The body of Christ doesn’t work properly without the members praying for
each other. Prayer is the immunity system of the body of
Christ. Through prayer, we fight off the invasive forces that seek to disease
and afflict the body of Christ.
Prayerlessness in the body of Christ is akin to leprosy. I learned some
things about leprosy from Paul Brand, a surgeon to lepers. He says that in
leprosy the nerves stop functioning properly, no longer sending signals of pain to
the brain. Lepers will begin to lose fingers and toes in accidents because they
cannot feel pain when they are hurting themselves.
Drawing a spiritual analogy from that, when the church does not feel pain
with other suffering believers, it indicates the presence of “spiritual leprosy.”
The church’s nerves are dead. What happens next is the church begins to lose
body members.
Pain signals the body to send help to the hurting member. Pain is absolutely
necessary for the body to be able to repair itself and heal itself. Thus, pain is a
gift. It is crucial that we feel the pain of suffering members in the body so that
we can rise to repair and heal as needed. Intercession is a response to
pain. We cry because we’re in pain. Cries of intercession are the vehement
cries of believers beseeching heaven on behalf of one another. CULLED FROM SECERTS OF THE SECRET PLACE.