Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing your prayer with such gratitude for God's blessings and for His willingness to hear us. It is good to come to Him with thanksgiving even while asking for help, and He does hear those who call on Him through Jesus.
Your request for healing touches something very close to the heart of Scripture. When Matthew describes Jesus at Peter's house in the evening, with many sick and oppressed people brought to Him, he says Jesus healed them all and that this fulfilled what Isaiah had spoken, Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and the word there can mean sicknesses and infirmities. Matthew understood that what Christ suffered was not only for the forgiveness of sin but also for the healing of the body. That is why when Jesus broke the bread He said this is My body which is broken for you. He cares about your physical needs and He showed His power over sickness, over the material world, and over the spiritual realm, and He used that power to meet the needs of others.
At the same time Scripture keeps us from presuming that God wills physical healing in every case in this life. Paul prayed three times for the Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh, that messenger of Satan that buffeted him, and the Lord answered that His grace was sufficient. Not every prayer for healing is answered with immediate restoration, and there is much about healing we do not fully understand, why some are healed quickly, some gradually, and some not as we had hoped. The only gradual healing recorded in the Gospels reminds us that God does not always work the same way. All healing, whether sudden or slow, is still His work. He has built healing processes into our bodies, and those natural processes are divine because He created them. He is still able to heal today and He is still concerned with our bodies, and we can bring our bodies to Him in faith while trusting His wisdom and love with the outcome. We also remember that gifts of healing are given as the Spirit wills, and as Paul says, do all have gifts of healing, and the implied answer is no, for the body has many members with different callings, so we do not measure faith by a spectacle or by frenzy, but by quiet trust in Christ.
Your request for deliverance from anxiety is also deeply understood in Scripture. The psalmist David asked his own soul, why are you cast down, why are you so disquieted within me, and then he answered himself, hope in God. Anxiety often grows when we feel trapped or pressed down by many kinds of pressure, whether in relationships, finances, or spiritual struggles, and when we feel that way we have for a moment left God out of the equation. The answer is to put Him back in, to hope in Him again, and when He is factored back into the situation it is no longer impossible and we can begin to see His provision. There is a real connection between the health of the soul and the health of the body, as John wrote in his warm wish for Gaius that he would prosper and be in health even as his soul prospered. That was a loving wish, not a blanket promise that everyone will always be well, but it shows the link God has made between inner peace and physical wellbeing. The proverb says a merry heart does good like a medicine, and we now know how true that is, for fear and turmoil can harm the body while peace and hope help it.
So we pray for you for both kinds of healing, physical, emotional and spiritual, asking the Lord to touch your body according to His mercy, whether through a direct touch or through the healing processes He has ordained, and asking Him to lift the weight of anxiety and give you a renewed hope in Him.
Father, in the name of Jesus we thank You that You hear prayer. We thank You that Jesus bore our sins and also our sicknesses and sorrows. We ask for Your healing hand upon this body that is hurting, and for Your peace to guard heart and mind. When anxiety rises and the pressures feel heavy, help Your child to turn again to You and to hope in You, remembering Your power and Your past deliverance. Bring strength to the inner life, calm to the mind, and health to the body as it pleases You, and let Your grace be sufficient and Your presence be near each day. Amen.
Your request for healing touches something very close to the heart of Scripture. When Matthew describes Jesus at Peter's house in the evening, with many sick and oppressed people brought to Him, he says Jesus healed them all and that this fulfilled what Isaiah had spoken, Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and the word there can mean sicknesses and infirmities. Matthew understood that what Christ suffered was not only for the forgiveness of sin but also for the healing of the body. That is why when Jesus broke the bread He said this is My body which is broken for you. He cares about your physical needs and He showed His power over sickness, over the material world, and over the spiritual realm, and He used that power to meet the needs of others.
At the same time Scripture keeps us from presuming that God wills physical healing in every case in this life. Paul prayed three times for the Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh, that messenger of Satan that buffeted him, and the Lord answered that His grace was sufficient. Not every prayer for healing is answered with immediate restoration, and there is much about healing we do not fully understand, why some are healed quickly, some gradually, and some not as we had hoped. The only gradual healing recorded in the Gospels reminds us that God does not always work the same way. All healing, whether sudden or slow, is still His work. He has built healing processes into our bodies, and those natural processes are divine because He created them. He is still able to heal today and He is still concerned with our bodies, and we can bring our bodies to Him in faith while trusting His wisdom and love with the outcome. We also remember that gifts of healing are given as the Spirit wills, and as Paul says, do all have gifts of healing, and the implied answer is no, for the body has many members with different callings, so we do not measure faith by a spectacle or by frenzy, but by quiet trust in Christ.
Your request for deliverance from anxiety is also deeply understood in Scripture. The psalmist David asked his own soul, why are you cast down, why are you so disquieted within me, and then he answered himself, hope in God. Anxiety often grows when we feel trapped or pressed down by many kinds of pressure, whether in relationships, finances, or spiritual struggles, and when we feel that way we have for a moment left God out of the equation. The answer is to put Him back in, to hope in Him again, and when He is factored back into the situation it is no longer impossible and we can begin to see His provision. There is a real connection between the health of the soul and the health of the body, as John wrote in his warm wish for Gaius that he would prosper and be in health even as his soul prospered. That was a loving wish, not a blanket promise that everyone will always be well, but it shows the link God has made between inner peace and physical wellbeing. The proverb says a merry heart does good like a medicine, and we now know how true that is, for fear and turmoil can harm the body while peace and hope help it.
So we pray for you for both kinds of healing, physical, emotional and spiritual, asking the Lord to touch your body according to His mercy, whether through a direct touch or through the healing processes He has ordained, and asking Him to lift the weight of anxiety and give you a renewed hope in Him.
Father, in the name of Jesus we thank You that You hear prayer. We thank You that Jesus bore our sins and also our sicknesses and sorrows. We ask for Your healing hand upon this body that is hurting, and for Your peace to guard heart and mind. When anxiety rises and the pressures feel heavy, help Your child to turn again to You and to hope in You, remembering Your power and Your past deliverance. Bring strength to the inner life, calm to the mind, and health to the body as it pleases You, and let Your grace be sufficient and Your presence be near each day. Amen.
