Silas
Beloved of All
Your love for your wife and your faithful persistence in prayer for these many months comes through very clearly, and I want you to know that your cry has been heard.
The feeling that God does not hear you is understandable when the answer has not yet come as you hoped, but Scripture gives us confidence that He does hear. Jesus said your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Prayer is not telling God something He does not know, and it is not wearing Him down until He finally gives in. Prayer is not meant to get our will done on earth, it is meant to get His will done. It begins with Him, as He puts His purposes and desires on our hearts, and we then express those back to Him. In that way prayer opens the door for God to work freely in our lives without violating the will He has given us.
That is why the wisest prayer we can pray is simply, Lord, work out Your perfect will in our lives. Have Your way. Do for us what You desire to do. When we pray that way we can have confidence, as John writes, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us, and if He hears us we have the petitions we have asked of Him. I have learned to be thankful for unanswered prayers as well as answered ones, because God knows far better than I do what is best, and had He answered every prayer exactly as I asked, it would not have been good.
God does heal. He reveals Himself as the Lord our healer, the One who becomes to us whatever our need requires. Jesus healed the sick continually, and the early church brought the sick to the apostles and prayed for them. We are told the fervent prayer of a righteous person that comes from the heart, often out of deep desperation and need, avails much. And Jesus said if two or three agree on earth concerning anything, it will be done. I join my faith with yours now and agree with you in prayer for your wife.
At the same time, the Bible shows us that healing is not always granted exactly as we ask. Paul prayed three times for his own affliction to be removed and the Lord answered, My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness. Elisha was a prophet through whom God did more miracles than through almost anyone else, yet Scripture tells us he died of his own sickness. God sometimes delays an answer, and when He does there is always a purpose in it. Think of Hannah, who prayed for years for a child while her heart was heavy. For a long time there was no answer, but when her prayer finally came into harmony with God's purpose to raise up a prophet for the nation, God answered and gave her a son. Persistence in prayer is not to change God's mind, but to keep our hearts open and aligned with Him, watching with thanksgiving until His purpose is fulfilled.
Your wife was formed by God Himself, He knit her together, and He sees her need to see and to walk in balance, and He sees the loving work of her hands in sewing for those in need that she can no longer do with one eye. He knows all of this far better than we do. So we will bring her before Him together, asking Him as our healer to restore sight to her left eye completely if it be His will, and to make her whole. And we will also ask that His will be done above all, trusting that whether He brings full restoration or sustains her with grace and strength in weakness, He will be faithful and present.
Do not grow weary in continuing to pray. Difficulties often drive us to our knees and bring us into a deeper depth of prayer than we have ever known, where the Spirit ministers comfort and assurance even while we wait. Let your prayers begin and end with worship, honoring Him as Father, bringing your petition, and then resting again in worship, trusting His goodness.
We are standing with you, asking God to flood your wife with His Spirit and to touch her eyes with His healing power, and asking Him to fill you both with peace as you trust His perfect will.
The feeling that God does not hear you is understandable when the answer has not yet come as you hoped, but Scripture gives us confidence that He does hear. Jesus said your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Prayer is not telling God something He does not know, and it is not wearing Him down until He finally gives in. Prayer is not meant to get our will done on earth, it is meant to get His will done. It begins with Him, as He puts His purposes and desires on our hearts, and we then express those back to Him. In that way prayer opens the door for God to work freely in our lives without violating the will He has given us.
That is why the wisest prayer we can pray is simply, Lord, work out Your perfect will in our lives. Have Your way. Do for us what You desire to do. When we pray that way we can have confidence, as John writes, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us, and if He hears us we have the petitions we have asked of Him. I have learned to be thankful for unanswered prayers as well as answered ones, because God knows far better than I do what is best, and had He answered every prayer exactly as I asked, it would not have been good.
God does heal. He reveals Himself as the Lord our healer, the One who becomes to us whatever our need requires. Jesus healed the sick continually, and the early church brought the sick to the apostles and prayed for them. We are told the fervent prayer of a righteous person that comes from the heart, often out of deep desperation and need, avails much. And Jesus said if two or three agree on earth concerning anything, it will be done. I join my faith with yours now and agree with you in prayer for your wife.
At the same time, the Bible shows us that healing is not always granted exactly as we ask. Paul prayed three times for his own affliction to be removed and the Lord answered, My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness. Elisha was a prophet through whom God did more miracles than through almost anyone else, yet Scripture tells us he died of his own sickness. God sometimes delays an answer, and when He does there is always a purpose in it. Think of Hannah, who prayed for years for a child while her heart was heavy. For a long time there was no answer, but when her prayer finally came into harmony with God's purpose to raise up a prophet for the nation, God answered and gave her a son. Persistence in prayer is not to change God's mind, but to keep our hearts open and aligned with Him, watching with thanksgiving until His purpose is fulfilled.
Your wife was formed by God Himself, He knit her together, and He sees her need to see and to walk in balance, and He sees the loving work of her hands in sewing for those in need that she can no longer do with one eye. He knows all of this far better than we do. So we will bring her before Him together, asking Him as our healer to restore sight to her left eye completely if it be His will, and to make her whole. And we will also ask that His will be done above all, trusting that whether He brings full restoration or sustains her with grace and strength in weakness, He will be faithful and present.
Do not grow weary in continuing to pray. Difficulties often drive us to our knees and bring us into a deeper depth of prayer than we have ever known, where the Spirit ministers comfort and assurance even while we wait. Let your prayers begin and end with worship, honoring Him as Father, bringing your petition, and then resting again in worship, trusting His goodness.
We are standing with you, asking God to flood your wife with His Spirit and to touch her eyes with His healing power, and asking Him to fill you both with peace as you trust His perfect will.
