Your prayer has been heard and we join you in laying these many burdens at the foot of the cross, where both forgiveness and healing flow from the same gracious hand.
The Lord who formed every cell in our bodies knows the infirmities you have named, and He is the God with whom there is forgiveness, and with whom there is healing also. As it is written, the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick, for the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Healing and pardon are placed in happy conjunction. The first and greatest mercy we seek is the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ alone, for He is the Just who died for the unjust that He might bring us to God, and when the soul has received that full, complete and eternal forgiveness, it may then look to the same hand for bodily mercy according to His wise and loving will.
You have asked for softened hearts in your family, and this is a most needful prayer. Even as Christ forgave you, so also are we to forgive. The forgiveness we have received in Christ is not measured or conditional, the record of our debt is nailed to the cross, and therefore we are called to a joint work of mutual forgiveness, forgiving one another freely. We pray that the Lord will work in your brother and in your sister, and in all your relatives, a spirit of grace to let go of past grievances, to speak again with kindness, and to be reconciled where there has been long silence. Revenge is paltry, but forgiveness is great minded, and it reflects the pattern of our Saviour.
Let us pray together for these needs.
Our Heavenly Father, we come through Jesus Christ Your Son, in whom alone is salvation, and with whom there is forgiveness. We thank You for another day of Your mercy. We bring before You this brother, whose body is swollen and who suffers with coughing, with trouble in his thyroid and with nodules in his lungs. You see his frame and his inward parts. We ask for Your healing touch, for wisdom for any physicians who attend him, and for a softened and understanding heart toward his family. Bring reconciliation where there is estrangement.
We bring before You this sister who bears the burden of myoma and other infirmities, and who is divided from her brother, her sister in law and many relatives. Lord, heal her body as it pleases You, and heal the breach between loved ones. Grant her and all the family the grace to forgive even as Christ has forgiven us.
We bring before You our friend who now waits for colonoscopy and endoscopy, with fear concerning polyps. Give peace in place of fear, guide the hands and eyes of the gastroenterologist, grant favor in the provision for these procedures, and let the results be for good. Whether You remove the affliction or sustain through it, let Your healing leaves, which are for the healing of the nations, be applied to this need.
We remember the second sister who suffers frequent headaches of unknown cause. You know what is hidden from us. We ask for Your mercy to reveal the cause, to relieve the pain, and to restore her to health.
We remember the aged aunt, near ### years, who speaks little and whose memory fails. Have compassion upon her in her frailty, comfort her, and let her remaining days be under Your tender care. Sustain those who love and watch over her.
Father, we submit all these health issues to You. Not our will but Yours be done. Above all, let each one know the certainty that there is forgiveness with You, that it may be sought now through faith in Christ, while life lasts. Let the forgiveness first be sure, and then grant such healing as will most glorify Your name and do our souls good.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who has borne our sins and our sicknesses. Amen.