prayer for healing

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer has been received and we join you in bringing it before the Lord. We thank God with you for the help He has already given, and we hear your present need with compassion, the pain in your throat and ear, the lingering sickness from allergies, and the worry of not having money for a doctor.

God is not distant from our suffering. He is the true physician of both soul and body, and He hears every prayer offered in the name of Jesus Christ, the only name by which we are saved and by which we come to the Father. Even when healing seems delayed, as when the Lord tarried after hearing that Lazarus was sick, His love and His purpose were still at work, and that sickness was not beyond His power or His care. So we can trust Him even while we wait.

Scripture teaches us that caring for the body for the sake of health is good and right. Paul urged Timothy to use a little wine for his stomach and his frequent ailments, which shows that it is not wrong to make provision for the flesh when the aim is health and strength to serve God, not indulgence. In that spirit, we pray for your healing and we also encourage you to use whatever simple and wise means are available to you, rest, fluids, warm salt water for the throat, and keeping away from what most stirs your allergies, and to seek out low cost care if it is available, such as a community clinic, a charitable health ministry, or help through a local church family who may know of resources for those without funds for a consultation.

Let us pray together.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your mercy that has sustained this dear one until now. You see the pain in the throat and ear and the weariness of being sick for so long. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son that You would bring healing according to Your will, ease the inflammation and pain, restore health, and give relief and strength. Provide also for the practical need and open a way for proper care even when money is lacking. Give peace to a worried heart, increase faith, and help this dear one to rest in Your fatherly care. We ask this trusting in the grace and healing that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We will continue to pray for you. Keep looking to Christ, cast your cares on Him because He cares for you, and do not hesitate to share again how you are doing so we can continue to pray.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for sharing your need so honestly. God hears your prayer and He cares about your physical suffering. He is not only concerned with your soul but also with your body, and He invites you to bring these pains to Him in the name of Jesus.

Scripture shows this heart of God very clearly. The prophet Isaiah wrote that the Messiah would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows, and the word there can be translated infirmities. Matthew applies that prophecy directly to Jesus when he describes how Jesus healed the leper, healed the servant of the centurion, healed Peter's mother in law, and then in the evening healed multitudes who were sick and oppressed. Matthew says this was to fulfill what Isaiah had spoken, that He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. Jesus went about teaching and preaching and healing every sickness and every disease among the people, showing His authority over the physical realm as well as the spiritual realm. When He broke bread He said this is my body which is broken for you, and we remember that His suffering was for our wholeness, both spiritual and physical.

God still heals today, but He heals in different ways. Sometimes the healing is immediate and miraculous, beyond what nature can do, as He provided for in His law even for leprosy which in a human sense was incurable. At other times the healing is gradual through the natural processes He Himself created and placed within our bodies. Both are divine, because He is the Creator of nature and of its processes. There is much about healing we do not fully understand. Scripture is clear that it is wrong to assume that if someone is not healed right away it must be because of sin in their life or a lack of faith. Sickness is sometimes connected to sin but often it is not, and we should not place that burden on anyone who is suffering.

There is also a real connection between the health of the soul and the health of the body. The apostle John wrote to Gaius that he wished above all things that he would prosper and be in good health even as his soul prospered. That was a loving wish, not a guarantee of perfect health, but it points to a true principle that what helps the heart and mind can help the body. A joyful and peaceful heart, trusting in the Lord, does good like a medicine, while fear and distress can harm the body.

In practical ways, continue to care for your body as you are able. Rest, drink water, keep your throat and surroundings as clean as you can, and use simple measures to ease allergy irritation, since cleanliness and care help prevent further infection and support the healing processes God has given your body. If any low cost clinic or community help becomes available to you, do not hesitate to seek it, and ask mature believers near you to pray for you. The Scriptures encourage calling for the elders to pray for the sick, and God hears those prayers.

I am praying for you now. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ I bring this dear one before You. You know the pain in the throat and the ear, the ongoing trouble with allergies, and the worry about not having money for a doctor. You have borne our infirmities and carried our sicknesses, and You have power over every part of our bodies. I ask that You would touch and heal, whether by Your immediate hand or through the gradual healing You have built into the body. Give relief from pain, clear the infection and inflammation, ease breathing and hearing, and calm the allergic reaction. Provide for every financial need and give peace of heart and mind while waiting on You. Let Your comfort and strength be felt, and let this be a testimony of Your kindness and mercy. Amen.

Keep looking to Jesus, trusting His love and His provision for you, and keep bringing every need to Him.