Silas
Beloved of All
Your gratitude to God is a beautiful place to begin, and it is right to thank Him that He hears our prayers. He invites us to bring both our bodies and our anxious thoughts to Him.
Scripture shows how deeply Jesus cares about physical suffering. When evening came at Peter's house, many who were sick and oppressed were brought to Him and He healed them. Matthew, writing by the Holy Spirit, said this fulfilled what Isaiah had spoken, surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sicknesses. The word there can be translated infirmities. Matthew understood that prophecy to include physical healing, not only spiritual healing from sin, though it certainly includes that too. That is why when Jesus took bread He said this is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. His suffering covers the whole person.
At the same time we are not to presume that God wills immediate and complete physical healing in every case in this life. Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh, which he described as a messenger of Satan buffeting him, and the Lord did not remove it. There is much about healing that we do not understand, why some are healed quickly and others are not. What we can hold with confidence is that God does heal, that healing is for today, and that He is able. Sometimes that healing is immediate, sometimes it is gradual. There is only one gradual healing recorded in the ministry of Jesus, but all natural processes of recovery are still divine, because God created nature and the processes within our bodies that restore health. He also brings healing to the mind and emotions, mending wounds and scars that are not physical.
It is also true that our inner life and our physical health are connected. The proverb says a merry heart does good like a medicine, and we now know scientifically how real that connection is. Anxiety and heaviness can affect the body, and the body can affect the spirit. John once wrote to Gaius, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. That was his loving wish, not a blanket promise that God guarantees perfect health to everyone, but it does show the correlation God has made between the health of the soul and the health of the body.
Your mention of anxiety is important. The psalmist David knew that pressure. He asked himself, why are you cast down, why are you disquieted within me. We often feel that way when we feel trapped by pressures, whether relational, financial, or spiritual. His answer to himself was, hope in God. When anxiety fills us, it is often because, without meaning to, we have left God out of the equation and the situation feels impossible. When we put Him back in, when we set our hope on Him again, the impossible takes on a different light because He is present and able. That does not mean the pressure instantly disappears, but it means we face it with Him.
So we will pray for you now, asking with faith and with submission to His wise will. We ask the Lord to lay His hand upon your body for healing, whether in a moment or through the gradual and divine processes He has built into you, and to lift the weight of anxiety and replace it with His peace. We ask Him to prosper your soul as you hope in Him, and to let that inner strengthening bring refreshment to your body as well. May you know His nearness, His compassion, and His power over every physical and spiritual need, and may you rest in His love as you continue to seek Him in prayer. In the name of Jesus, amen.
Scripture shows how deeply Jesus cares about physical suffering. When evening came at Peter's house, many who were sick and oppressed were brought to Him and He healed them. Matthew, writing by the Holy Spirit, said this fulfilled what Isaiah had spoken, surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sicknesses. The word there can be translated infirmities. Matthew understood that prophecy to include physical healing, not only spiritual healing from sin, though it certainly includes that too. That is why when Jesus took bread He said this is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. His suffering covers the whole person.
At the same time we are not to presume that God wills immediate and complete physical healing in every case in this life. Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh, which he described as a messenger of Satan buffeting him, and the Lord did not remove it. There is much about healing that we do not understand, why some are healed quickly and others are not. What we can hold with confidence is that God does heal, that healing is for today, and that He is able. Sometimes that healing is immediate, sometimes it is gradual. There is only one gradual healing recorded in the ministry of Jesus, but all natural processes of recovery are still divine, because God created nature and the processes within our bodies that restore health. He also brings healing to the mind and emotions, mending wounds and scars that are not physical.
It is also true that our inner life and our physical health are connected. The proverb says a merry heart does good like a medicine, and we now know scientifically how real that connection is. Anxiety and heaviness can affect the body, and the body can affect the spirit. John once wrote to Gaius, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. That was his loving wish, not a blanket promise that God guarantees perfect health to everyone, but it does show the correlation God has made between the health of the soul and the health of the body.
Your mention of anxiety is important. The psalmist David knew that pressure. He asked himself, why are you cast down, why are you disquieted within me. We often feel that way when we feel trapped by pressures, whether relational, financial, or spiritual. His answer to himself was, hope in God. When anxiety fills us, it is often because, without meaning to, we have left God out of the equation and the situation feels impossible. When we put Him back in, when we set our hope on Him again, the impossible takes on a different light because He is present and able. That does not mean the pressure instantly disappears, but it means we face it with Him.
So we will pray for you now, asking with faith and with submission to His wise will. We ask the Lord to lay His hand upon your body for healing, whether in a moment or through the gradual and divine processes He has built into you, and to lift the weight of anxiety and replace it with His peace. We ask Him to prosper your soul as you hope in Him, and to let that inner strengthening bring refreshment to your body as well. May you know His nearness, His compassion, and His power over every physical and spiritual need, and may you rest in His love as you continue to seek Him in prayer. In the name of Jesus, amen.
