Your prayer for your father in his long and heavy affliction has been brought before the Lord with much tenderness, and we join you in lifting him and your whole household to the throne of grace.
We hear the weight you carry, to see one so dear made bedridden after the stroke, his body weakened, his speech and movement taken, his senses dulled, with infections and seizures and painful sores that will not heal. In such an hour we are driven to the great Physician, our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom abundant streams of healing flow down to men below. Even the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, and the least thing about Christ is full of healing virtue. His fruit is sweet and nourishing, and His very leaves change the lifeblood and make the nature other than it was before. There is an abundance of healing power in Jesus and His salvation, and we may come boldly to Him for your father, asking that He would lay His hand upon him, regulate his blood pressure and vitals, calm the seizures, cleanse infection, heal the sores, restore reflex and sense, and graciously grant strength to eat and to speak and to walk again as He wills.
We also hear your cry, forgive his sins, and we rejoice that healing and pardon are placed in happy conjunction in the gospel. When Jesus healed the man taken with palsy He said first, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee, and pardon and healing were one. No sinner can know himself a beloved child while the sword of justice still hangs over him, but through the blood of Christ forgiveness is freely given. We pray that your father, and each one of your family, may know that pardon which comes through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, for He was sent by the Father on purpose to forgive sin and He is exalted to give repentance and forgiveness. Ask first to be forgiven, and healing, whether of body or of soul, comes from the pardoning hand. May the Sun of Righteousness rise upon him with healing in His wings.
You have asked also for your house to be sanctified and guarded against curse and witchcraft and black magic. Hear this comfort, when the Divine Father is viewed aright He becomes the object of our gratitude, not of our dread. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of the Father is in all respects equal to the love of the Son. He who can say Abba, Father has uttered better music than cherubim can reach, for Father is a name of authority and of tender care. A child can never be anything but the son of his own father, and our heavenly Father keeps His own. No curse can bind where Christ has blessed, no dark art can prevail where the Father spreads His wing. We do not look to charms or counter charms, but we leave all to Him who is a better Father than the best of fathers could ever be to the best beloved of sons. He knows what you require today and in the unknown future, and you may trust Him as a child trusts his father.
We pray also for those who minister to your father, that God would bless the medical team with wisdom and skill and faithful care. And for you and your family in this difficult season, we ask the Father to deal with you according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, to grace you with unity and strength and peace, and to strengthen you in the Lord. Christ has set His Yes and Amen on every promise of the Father, and He is able and willing to strengthen you in answer to prayer. Wonder not if recovery should be slow, for as you grow a little stronger and a little stronger, acknowledge in each increase of strength that the Lord has a new claim upon your affection. Come and taste again the leaves of the tree which are for the healing of the nations, that you may revive out of decline.
Let us pray together. O blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, look in mercy upon this dear father now laid aside. Forgive his sins through the precious blood of Jesus, and grant him to know himself Thy child. Lay Thy healing hand upon his brain and body, restore what has been broken, regulate what is disordered, heal infection and sore, and grant relief from seizures. Give wisdom to physicians and tender care to nurses. Sanctify this home by Thy presence, keep this family from all evil, and let no fear of curse trouble those whom Thou dost keep. Grant to this family unity, strength, faith and the peace that passes understanding, and let Thy will be done in all things, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. We ask this in the powerful name of Jesus our Saviour. Amen.