Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this burden and allowing us to pray with you for this dear one who is facing cancer of the blood and bone marrow and enduring chemotherapy and great pain. We are joining you in prayer for him now and asking the Lord to show His mercy and power in this difficult time.
We come to God as the Lord who heals. He reveals Himself as the One who becomes to us whatever we need. When we need salvation He becomes our Savior, when we need healing He becomes our Healer. In the Gospels a large part of what Jesus did was to touch and heal those who were sick and afflicted, showing the heart of the Father toward suffering people.
We understand how heavy this pain must be for him and for those who love him. When suffering continues day after day, even a single week can feel like an eternity, and it is hard to remember what it was like to live without pain. You begin to wonder if you will ever feel well again. The psalmist David expressed this when he said his life was spent with grief. God sees that weariness and grief and He is near to those who suffer.
Cancer is a word that brings fear, and we have seen how it can sap the strength from a healthy and vibrant person and choke out life. It can seem so powerful. Yet we turn our eyes from the power of the disease to the far greater power of Jesus Christ. What are a few malignant cells compared to the power of the Creator of the universe. He is able to touch and heal, and even when He allows a disease to remain for a time, His power is still greater than the disease. We have seen the Lord in His mercy lift pain completely and give rest where there was only suffering, and we have also seen Him at other times take a loved one home to be with Himself. In either case we can trust Him because those who belong to Him are His own, only entrusted to us for a time, and He loves them even more than we do.
We believe strongly in healing and that all true healing comes from God. Sometimes He heals instantly with a touch or a word, sometimes He heals gradually over time, and sometimes He heals through the natural processes He has built into our bodies and through the means of doctors and medicines. That process is still divine, because He is the One who created our bodies and the processes of healing within them. Jesus did not heal in only one way. At times He touched people, at times He only spoke, at times He went to them and at times He healed from a distance when they were not present. He is not confined to a pattern, and we can ask Him to work in whatever way He chooses for this dear brother.
There is much about healing we do not fully understand. We do not know why some are healed quickly and others are not, and Scripture itself shows that God does not always choose to remove an affliction in this life. The apostle Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh to be taken away, and the Lord answered that His grace was sufficient. So we cannot presume that healing will come in every case exactly as we ask. At the same time, Scripture gives us strong ground to pray with confidence for physical healing. The prophet Isaiah said that He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and the word there includes our sicknesses and infirmities. Matthew applies that prophecy directly to the healing ministry of Jesus, that He bore our infirmities and sicknesses, and Jesus gave His body for us. We pray therefore with faith, while also submitting to the wise and loving will of God.
Please know that this sickness is not necessarily a direct judgment from God for some sin. Good people suffer from cancer and other illnesses. All sickness and pain and death have come indirectly because sin entered the world and corrupted creation. If not for sin, there would be no pain and no disease. We now groan while we are in this body, longing to be delivered from this weakness, and God shares in that sorrow.
We are praying that the Lord will touch this man and bring healing to his body, that He will give wisdom to those treating him and use the chemotherapy for good, that He will lift and ease his pain as only He can, and that He will grant peace and strength to him and to you as you wait on Him. We pray that faith would be stirred simply by reaching out to Jesus, for we have seen that when faith reaches out to Him, power goes forth from Him to heal.
Father, in the name of Jesus we bring this loved one before You. You know his name, his body, and his pain. You are the Lord who heals. We ask You to lay Your hand upon him, to rebuke this cancer, to cleanse his blood and marrow, and to restore health. Ease his pain and give him rest, strengthen him through each treatment, and comfort his heart with Your presence. Above all, let Your will be done and let him know Your love and salvation in a deeper way. We trust him into Your hands, asking for Your mercy and grace, in Jesus name, amen.
We come to God as the Lord who heals. He reveals Himself as the One who becomes to us whatever we need. When we need salvation He becomes our Savior, when we need healing He becomes our Healer. In the Gospels a large part of what Jesus did was to touch and heal those who were sick and afflicted, showing the heart of the Father toward suffering people.
We understand how heavy this pain must be for him and for those who love him. When suffering continues day after day, even a single week can feel like an eternity, and it is hard to remember what it was like to live without pain. You begin to wonder if you will ever feel well again. The psalmist David expressed this when he said his life was spent with grief. God sees that weariness and grief and He is near to those who suffer.
Cancer is a word that brings fear, and we have seen how it can sap the strength from a healthy and vibrant person and choke out life. It can seem so powerful. Yet we turn our eyes from the power of the disease to the far greater power of Jesus Christ. What are a few malignant cells compared to the power of the Creator of the universe. He is able to touch and heal, and even when He allows a disease to remain for a time, His power is still greater than the disease. We have seen the Lord in His mercy lift pain completely and give rest where there was only suffering, and we have also seen Him at other times take a loved one home to be with Himself. In either case we can trust Him because those who belong to Him are His own, only entrusted to us for a time, and He loves them even more than we do.
We believe strongly in healing and that all true healing comes from God. Sometimes He heals instantly with a touch or a word, sometimes He heals gradually over time, and sometimes He heals through the natural processes He has built into our bodies and through the means of doctors and medicines. That process is still divine, because He is the One who created our bodies and the processes of healing within them. Jesus did not heal in only one way. At times He touched people, at times He only spoke, at times He went to them and at times He healed from a distance when they were not present. He is not confined to a pattern, and we can ask Him to work in whatever way He chooses for this dear brother.
There is much about healing we do not fully understand. We do not know why some are healed quickly and others are not, and Scripture itself shows that God does not always choose to remove an affliction in this life. The apostle Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh to be taken away, and the Lord answered that His grace was sufficient. So we cannot presume that healing will come in every case exactly as we ask. At the same time, Scripture gives us strong ground to pray with confidence for physical healing. The prophet Isaiah said that He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and the word there includes our sicknesses and infirmities. Matthew applies that prophecy directly to the healing ministry of Jesus, that He bore our infirmities and sicknesses, and Jesus gave His body for us. We pray therefore with faith, while also submitting to the wise and loving will of God.
Please know that this sickness is not necessarily a direct judgment from God for some sin. Good people suffer from cancer and other illnesses. All sickness and pain and death have come indirectly because sin entered the world and corrupted creation. If not for sin, there would be no pain and no disease. We now groan while we are in this body, longing to be delivered from this weakness, and God shares in that sorrow.
We are praying that the Lord will touch this man and bring healing to his body, that He will give wisdom to those treating him and use the chemotherapy for good, that He will lift and ease his pain as only He can, and that He will grant peace and strength to him and to you as you wait on Him. We pray that faith would be stirred simply by reaching out to Jesus, for we have seen that when faith reaches out to Him, power goes forth from Him to heal.
Father, in the name of Jesus we bring this loved one before You. You know his name, his body, and his pain. You are the Lord who heals. We ask You to lay Your hand upon him, to rebuke this cancer, to cleanse his blood and marrow, and to restore health. Ease his pain and give him rest, strengthen him through each treatment, and comfort his heart with Your presence. Above all, let Your will be done and let him know Your love and salvation in a deeper way. We trust him into Your hands, asking for Your mercy and grace, in Jesus name, amen.
