Silas
Beloved of All
Your concern for your friends is a beautiful reflection of the love Christ puts in our hearts, and I join you in bringing them before the Lord.
I pray with you that Jesus would intervene in their lives in His power and mercy, that He would touch their bodies, deliver them from every work of evil, and draw them to cry out to Him for salvation and help. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved, and the greatest healing any of us needs is the forgiveness of sins and peace with God through Jesus Christ who was wounded for our transgressions and by whose stripes we are healed. Pray that your friends would turn to Him with all their hearts.
The Scriptures teach us that Jesus bore our infirmities and that He has power over the physical realm to heal sickness, power over the spiritual realm to deliver from darkness, and power to save the soul. We see this throughout His earthly ministry and in the early church where many miracles were wrought as the people brought the sick and prayed in His name. God does heal today, and we should pray in faith for healing.
At the same time the Bible shows us that healing is a sovereign work of God in His hands. It is not His will to heal everyone in this life in the way we ask. Paul, who saw many miracles, left Trophimus sick at Miletus, spoke of Epaphroditus being sick near to death, and prayed three times for his own thorn in the flesh without it being removed. Godly and faithful people are often sick, and sometimes healing is instant and felt in a moment, sometimes it is a gradual process, and sometimes the Lord in His wisdom allows the sickness to remain for a season or calls His child home. For that reason it is wrong to put a burden of guilt on those who are sick or on those who love them, as if a lack of healing must mean a lack of faith.
It is also wrong to assume that sickness is always the result of some hidden sin. Job's friends made that mistake, and we can make it still when we try to explain what we do not understand. God can use pain to instruct us, but we should not judge your friends. Instead we commit them to the compassion of the Lord who knows their condition far better than we do.
Scripture gives a clear pattern for prayer for the sick. James writes, is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church and let them anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. It is the responsibility of the one who is sick to invite that prayer, for we cannot know every need unless we are told. If your friends are willing, encourage them to ask mature believers to pray for them personally and to anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. That prayer is offered in confidence and not for gossip, but in sincere faith before God. Whether or not they are willing to do that now, your intercession for them is valuable and the Lord hears.
Continue to love them as Christ loves you. Like the man who had been delivered and was told to go home to his friends and tell them how great things the Lord had done for him and had compassion on him, you can tell your friends in simple ways what Jesus has done for you. Live and speak in such a way that when they see the good work, they may glorify your Father in heaven. Keep praying that God would open a door for communication again and that they would be willing to hear of His mercy.
Father, we lift these dear friends to You. You see their sickness, their change, their silence, and whatever burden of darkness is upon them. Lay Your healing hand upon them according to Your will, deliver them from evil, and draw them to Yourself that they would call upon the name of Jesus and be saved. Give their friend who is praying peace, wisdom, and perseverance to love them well. We ask this in the name of Jesus, amen.
I pray with you that Jesus would intervene in their lives in His power and mercy, that He would touch their bodies, deliver them from every work of evil, and draw them to cry out to Him for salvation and help. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved, and the greatest healing any of us needs is the forgiveness of sins and peace with God through Jesus Christ who was wounded for our transgressions and by whose stripes we are healed. Pray that your friends would turn to Him with all their hearts.
The Scriptures teach us that Jesus bore our infirmities and that He has power over the physical realm to heal sickness, power over the spiritual realm to deliver from darkness, and power to save the soul. We see this throughout His earthly ministry and in the early church where many miracles were wrought as the people brought the sick and prayed in His name. God does heal today, and we should pray in faith for healing.
At the same time the Bible shows us that healing is a sovereign work of God in His hands. It is not His will to heal everyone in this life in the way we ask. Paul, who saw many miracles, left Trophimus sick at Miletus, spoke of Epaphroditus being sick near to death, and prayed three times for his own thorn in the flesh without it being removed. Godly and faithful people are often sick, and sometimes healing is instant and felt in a moment, sometimes it is a gradual process, and sometimes the Lord in His wisdom allows the sickness to remain for a season or calls His child home. For that reason it is wrong to put a burden of guilt on those who are sick or on those who love them, as if a lack of healing must mean a lack of faith.
It is also wrong to assume that sickness is always the result of some hidden sin. Job's friends made that mistake, and we can make it still when we try to explain what we do not understand. God can use pain to instruct us, but we should not judge your friends. Instead we commit them to the compassion of the Lord who knows their condition far better than we do.
Scripture gives a clear pattern for prayer for the sick. James writes, is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church and let them anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. It is the responsibility of the one who is sick to invite that prayer, for we cannot know every need unless we are told. If your friends are willing, encourage them to ask mature believers to pray for them personally and to anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. That prayer is offered in confidence and not for gossip, but in sincere faith before God. Whether or not they are willing to do that now, your intercession for them is valuable and the Lord hears.
Continue to love them as Christ loves you. Like the man who had been delivered and was told to go home to his friends and tell them how great things the Lord had done for him and had compassion on him, you can tell your friends in simple ways what Jesus has done for you. Live and speak in such a way that when they see the good work, they may glorify your Father in heaven. Keep praying that God would open a door for communication again and that they would be willing to hear of His mercy.
Father, we lift these dear friends to You. You see their sickness, their change, their silence, and whatever burden of darkness is upon them. Lay Your healing hand upon them according to Your will, deliver them from evil, and draw them to Yourself that they would call upon the name of Jesus and be saved. Give their friend who is praying peace, wisdom, and perseverance to love them well. We ask this in the name of Jesus, amen.
