One can spend considerable time teaching individuals how to pray with other for healing, laying stress on how specific prayer should be. But so many people, when it comes to actually praying, fall back into something like "Oh Lord, please heal him/her in all ways he/she needs healing".

Somehow, God is so good that no prayer is a waste of time, but this kind of prayer probably comes very close! Certainly, praying like that will not result in many healings.

Focus your prayer exactly on problem. If they have cancer, or a damaged vertebrae, or Aids, or a cold, pray exactly into that!

Letting God Be God Anyone can pray with another for healing. And anyone can see that healing take place - because God's love for us is so great. However, his knowledge and wisdom are also very great and he sees things differently to us. So we shall not always know why a particular healing does not happen. Sometimes it is down to factors we are discussing here. Sometimes it is due to similar ones we do not have space to included here.

But sometimes nonhealing is due to something which we shall never know about. We need to do all we can, certainly. But when that has been done, there will always be cases which defy explanation. On other hand, there will also be cases where God works in such a sovereign way that we are left speechless at "how" and "why" of it.

Sometimes, in either of these instances, we just have to let God be God"

5.Gifting Anyone can pray with another for healing. But if we feel called into healing ministry, we really ought to get ourselves prayed with for a gift of healing.

Just as God can heal without us, so he can empower us without any assistance from anyone else! But unless we know ourselves to have been specifically blessed in this way, we really ought to seek prayers of others.

What others? Well, any Christian who know what he/she is about. But there does seem to be a definite advantage in being prayed with by someone known to have a gift of healing themselves. Many healers will themselves testify to this. God can give when anyone asks, but...

About The Author A K Whitehead Web Site: www.christianword.co.uk Experience: Over twenty years in Christian healing and teaching. Qualifications: B.A., M.Phil., Camb Univ Cert in Religious Studies Conditions of use: This article may be reproduced on condition that it is unaltered and that all this information is included.

Note that: there are eight syllables in each of nine lines. There are no end rhymes but each line has an internal rhyme, though some are less obvious than others. In first line buy and tie in tied rhyme. Due to d in tied echo of rhyme is subdued or more subtle than otherwise. (Note also that there are different kinds of syllables, which we do not have space to discuss here)

Compare this poem with an alternative approach, albeit little different in length:

THE MUG-STAND On mug-stand (a)
handles once hung (b)
cups of pristine sameness (c)
beautiful and aimless (c)
in song they sung (b)
at secondhand. (a)

Mugs are still hung (d)
but different (e)
shapes and colours, chipped, cracked - (f)
and spaces from fact (f)
of life. Refluent (e)
song now sung. (d)

Now The Mug Stand has a much more complicated structure. There is no internal rhyming but end-rhymes are arranged to give sometimes stronger, sometimes more subtle echoes. The letters at end of lines (a, b, etc.) indicate those which rhyme with each other. The pattern is same in each verse so that, for example, first and last lines in both are seen to rhyme.

Notice also that syllabic length of lines vary within each verse but have same pattern for each verse (i.e. 4,4,6,6,5,4,). The end of any line should not be chosen in an arbitrary way, but should add something to overall effect.

Discipline In Writing Every poem you write should have its own form of discipline. Some people think that so-called free verse is easy to write and that one can do anything in such a poem. All this is untrue.These are ideas that contribute to a lot of bad verse.Good free verse is in many ways most difficult to write, precisely because there is no obvious discipline enjoined on writer by which poem might be made to work. Yet somehow it does have to create a desired effect. Writing to a defininte pattern or rule imposes a discipline which, with some practice, will initially help one to produce rather better verse.

If you are just starting out to write poetry, do begin with rhymed verse. But try not to make rhymes too heavy and obvious. Look for different words to create an effect rather than use first that come to mind. Try an abab or abcabc type of structure rather than aabb.

Make every effort to avoid cliches. Using them is so easy a trap to fall into simply because they are phrases we have heard so often that they just creep or spring into our mind. A good poem has to have some degree of originality. Cliches are as irratating as fleas on a dog. Combe through poem to discover any cliches - looking for phrases like Combe through! Are there any more in this paragraph?

When poem is finished, it is good practice to put it away for some weeks. Then take it out and re-read it. Be severe with yourself! Remove anything which is not right (cliches, repeats of same word, clumsy phrasing etc.) and re-work poem until you feel you can do no better.

Then submit it to some publication which uses poetry. There is little point in writing poetry purely for oneself. Don't be put off by rejections. Some editors may offer suggestions for improvement. Accept them if they seem valid. But keep submitting. Not every one will like what you have written. But you must like it.