Islam is a total system of laws and expectations so expansive and demanding that failure is inevitable. Guilt becomes constant. But Islam offers a way to offset that failure :pledge allegiance to the faith, stand with the ummah, and oppose its enemies. And nothing signals that allegiance more loudly than standing against Israel. Danny Burmawi
From Caldron Pool
Stories of nurses and doctors facing disciplinary action for wearing a cross at work or offering to pray with patients have become increasingly common. In many healthcare settings, there is a hardline and strict boundaries when it comes to discussions of faith and spirituality. But what if such policies are actually denying patients significant aid in their healing?
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have found that just five minutes of in-person Christian prayer can significantly reduce both pain and anxiety, with effects lasting for weeks.
According to the study, prayer proved even more effective than listening to music for the same duration of time.
The randomised trial, conducted by the Department of Family and Community Medicine, involved 180 patients who were divided into two groups: one received five minutes of in-person prayer, while the other spent five minutes listening to music.
Researchers then tracked patients’ self-reported pain and anxiety levels immediately after the intervention, as well as two and six weeks later.
While both groups experienced improvements, the prayer group reported substantially greater reductions in both pain and anxiety. Notably, the anxiety benefits remained statistically significant six weeks after the prayer session.
Dr Katherine Jacobson, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told Fox News that 97 per cent of participants were either neutral or supportive when asked whether this type of prayer should be available as part of medical visits.
There is little doubt that many churches would gladly send volunteers to nearby hospitals to offer brief prayer sessions to sick and dying patients. The question is whether our institutions are willing to set aside their atheistic bias and allow such care to become a normalised option for those who want it.
The findings, published in the Annals of Family Medicine, add to a growing body of research exploring the role of spiritual care in health and recovery. Yet much of the scientific and medical establishment remains constrained by a materialist worldview—the belief that human beings are nothing more than physical matter, with no soul, spirit, or immaterial dimension.
If that assumption is mistaken—and it is—then the therapeutic value of prayer may be addressing a part of the human person that modern medicine has largely neglected.
A beautiful morning in Narrabri today. I rode to Bunnings then around the edge of town and then up Ugoa St past the lake and to Railway St before coming home. #cycling #Narrabri
Scripture
He told them, “My soul is crushed with great grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Observation
On their way to the Mount of Olives, Jesus tells the disciples that they will all desert him. After he is raised from the dead, they will meet again in Galilee. Peter boldly claims that even if the rest desert him, he will not. But Jesus says that very night, Peter will deny three times that he knows Jesus.
At Gethsemane, Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him to pray. Jesus tells them his soul is crushed with grief. He asks them to pray for him and he goes on a little further.
Jesus prays, asking the Father to take his time of suffering away. “Yet not my will but yours be done.” He goes back to the three and finds them asleep.
After the third time of this happening, the betrayer comes.
Application
This scene in the Garden of Gethsemane is a powerful spiritual battle. Jesus is under the most severe testing of his life. The awful fate about to befall him weighs heavily on his soul. We can be sure that satan will be there, whispering in his head that he doesn’t need to be obedient to God, that he can go his own way.
I think it was likely the disciples were under attack also. Their tiredness seems to be unnatural. There have been times when I have been called to pray, and almost immediately I come under a heavy weariness that I have to push through to get to prayer.
At this point of intensive grief and foreboding, Jesus goes into deep prayer. He draws on the strength of the Father to face up to what is coming.
Listen
Lord, is there a lesson for me in this account of your struggle?
Keith, it is your communion with me that is your greatest strength. When you cast yourself on me and surrender all of your plans and ambitions, all of your fights and self-justifications, that is when you are strongest because that is when you are trusting me.
There are times when you allow the enemy to Overwhelm you with fatigue, sinful desires or interruptions. Keep pressing in, even when it seems impossible.
I am the Lord your strength and protector.
Spirit-led reasoning can be defined as allowing flowing pictures and words from the Holy Spirit to guide our reasoning process. We can ask for this and seek it out by properly posturing our hearts before the Holy Spirit (see John 7:37-39; Ps. 73—David reasoned in the sanctuary of God). Mark Virkler
A very crisp start to the day this morning. Our minimum was 4 C and I expect it was even cooler out of town. My body was not terribly co-operative, so I didn’t ride as far as I might have. It was a nice, though slow, ride to Eulah Creek Rd.
New Life Narrabri 