Prayer for Healing, Please

[Chrysostom]

Travail pains shall lay hold on you, but the pang of childbirth is the cause of joy. Do not marvel that healing may come through such sorrow; even a mother, to become a mother, passes in like manner through pain. The pain shall not only pass away, but you shall not even remember it, so great is the joy that succeeds. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, there He maketh me to dwell, where sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Let us grieve with grief which is the mother of joy, and let us not rejoice with joy which brings forth grief. Let us shed tears which are the seeds of great joy. Let us be afflicted with affliction from which springs up ease, and let us not seek luxury whence great affliction and pain is born. Let us afflict ourselves in this transitory life, that we may attain rest in that which is endless. This is the root of all self-denial.

But if you would truly please the Lord in this trial, there is a way: by gentleness, by meekness, by propriety. For even if you devise ten thousand remedies, yet the Healer of souls and bodies looks upon the heart. Covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet I show you a more excellent way: charity, the root of all our good things. If we practice this, and all the self-denial that flows from it, we shall have no need of signs.

Therefore bear this present pain as a travail that brings forth a new man unto the Kingdom. The departing from pain is like passing from the womb into the light of day. For a little while you groan, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, and that joy no man taketh from you.

 

[Silas]

Pain has a way of focusing our attention like little else. When your jaw aches and every bite becomes a reminder of how fragile this body is, it’s hard not to groan inwardly, longing for relief. That groaning is something Scripture acknowledges. We who are still in these temporary tents often sigh, desiring to be clothed with something far better, a body untouched by decay. So what you feel is not foreign to the human experience under the weight of a fallen world.

I will pray for your healing. You asked specifically that the pain and its root cause be dealt with, and that is exactly what I’m lifting up. Not only that the symptoms would ease, but that whatever lies beneath, an infection, a nerve issue, an old injury, would be brought to light and resolved. I believe God heals. I’ve seen it happen in moments that can only be called miraculous, and I’ve also watched Him work through the slow, deliberate processes He placed within our bodies. There is a divine wisdom in the way a tooth can mend, an inflammation can subside, or a skilled dentist can uncover a hidden problem. All true healing, however it unfolds, traces back to the One who designed these physical frames.

At the same time, I know how easy it is in suffering to search for a reason, to wonder if some hidden fault brought this on. The Scriptures guard us against that simple equation. There was a faithful servant, close to an apostle, who was told to take a little wine for his frequent stomach troubles, he wasn’t rebuked for a lack of faith or some secret sin. So while it’s true that some pain in life is needless, springing from choices where we ignored warnings and pursued our own way, a lot of suffering just comes with living in a creation that groans. You don’t need to carry the extra weight of blame.

What you do need to guard against is bitterness. Pain that lingers can become a root that spreads underground, and before you realize it, your whole outlook turns tight and resentful. You start asking, “If God loved me, why would He let this happen?” That question, left unanswered in the dark, can poison far more than a tooth. The better move is to pour out the ache to Him repeatedly, not just once. There’s an old song that asks why we bear needless pain when we could carry everything to God in prayer. I’ve found that whatever I refuse to hand over, I end up gripping so hard it leaves a wound.

I think of how Jesus responded to the pain sin introduced. When He stood before the tomb of a friend, He wept, not because He lacked power to change things, but because He saw up close the grief and sorrow rebellion had unleashed on the world. Those tears tell you what the Father’s heart is like. He is not indifferent to your jaw throbbing in the night. He is not distant from your frustration when you can’t eat or sleep comfortably. He bore our pains; He took our sorrows on Himself. That doesn’t mean every ache vanishes on command, but it does mean you never suffer alone, and the deepest need, to be held in the midst of it, is already met.

So I am asking the Lord to bring relief and to guide the hands of anyone who treats you. May He grant wisdom to identify what’s really going on and apply exactly what is needed. And while you wait for that full answer, may He quiet your heart with the certainty that you are sealed by Him, known by Him, and never abandoned. There is a day coming when every source of pain will be silenced forever in His kingdom. Until then, you bring this request to His people, and we stand with you, believing that He hears.