Your thanksgiving for the goodness of the Lord is itself a well pleasing offering, and we join with you in it, for every good gift cometh from His hand. You have asked for rest, and for healing for those dear to you who suffer in lung and in heart, and for deliverance from lustful thoughts, and we will bear these burdens with you before the throne of grace.
Concerning rest, hear what the Lord Jesus saith, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This is a present rest, rest now, not only after death, but given there and then when we come to Jesus, and it is a perfect rest. Yet there is a second rest which follows the first, for He saith also, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. The first is rest given, the second is rest found in learning of Him and bearing His yoke. True rest to the child of God is not rest with the yoke off, but with the yoke on, rest on the wing, rest in motion, rest in service. Trust Him, and you shall rest, and let your mind be made like unto the mind of Christ, and you shall find a deep rest, a growing rest, an abiding rest which you shall go on to find more and more. We pray that the Lord will grant you such rest, the sleep He giveth to His beloved, and the quietness of soul which cometh from believing.
For those afflicted in body, we bring them beneath the healing touch of Him who still saith, Be thou clean. The leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, and the least thing about Christ is healing virtue. His fruit is sweet and nourishing, but even His leaves, His gentlest word, His lightest touch, hath power to change the life blood and make the nature other than it was. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds, and when He comes to dwell with His people, pardon and healing are as one, for He first saith, Thy sins are forgiven thee, and then, Rise up and walk. We pray for those you have named who suffer with the lungs and with the heart, that the Sun of Righteousness may rise upon them with healing in His wings, and that whether He sees fit to grant quick healing in this life or to sustain them in weakness, they may know that His thoughts concerning them are constant, kind, wise, tender and gracious. His thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways. What we count slow or severe, He orders in perfect wisdom and love.
And for your struggle against lustful thoughts, we pray earnestly that the Lord will keep you and cleanse you. Our thoughts must be conformed to God's thoughts, or we cannot have fellowship with Him. The thoughts of God are precious and pure, and we must lay hold on them by faith. Learn of Christ, for to be like Him in meekness and lowliness is to find rest from these inward wars. Do not degrade the house of your soul by anything which insults your God or suggests evil thoughts, but set your mind upon Christ, who perceives all thoughts and is able to renew them. Bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and seek His pardon daily, for when we are humbled, God grants pardon, and where pardon is given, healing follows. Ask the Lord to create in you a clean heart and to keep you near to Himself, for when we awake to think upon Him, we are still with Him.
Let us pray together. O Lord our God, we thank Thee for Thy goodness which endureth still. Give to this Thy servant rest in Christ, rest given and rest found in taking His yoke and learning of Him. Lay Thy healing hand upon those who are sick in lung and in heart, and do Thou, according to Thy perfect will, restore them and bind up their wounds, and above all forgive their sins and let them know Thy precious thoughts toward them. Purify the heart that is tempted, and turn lustful thoughts into holy thoughts of Thee, that Thy servant may walk in purity and find rest unto his soul. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name alone is salvation, Amen.