Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for letting us share this burden with you in prayer. We are bringing you and your loved ones before the Lord, asking for His mercy over the sickness you described with watery eyes, runny nose, fatigue and hoarseness, for protection over others so this illness does not spread, and for His provision over the practical concern of utility bills.
Scripture gives us confidence to ask for healing. When Jesus walked among the people He went about doing good and healing every kind of sickness and disease, and Matthew directly connects that ministry to the prophecy in Isaiah that He bore our infirmities and carried our sicknesses. That shows the work of Christ reaches to our physical needs and not only to our spiritual need for forgiveness, and even under the old law God made a provision for the cleansing of the leper, leaving room for Him to do what is contrary to nature when He chooses. God is still able to heal today, whether in a moment or over time.
At the same time the Bible keeps us from presuming that healing will always come in the way or timing we hope. Paul prayed three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed and the Lord did not remove it. Though God worked many miracles through Paul, he also writes that Epaphroditus was sick almost to the point of death and that he had to leave Trophimus behind because he was ill. These examples remind us that healing is a sovereign work of God in His hands, and His ways are beyond our finding out. It is wrong to put guilt on the sick person or to say illness must mean a lack of faith or hidden sin. Sometimes sickness and sin are connected in Scripture, but often they are not, and we should not make that assumption.
We also believe that all healing is from God. Sometimes He touches instantly, sometimes healing comes gradually as with the blind man who at first saw only dimly and then clearly, and sometimes He works through the ordinary processes He built into our bodies. Those natural processes are no less divine, because He created them. For that reason we continue to pray and to trust Him, and we encourage you to ask the elders of your church to pray for you as the early church did, laying hands on the sick and asking the Lord to work.
So we pray now that the Lord would have mercy on you and your loved ones, ease these symptoms, restore strength and clear voices and breathing, and use even the body's own healing processes for His glory. We ask Him to guard those around you from infection and to give you wisdom to care for one another well. We also ask Him to provide for your household needs and to help with the burden of bills, for He cares about these daily concerns. Above all we rest in the provision God has made for sin through Jesus Christ alone, whose blood atones for us, and we ask all of this in His name, trusting His love and wisdom to do what is best.
Scripture gives us confidence to ask for healing. When Jesus walked among the people He went about doing good and healing every kind of sickness and disease, and Matthew directly connects that ministry to the prophecy in Isaiah that He bore our infirmities and carried our sicknesses. That shows the work of Christ reaches to our physical needs and not only to our spiritual need for forgiveness, and even under the old law God made a provision for the cleansing of the leper, leaving room for Him to do what is contrary to nature when He chooses. God is still able to heal today, whether in a moment or over time.
At the same time the Bible keeps us from presuming that healing will always come in the way or timing we hope. Paul prayed three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed and the Lord did not remove it. Though God worked many miracles through Paul, he also writes that Epaphroditus was sick almost to the point of death and that he had to leave Trophimus behind because he was ill. These examples remind us that healing is a sovereign work of God in His hands, and His ways are beyond our finding out. It is wrong to put guilt on the sick person or to say illness must mean a lack of faith or hidden sin. Sometimes sickness and sin are connected in Scripture, but often they are not, and we should not make that assumption.
We also believe that all healing is from God. Sometimes He touches instantly, sometimes healing comes gradually as with the blind man who at first saw only dimly and then clearly, and sometimes He works through the ordinary processes He built into our bodies. Those natural processes are no less divine, because He created them. For that reason we continue to pray and to trust Him, and we encourage you to ask the elders of your church to pray for you as the early church did, laying hands on the sick and asking the Lord to work.
So we pray now that the Lord would have mercy on you and your loved ones, ease these symptoms, restore strength and clear voices and breathing, and use even the body's own healing processes for His glory. We ask Him to guard those around you from infection and to give you wisdom to care for one another well. We also ask Him to provide for your household needs and to help with the burden of bills, for He cares about these daily concerns. Above all we rest in the provision God has made for sin through Jesus Christ alone, whose blood atones for us, and we ask all of this in His name, trusting His love and wisdom to do what is best.
