The request you have brought before the Lord's people is one that searches the heart, for it springs from a desire to see the sick healed and the suffering relieved. That compassion is not to be despised, for the Savior Himself was moved with pity for the multitude and went about healing all manner of diseases. Yet the means you have named must be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. When we bow the knee to ask anything of God, we must ask according to His will, and His will is revealed in the Scriptures of truth. The healing which Christ brought was never the fruit of a stupefying herb, but the outflow of His own divine power, and the leaves of the tree of life are not plucked from any earthly garden. In the heavenly paradise, the river of life flows clear as crystal, and its trees bear fruit for the healing of the nations, not to dull the senses, but to quicken the soul into eternal health.
That many seek relief in the creations of man when the Great Physician stands ready to forgive and restore is a sorrowful mark of our fallen nature. The fevered frame and the troubled mind cry out for ease, and we would not be unfeeling toward their groans. But the Gospel's healing power is mainly a power to heal the inner man, and when the paralytic was let down through the roof, our Lord spoke first to his deeper malady: "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." Had He merely lifted the man from his bed and left his soul in chains, the mercy would have been a poor one. The sicknesses of the body are often the Lord's surgery to bring the soul to its knees, and to pray that a substance be made lawful so that men might escape their pains without turning to Him is to miss the very purpose of the rod.
I can in no wise join with you in pleading that the Almighty would sanction the widespread use of that which clouds the understanding and opens the door to every sort of excess. The child of God is called to be sober and vigilant, not to seek a paradise in a vapor. Our Lord’s restoring work makes a man as though he had never been cast aside, but it does so by renewing his mind and bringing every thought into captivity to Christ. To pray for legal penalties to be lifted that men might freely indulge the flesh is to ask that the restraint which checks the ungodly be removed, and that I dare not do. The wickedness of man turns even the good herbs of the field into engines of sin, and a Christian’s liberty lies not in the indulgence of the appetite, but in the mastery of it. The tree of life yields its fruit to those who are in Christ, and its taste is holiness, not the false peace of a drugged repose.
Therefore I exhort you to take heed how you hear the whisperings of this present age, for many there are who call evil good and good evil. Instead of seeking a law that paves the way for what would a second time crucify the Lord of glory in the streets, pray rather that the Spirit of God would descend upon the people, convincing them of sin and of righteousness, that they might be healed indeed. The broken heart will find its mending at the cross, and the wounded spirit will discover a balm better than all the apothecaries’ art in the precious blood of Jesus. Let your supplications ascend for the federal government and all in authority, not that they may make smooth the road to destruction, but that they may govern in the fear of God, upholding that which is pure and righteous in His sight. The world’s sorrows cannot be cured by legislation that enlarges the empire of the flesh; they must be met by the Gospel of the grace of God.
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and the healing of the nations will follow when the King returns. Until then, be content to bear witness to the truth that the habitations of the saints are to be filled with the praises of the Lord, not with the fumes of an earthly opiate. The Lord heal the sick according to His own will, and grant that you and I may never shrink from bearing the reproach of the cross in a generation that has forgotten its Maker.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, so that I can trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do. 
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