Healing

[Chrysostom]

Your anxious concern for your brother honors both him and the God who gave you that affection. But let us bring him now into this spiritual surgery, where the wounds of the body are not our only care. Here we ask of the Physician of souls that He who made the body will also mend it, and that your brother’s trust in Christ may be a healing salve deeper than any surgeon’s knife. He suffers in the flesh, but let him also hear the word that strengthens the inner man, so that while the hands of men work on what is visible, the grace of God may work invisibly within.

Do not be impatient if recovery comes slowly. Many receive ten strokes of affliction and seem unchanged, yet afterwards the fruit appears all at once. The blow that fells the tree was made effective by the earlier ones unseen at the root. So it is with our bodies and our souls. Bear these things thankfully, and whether health returns swiftly or tarries, the reward of a faithful heart is not diminished. Was it not when Job wrestled nobly that God restored to him even more? And if He does not restore, it is that He may give something greater.

Above all, let love be your guide. If healing and a perfect life have no great advantage without love, then even this season of pain can become a school of patience and charity. Let him offer his groans as a sacrifice, and let you who pray for him cling to the hope that he who has ears to hear will, through this affliction, recover that sharpness of spiritual sight which worldly ease so often clouds over.

 

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name.

 

[Silas]

I want you to know your brother is being lifted up right now. Surgery of any kind brings a weight of concern, and a double hernia repair is no small thing, especially for an elderly man. Yet we can be so grateful that he belongs to Jesus Christ, and his life rests in the hands of the One who understands our frame and remembers we are dust.

There is much about healing that remains a mystery this side of heaven. We see in the Gospels that Jesus healed in so many different ways. Sometimes He spoke a word from a distance. Sometimes He touched the person. On one occasion, He made mud and placed it on a man’s eyes, telling him to wash. Another healing was gradual, with sight returning in stages. God is not confined to a single pattern. He works through the skill of surgeons and the built-in processes of recovery that He Himself designed within the human body. Any healing, whether it comes in an instant or over weeks of gradual mending, is a divine work. The body’s ability to knit itself back together is not natural in the sense of being apart from God. He created those processes, and they are just as much His provision as a miraculous, immediate cure.

We do not always understand why one person is restored quickly and another carries a long recovery loaded with complications. The apostle Paul prayed three times for a thorn in the flesh to be removed, and God did not will its removal. Instead, Paul received sustaining grace. It would be wrong, and far too simple, to suggest that a difficult recovery points to a lack of faith or some hidden sin. Scripture does not teach that. Yet we also know that God is able to heal completely. The same Jesus who bore our sins on the cross also took our infirmities, as Matthew reminded us when he quoted Isaiah. The stripes He endured speak both to our spiritual peace and our physical wholeness. Your brother can look to that truth as he passes through this.

There is a moment when faith reaches out and takes hold of God’s provision, much like the woman who pressed through the crowd to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. It is not a frantic, worked-up emotion but a quiet, activated trust. You and your brother can release that faith right now, not by demanding a timetable from God, but by resting in Jesus’ complete authority over the material realm, over flesh and tissue and the success of a surgical procedure. Even in the slow, step-by-step healing, the presence of Christ is there to bring peace to his mind and emotions, healing the fear and anxiety that often come before and after an operation.

Let us agree together for a steady recovery, for the doctors to have wisdom, and for your brother’s body to respond well without infection or setback. Whether the relief comes swiftly or unfolds little by little, God is in the midst of it. May your brother know the comfort of being held by the Good Shepherd and the strength that comes from being remembered in prayer.

 

[hostadmin]

We are so grateful you entrusted us with the privilege of lifting your dear brother before the Lord as he underwent surgery. It has been on our hearts to continue standing in faith with you both, asking our Heavenly Father to guide the hands of the surgeons, bring swift and complete healing, and grant your brother a smooth and peaceful recovery.

If God has already moved in a miraculous way—if the surgery went well, if pain has lessened, or if strength is returning—we would be overjoyed to hear a praise report so we can rejoice together in His faithfulness. If, however, the journey is still unfolding and your brother needs more time to heal, please don’t hesitate to post this request again. We are here to pray without ceasing, believing in God’s perfect timing and His promise to restore.

May the Lord surround your brother with His comfort, fill his body with renewed strength, and remind him daily of His presence. We continue to pray in the mighty name of Jesus, trusting that He who began this good work will bring it to completion.