Back in 2020, I was exploring the concepts of God’s will and what that meant in my life, among other things. For someone who had been attending a, what I would now call, “health-and-wealth gospel church” for a while, this topic wasn’t a struggle. The sermons I was accustomed to emphasized that God desires the best for you at all times, and best meant wealth, health, prosperity, etc. If you were sick, you could confidently cast it out, believing it was the devil interfering with your health. If you were poor, it was believed that the devil was obstructing your financial breakthrough, so you were encouraged to cast and rebuke him. Likewise, if your family had certain patterns like alcoholism, diabetes, etc., it was often attributed to a generational curse, which could be broken through prayer.
This is not to wholly deny the influence of Satan in a Christian’s life; after all, the Bible clearly says that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world. However, it’s notable that not many of the preachings revolved around the will of God, but if they ever did, it simply meant that He was perceived to act more like a cosmic wish-granter or like the Genie in the Aladdin story.
Following a series of events, I found myself engaged in doctrinal discussions, and a recurring theme, something I would continually ponder after concluding my debates and discussions, was what God’s will actually meant. If the will of God was for Christians to be healthy and wealthy all the time, then why did Paul endure all those trials and tribulations that he mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11 and in other places in the Bible? And why did John the Baptist live in the wilderness eating locusts and wild honey? Why didn’t God provide him with a mansion in the suburbs and transport him to his preaching scenes with a horse and a cart or something similar?
Anyway, as I continued to wrestle with these ideas, an incident occurred in my life in 2022. My nephew, who was only four years old at the time, was diagnosed with ASD (Atrial Septal Defect). He was suffering greatly, experiencing symptoms such as getting tired while running in his school playground and having heavy breathing while sleeping etc. Given that he lived in Ethiopia with my sister and her husband, I was deeply concerned about his treatment options, as there were very limited resources available there. Meanwhile, I was still in school, managing two jobs, and this situation added to my stress.
A similar thing happened minutes after he was born, four years prior to that, where he was unable to breathe, necessitating placement on a breathing machine. The hospital where he was born at did not have the machine, so he had to be transported from my sister’s care to a different hospital equipped with one. Additionally, my sister and her husband were required to pay 10,000 Ethiopian birr for every single day he remained on the machine, with the threat of removal from the breathing machine if they couldn’t afford it. It’s important to note that this is a country where there is no health insurance or free healthcare. I remember feeling very shocked upon hearing this.
Back then, I prayed every day and was full of faith. All glory belongs to God alone, as my nephew was restored to health, and we were able to afford the medical bills. The doctors had mentioned that there was an opening in his heart and that it might close on its own. We were confident that it would. Fast forward four years later, my nephew was diagnosed with ASD, and the doctors stated that he would need surgery to close the opening. They also mentioned that there were many children waiting in line for surgery at the only facility that performs it and that it might be better for his parents to explore options in other countries.
During this time, I found myself unable to pray a prayer of faith as I did four years earlier when he was born. What exactly is the will of God regarding people with illnesses? Does He always will to heal them? Does it matter if I prayed? Does my faith matter? Can my prayers change anything? Can I influence the will of God in any way? Did God will to take him instead? Why would God save him when he was a newborn, only to take him four years later? Every time I knelt down to pray, my mind would be consumed with all these questions.
I remember reading in a book written by Ole Hallesby about how the key elements of prayer are faith and helplessness. Honestly, though my faith was tremendously tested, I was helpless before God. One of the Psalms I turn to meditate on whenever I experience these kinds of feelings is Psalms 18. In the beginning of the psalm, it states that it was sung by David when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. Verse 6 sticks with me the most, and it’s quoted like this in the NIV: “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.”
You see, in my “health and wealth gospel” days, I didn’t have such a problem. If anybody was sick, I was 100% sure that it was God’s will for them to be healed when I prayed. But this time around, I was crying my eyes out in distress since I didn’t know what the will of God was. So, I did exactly what’s written in this verse. In my distress, I cried unto my God! I told Him, I am not sure what His will is and I am absolutely scared that His will might be to take my nephew and if I would ever be able to handle that. I was honest with Him. I had to tell Him that I am no longer confident in what God wants. I was completely broken and helpless before Him.
We were not financially capable of bringing him to the US for the surgery, so we started looking into hospitals in India and Turkey. Finally, India was chosen, and to make it short, God did a miracle to get him a VISA, and enabled us financially to afford his surgery. The surgery was very successful and now he is in good health.
Looking back now, I realize that it’s okay if we had lost the confidence that we once had in God. He understands us and is very compassionate towards us. All that’s needed from us is to come to God with humility and sincerity, especially with honesty. He can grant us faith if we simply ask Him to help us overcome our doubts.
D 1. Many Ethiopian churches in Atlanta, as well as across the country, have unfortunately embraced the Prosperity Gospel (PG). I believe we should focus on addressing this issue and assisting those impacted.
By the way, I have co-authored a book with Menelik Asfaw on this topic. These days, if you’re critical of these teachings, many people assume you are a cessationist. It’s sad!
2. Regarding generational curses, the book “አባይ ነባይ” provides an extensive discussion on the topic.
3. Petitionary prayers are a topic of discussion in philosophical theology. If you’d like to explore this further, I can guide you in that area.
Scott A. Davison has published a book with Oxford on this topic, and he also wrote an article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. You can read it here: [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Petitionary Prayer](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/petitionary-prayer/). In summary, it’s a thought-provoking article.