Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this heavy burden and for asking to pray for your friend who has received this breast cancer diagnosis. We join you in bringing her before the Lord with compassion and hope, and we are asking God to show His mercy and power in her life.
Prayer rests on relationship. When we have come to God through faith in Jesus Christ and can truly call Him Father, He hears us as His children and invites us to come boldly. If your friend does not yet know Him in that way, the first and most important prayer for her is to receive His mercy as a sinner and to be brought into that relationship, because that opens the door to every other blessing of prayer.
We also want to remember together what prayer is truly for. It is not a way to make God do what we want, or to inform Him of something He does not already know, for your Father knows what you need before you ask. It is not a way to wear down a reluctant God. True prayer begins with God and His will. He puts His purposes and desires on our hearts, and we echo them back to Him, opening the door for Him to do what He has longed to do without violating our will. That is why the wisest and most peaceful prayer we can pray is, Lord, let Your perfect will be done in this life, in this body, for Your glory.
That does not mean we pray passively. Jesus taught us to keep asking with a shameless persistence, to keep knocking and not give up, like a friend who keeps knocking at midnight until the door is opened. God honors that kind of earnest, heartfelt prayer. Scripture says the fervent, heartfelt prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective, and Jesus said that when two or three agree together on earth about anything they ask, it will be done by the Father. We are agreeing with you now for your friend.
The Lord Jesus healed the sick throughout His ministry, and the early church continued to bring the sick to the apostles for prayer, so we have every reason to bring this need to Him and ask for healing. At the same time we trust His wisdom and love. The apostle Paul prayed three times for his own affliction to be removed, and the answer he received was, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Even the prophet through whom God did so many miracles faced sickness at the end of his life. This reminds us that God sometimes heals completely and sometimes sustains with sufficient grace, and both are expressions of His love and power. Our prayers do not need to be long to be heard, all of the prayers recorded in Scripture are quite short, what matters is that they come from the heart in faith and worship, honoring who He is.
So we pray now for your friend. Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus Christ and lift up this dear woman to You. You know her name, her body, her fear, and her future. We ask that You would have Your perfect will in her life. We ask for Your healing touch upon her body, that if it pleases You, You would remove this cancer fully and restore her to health. Give wisdom to her doctors, peace to her heart and to those who love her, and strength for each step of treatment. Above all, draw her close to Yourself, assure her of Your presence, and let Your grace be sufficient for her each day. We trust her into Your hands, for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Please keep bringing her before the Lord with that persistent, fervent prayer, and keep trusting Him to do what is best. We are continuing to pray with you.
Prayer rests on relationship. When we have come to God through faith in Jesus Christ and can truly call Him Father, He hears us as His children and invites us to come boldly. If your friend does not yet know Him in that way, the first and most important prayer for her is to receive His mercy as a sinner and to be brought into that relationship, because that opens the door to every other blessing of prayer.
We also want to remember together what prayer is truly for. It is not a way to make God do what we want, or to inform Him of something He does not already know, for your Father knows what you need before you ask. It is not a way to wear down a reluctant God. True prayer begins with God and His will. He puts His purposes and desires on our hearts, and we echo them back to Him, opening the door for Him to do what He has longed to do without violating our will. That is why the wisest and most peaceful prayer we can pray is, Lord, let Your perfect will be done in this life, in this body, for Your glory.
That does not mean we pray passively. Jesus taught us to keep asking with a shameless persistence, to keep knocking and not give up, like a friend who keeps knocking at midnight until the door is opened. God honors that kind of earnest, heartfelt prayer. Scripture says the fervent, heartfelt prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective, and Jesus said that when two or three agree together on earth about anything they ask, it will be done by the Father. We are agreeing with you now for your friend.
The Lord Jesus healed the sick throughout His ministry, and the early church continued to bring the sick to the apostles for prayer, so we have every reason to bring this need to Him and ask for healing. At the same time we trust His wisdom and love. The apostle Paul prayed three times for his own affliction to be removed, and the answer he received was, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Even the prophet through whom God did so many miracles faced sickness at the end of his life. This reminds us that God sometimes heals completely and sometimes sustains with sufficient grace, and both are expressions of His love and power. Our prayers do not need to be long to be heard, all of the prayers recorded in Scripture are quite short, what matters is that they come from the heart in faith and worship, honoring who He is.
So we pray now for your friend. Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus Christ and lift up this dear woman to You. You know her name, her body, her fear, and her future. We ask that You would have Your perfect will in her life. We ask for Your healing touch upon her body, that if it pleases You, You would remove this cancer fully and restore her to health. Give wisdom to her doctors, peace to her heart and to those who love her, and strength for each step of treatment. Above all, draw her close to Yourself, assure her of Your presence, and let Your grace be sufficient for her each day. We trust her into Your hands, for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Please keep bringing her before the Lord with that persistent, fervent prayer, and keep trusting Him to do what is best. We are continuing to pray with you.
