time as could be had in a hospital bed.

Anyways, we determined from the outset that we wanted God to be glorified in Doreen’s life. Of course we wanted her healed. But most of all, we wanted God’s will to be done and for Him to be glorified through Doreen. We are not God. He alone holds the power of life and death. If He wanted Doreen bad enough He could have her and we would rejoice through our tears because we know where she’s going and who she’ll be with. There’s nothing grander than heavenly glory and there’s nothing on this earth that can keep a Heaven-bound saint from going home when it’s God’s time for her to be home. But until God lets us know it’s time to let her go we continue to pray and believe for healing—after all, that is His promise and it’s one of the things Christ provided for us at the cross.

So for the last few days we’ve been lifting Doreen up in prayer, joined by a multitude of believers and friends who’ve petitioned the Lord on Doreen’s behalf. I know God’s been blest and glorified as He’s witnessed the love, unity, prayers, and praises of His people. So many people have rallied around Doreen; they’ve lifted up the shield of faith and wielded the sword of the Spirit against satan on Doreen’s behalf. The devil’s got himself a bruising and a licking! I know God’s been so pleased and glorified by that.  He’s graciously blest us with miracles each day as we’ve seen Doreen drink more and more water, eat more broth, mashed sweet potatoes and bread, and converse freely with us.

Among the many Scriptures that we’ve lobbed against the devil are the oft-repeated promises that God has given us: the prayer of faith shall heal the sick and the Lord shall raise her up; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover; He sent His Word and healed her and delivered her from all her destructions; He heals all her diseases and redeems her life from destruction; the shield of faith quenches every fiery dart; with God all things are possible; with faith nothing is impossible; what things soever we desire, when we pray, we believe that we receive them and we shall have them; delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart; resist the devil and he shall flee from you; and many, many more.

You all know what the Word of God that Christ quoted in His wilderness temptation did to the devil: the Word sent the devil packing. The devil couldn’t do anything against God’s Word! He couldn’t win as long as Christ was using the Word against him.

In the same manner, we’ve used the sword of the Spirit against the devil and I mean to tell you, I kid you not, the devil’s been bruised and sent to the canvas time after time after time. What a glutton for punishment!

Anyways, the Lord did a marvelous work of encouragement for me as He took me to a couple of Scriptures that I had never before put together. The first was the promise of James 5:16, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. God wasn’t calling my attention to myself, as if I was going to win this battle on my own. No, this battle belongs to the Lord, the victory is His, and He has won it on His own. So the Lord wasn’t lifting me up necessarily: He was just reminding me that prayer really works when a righteous person’s praying.

Then the Lord took me to Hebrews 7:25 and Romans 8:34 where Christ is at the right hand of the Father, praying and interceding for us. Christ, brethren, is praying for us! He isn’t idle in glory: He’s praying! For us! He lives! To pray! For us!

I don’t know what you think about Christ. Some people think that Christ is only interested in our soul and He’s praying only for our soul to be saved from sin. Nothing else. But let’s face it. Christ is every bit human like us—except He’s sinless. When we have loved ones hurting we rush to their side to help them. When they’re under attack—being slaughtered and killed—we don’t just stand by and watch it happen. We get right smack in the thick of things and we do what we can to protect, save, and help the ones we love.

Jesus does the same. He loves Doreen very much. He died to save her. She belongs to Him. She’s family. From up in Heaven He sees what the devil’s doing to Doreen and what He sees moves Him to action. It moves Him to prayer. And when Jesus prays what do you think is gonna happen? Is God gonna answer His prayer? You bet!

Then the Lord put everything together for me. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Jesus is praying. It hit me like a ton of bricks! With Jesus praying—the most righteous man that ever was—His prayers are going to win out. The devil isn’t just fighting against us by ourselves: he’s fighting against Jesus too, who’s fighting him right back! Just like in His wilderness temptation! With Jesus fighting and praying the devil simply doesn’t stand a chance! Christ has him beat in this battle! The devil really is a loser! We’re victors through Christ! We have nothing to fear  or lose! We’re gonna win this one no matter how it ends because Jesus is praying! Thank you sweet Jesus for praying!