Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for freedom from health issues is heard, and it reflects a desire that God Himself shares for you. He is interested in your health, in your whole person, body and soul.
There is a well known verse where the wish is expressed that you may prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers. Some have taken that as a blanket promise that every believer will always be well, but it is better understood as a loving wish and prayer for a friend. What is beautiful and true in it is the connection it shows between the soul and the body. Your inner life and your physical health are not separate. Attitudes, anxiety, fear and stress can actually change the chemistry of the body and bring sickness, even ulcers and other harm, while peace and spiritual health strengthen the body. To pray for your health is also to pray for the prospering of your soul in Christ.
The Scriptures show us that Jesus is a healer. When He came to Peter's house and many sick and afflicted people were brought to Him in the evening, He healed them. Matthew tells us this fulfilled what Isaiah said, Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our infirmities. Isaiah's words speak first of our sin and spiritual healing, but Matthew by the Holy Spirit applies them to physical healing as well. When Jesus broke the bread and said this is my body which is broken for you, He was pointing to a suffering that covers both soul and body. The last word of the Old Testament had been judgment, but the promise was that the Sun of Righteousness would arise with healing in His wings, like the sunrise bringing light after a long night of silence. When God broke four hundred years of silence, His first word through the angel was fear not. That is still His heart toward you in your fear about health.
At the same time, the Bible does not teach that God wills instant physical healing in every case in this life. Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed, and God did not remove it, but gave him grace and strength through it. Not everyone is given the same gift of healing, for the body of Christ has many members with different gifts. This helps us keep a balanced hope.
Healing itself comes in many forms, and all true healing is from God. Sometimes it is miraculous and immediate, sometimes it is gradual, and sometimes it comes through the natural processes God has built into our bodies. Those natural processes are not less divine because they are natural, for God created nature and its laws. Even when critics say a healing was only in the mind, if God has healed anxiety, fear or deep emotional wounds, that is still a divine healing that affects the body as well. We have seen wonderful miraculous healings, we have seen slow recoveries step by step, and we have also seen those who were not healed in this life but were kept in God's peace until He called them home.
Because God cares for your body, it is also right to steward it. Scripture connects the fear of the Lord and turning from evil with health to the body and strength to the bones. To fear the Lord is to hate evil and to walk in His wisdom rather than being wise in our own eyes. That includes practical care for the body, the food you eat, the cleanliness that helps prevent disease, and guarding your heart from chronic worry and anger. These are not separate from spirituality, they are part of honoring God with your life.
So bring your request to Jesus again and again, trusting His compassion and His power over sickness and over the spiritual realm. Ask Him for healing, whether it be immediate or gradual, and ask Him also to cause your soul to prosper, to fill you with His love which is self giving and not self seeking, and to replace fear with trust. If He chooses to heal quickly, give thanks. If He leads you through a slower process using doctors, rest, good food and wise habits, give thanks for His provision in those means. And if He allows a weakness to remain for a time, trust that His grace is sufficient and that He will walk with you in it.
May the Lord who bore your sins and your infirmities draw near to you, quiet your fear, prosper your soul as you abide in Him, and grant you health according to His wise and loving will.
There is a well known verse where the wish is expressed that you may prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers. Some have taken that as a blanket promise that every believer will always be well, but it is better understood as a loving wish and prayer for a friend. What is beautiful and true in it is the connection it shows between the soul and the body. Your inner life and your physical health are not separate. Attitudes, anxiety, fear and stress can actually change the chemistry of the body and bring sickness, even ulcers and other harm, while peace and spiritual health strengthen the body. To pray for your health is also to pray for the prospering of your soul in Christ.
The Scriptures show us that Jesus is a healer. When He came to Peter's house and many sick and afflicted people were brought to Him in the evening, He healed them. Matthew tells us this fulfilled what Isaiah said, Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our infirmities. Isaiah's words speak first of our sin and spiritual healing, but Matthew by the Holy Spirit applies them to physical healing as well. When Jesus broke the bread and said this is my body which is broken for you, He was pointing to a suffering that covers both soul and body. The last word of the Old Testament had been judgment, but the promise was that the Sun of Righteousness would arise with healing in His wings, like the sunrise bringing light after a long night of silence. When God broke four hundred years of silence, His first word through the angel was fear not. That is still His heart toward you in your fear about health.
At the same time, the Bible does not teach that God wills instant physical healing in every case in this life. Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed, and God did not remove it, but gave him grace and strength through it. Not everyone is given the same gift of healing, for the body of Christ has many members with different gifts. This helps us keep a balanced hope.
Healing itself comes in many forms, and all true healing is from God. Sometimes it is miraculous and immediate, sometimes it is gradual, and sometimes it comes through the natural processes God has built into our bodies. Those natural processes are not less divine because they are natural, for God created nature and its laws. Even when critics say a healing was only in the mind, if God has healed anxiety, fear or deep emotional wounds, that is still a divine healing that affects the body as well. We have seen wonderful miraculous healings, we have seen slow recoveries step by step, and we have also seen those who were not healed in this life but were kept in God's peace until He called them home.
Because God cares for your body, it is also right to steward it. Scripture connects the fear of the Lord and turning from evil with health to the body and strength to the bones. To fear the Lord is to hate evil and to walk in His wisdom rather than being wise in our own eyes. That includes practical care for the body, the food you eat, the cleanliness that helps prevent disease, and guarding your heart from chronic worry and anger. These are not separate from spirituality, they are part of honoring God with your life.
So bring your request to Jesus again and again, trusting His compassion and His power over sickness and over the spiritual realm. Ask Him for healing, whether it be immediate or gradual, and ask Him also to cause your soul to prosper, to fill you with His love which is self giving and not self seeking, and to replace fear with trust. If He chooses to heal quickly, give thanks. If He leads you through a slower process using doctors, rest, good food and wise habits, give thanks for His provision in those means. And if He allows a weakness to remain for a time, trust that His grace is sufficient and that He will walk with you in it.
May the Lord who bore your sins and your infirmities draw near to you, quiet your fear, prosper your soul as you abide in Him, and grant you health according to His wise and loving will.
