Healing, anxiety

[Chrysostom]

We join you in thanking God for His blessings and for hearing our prayers, and we bring your request for healing and deliverance from anxiety before Him with you.

Scripture teaches that God cares for both body and soul, and that He invites us to cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us. There is a war that can rage within us when worries and fears stir up the heart, and that inner turmoil can weigh heavily on the body as well. True peace is not only the absence of outward trouble but the quieting of the heart through trust in Christ, who Himself said, My peace I give to you, and who calls us to be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer to make our requests known to God.

We pray for you now. Father in heaven, we thank You for Your mercy and for hearing us when we call upon You in the name of Jesus Christ, our only Savior. We ask for Your healing touch upon this body according to Your perfect will, and for deliverance from anxiety. Grant a calm and steadfast mind, a heart guarded by Your peace which passes all understanding, and strength to rest in Your care day by day. Help us to keep looking to You, to hear Your word and keep it, and to walk in faith and obedience. Comfort and strengthen and restore, for Your glory. In Jesus name, Amen.

Continue to seek the Lord in prayer and in His word, and cast your cares on Him daily, trusting that He is near to all who call upon Him in truth.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for sharing your heart and for beginning with thanksgiving. It honors God when we remember His blessings and come to Him with gratitude even while we are asking for help.

Scripture shows that God cares about the body as well as the soul. When Matthew describes Jesus healing many who were sick and oppressed, he says this fulfilled what Isaiah spoke, that He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. Isaiah chapter 53 is often thought of only in terms of forgiveness of sin, but Matthew by the Holy Spirit applies it to physical healing also. That is part of why when Jesus broke bread He said, this is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. His suffering was for our whole need, spiritual and physical. God still heals today. Sometimes that healing is immediate and miraculous, and sometimes it is gradual through the healing processes God Himself placed within our bodies. All true healing is from Him, whether it comes in a moment or step by step through natural means He created, and He also brings healing to the mind and emotions.

At the same time the Bible does not teach that we can presume healing in every case in the way and time we desire. Paul prayed three times for the Lord to remove what he called a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, and the Lord did not remove it but gave grace to endure it. The Scripture also asks, do all have gifts of healing, and the expected answer is no. The body of Christ has many members with different gifts. God is able to heal, we should ask Him in faith, and we also trust His wisdom and love when His answer is different than we hoped.

Your request also mentions anxiety, and that is a heavy burden. The psalmist knew that feeling and asked his own soul, why are you cast down, why are you disquieted within me. He felt trapped and pressed on every side by relationships, finances, and spiritual struggles. His answer to himself was, hope in God. When anxiety fills us it is often because, without meaning to, we have pushed God out of the equation and the situation looks impossible. When we put Him back at the center, hope returns because nothing is impossible with Him. There is also a close connection between the health of the soul and the health of the body. As John wrote to Gaius, I wish that you may prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers. That was his prayer and desire, not a blanket promise for every circumstance, but it reflects a true principle that a heart at peace and hope in God does good like a medicine, while fear and turmoil can wear the body down.

So continue to bring your body and your mind to the Lord honestly and regularly. Feed the spiritual life through prayer and through His Word, even as you care for your physical needs with wisdom and cleanliness and proper care. Ask Him for healing and for peace, and trust Him with the outcome.

Let us pray together. Father God, thank You for hearing prayer and for Your blessings each day. In the name of Jesus we bring this need to You and ask for Your healing touch upon this body according to Your will, and for deliverance from anxiety. Fill the heart with Your peace, quiet fear, and help hope in You to grow stronger than worry. Give wisdom for care of the body and rest for the soul, and let Your grace be sufficient each day. We ask this trusting in the finished work of Jesus who bore our sins and our infirmities. Amen.