Reginald Cherry
Cherry writes his book talking about the power of prayer in the healing process. As a medical doctor, he provides the clinical understanding of how prayer is involved in the healing process. He gives scientific evidence that prayer is effective in helping people physically heal. The author gives a history of civilizations, pointing out that every civilization has had prayer of some sort.
The author describes the change in understanding of how the body, mind, soul, and spirit Function. It used to be that people were treated for physical wounds in spiritual and mental ways. Only after the modernizing of medicine has healing become a more scientific approach. Spiritual belief is coming back as part of the healing process today.
Cherry goes through a litany of examples where doctors have found that everything spirituality and prayer has been a healing force in patient’s lives. One doctor says that spirituality is good medicine. Many doctors are coming around to the possibilities that spirituality helps in the healing process. Spirituality has positive effects on the body, today’s doctors have decided. They make it part of the healing process, and there are programs in hospitals and rehabilitation facilities that make spirituality part of self-care.
Chapter 2 Complementary Healing Sources: The Natural Side
Cherry talks aboutl how the medical community has shunned the spiritual and natural parts of healing. Few studies have been made on how natural medicine and spiritual healing can be part of a holistic approach. He shows with many examples of herbal remedies and other “homeopathic” approaches to keeping the body healthy and avoiding disease have become part of scientific research for medicines.
Many of the approaches today and medicines available come from natural herbs. Every medicine from cancer to arthritis has an herbal element. But some of these natural substances can be dangerous to the human body. Cherry suggests that when we pray for the sick, the more we understand the sickness, the better we can pray for them.
He also addresses the healing power of nutrition. He talks about several diets that can prevent health issues many Americans deal with today.
Chapter 3: What the Bible Says about Health
The author talks about learning from the Bible about health and combining that with medical training. How the laws of clean and unclean animals and food were actually healthy and hopeful to maintain health. It’s amazing how God showed how to live a healthy life by following is a testament commandments to Israel.
He talks about having a good diet and knowing what to eat and what to avoid. He uses the story of Daniel as an example of how fruits and plans with a little bit of animal meat is one of the healthiest diets a person can have. Missionaries around the world have healthy diets by the way they eat. He favors a Mediterranean diet.
Chapter 4: Do You Know How to Pray?
Cherry describes the necessity for Christians to learn how to pray. This is not just about words, but about prayer that moves the hand of God. Jesus teaches us how to pray in the Bible. And we must trust the Bible without question. He outlines two reasons he believes the Bible is true. Prayer gets tried and proven results. Prayer as found in the Bible have rules for them to yield results. The author presents 11 prayers he has found in Scripture.
He deals with two objections to praying what Scripture requires, praying with faith and praying God’s will. Everyone has a measure of faith. The Bible reveals some of God’s will to us. He practices medicine that prevents diseases and sicknesses. His focus is to find out things that cause sickness and avoid them. He cites examples of patients he has had and how prayer and God’s direction has helped him to prescribe the proper steps for healing.
Chapter 5: A Doctor Learns How to Pray for the Sick
Dr. Cherry describes how his education automatically in limited any faith-based medicine. He was drawn to Billy Graham and studied the Bible with what Billy Graham said. In college, he did not advance in any Christian allegiance to Christ. He describes how he had pride in himself and his abilities.
He rejected the theological implications of suffering and thought he could heal any sip and key people from getting sick would be sick. He ignored his theology classes. Doctors and classes approach to medicine with a purely scientific approach, neglecting anything of faith. He describes his first job at an aerobics clinic. He tried to strike out on his own. He continued to describe how money and fame inflated his ego.
As a mean boss, he ran into a believing life surprise about Linda, the nurse who was praying for him. It made him think about God. He began to listen to God’s voice. He became a believer. There’s a surprise about Linda, the nurse. God told him to minister to the spiritual aspects as well as physical aspects of each patient. Patients must deal with multiple fractured approaches to their healing. He provided a holistic approach to health.
Chapter 6 The Six Biblical Foundations for Healing
Cherry introduces six foundational beliefs you must have experienced God’s healing in your life. He shows Scriptures were these foundational principles come from the Bible. These are powerful foundations and that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. They are the best part of the whole book! These truths help you to see what the Bible has taught about healing. They can unlock the door to your healing.
Chapter 7 God Still Heals Today
The author gives case studies from his personal practice of hope God has touched people and healed them through prayer. Sometimes he includes medical tests, a history of the illness, and always makes specific, directing prayer toward healing in his prescription. The Holy Spirit often guided him to a way to pray for his patients for them to experience God’s healing.
Chapter 8 The Most Important Prayer You Will Ever Pray
As a physician, Cherry believes and practices praying for the salvation of his patients. Along with healing, salvation is necessary for every person. He shares the Roman Road to Salvation. At the end of his book, Dr. Cherry gives Scriptures under a heading, “The Healing Word.” He gives his favorite Scriptures for healing. They are a powerful encouragement for me, as I am currently paralyzed from the neck down. The Word of God is the best case studies go when you are sick. There’s nothing like hearing God’s Word to you. The book also provides discussion and study guide questions for those who want to dig deeper into everything Dr. Cherry presents in his book. These can be helpful for small groups or individual study.
