Prayer Resources
How to Pray for the Sick
How to pray
The following suggestions will help you
as you seek to pray more effectively for those who are sick:
1. Prepare yourself by setting aside some uninterrupted time—for the purpose of praying for the sick.
2. During this time, try to concentrate as much as possible on the task of prayer
3. Begin by setting yourself in a proper relationship to God. Think of God’s greatness . . . presence . . . and especially God’s caring concern for those for whom you pray. Set your mind on adoration!
4. Concentrating on one person, reflect on God’s healing power even now functioning in the patient’s body, mind, and spirit. Thank and praise God for this gift, this natural movement toward health, and the divine love which prompts it.
5. Pray directly and individually for the sick persons. See them by faith receiving God’s healing into their being with no barriers at all. Imagine them being carried lovingly and tenderly by Jesus himself.
6. Pray for the doctors, nurses, and technicians; the pastors, relatives, friends; and everyone else who is participating in any way in the healing process. Thank God for their care, knowledge, and skill, and pray that they too may be open to the Spirit’s guidance.
7. Pray that they may be increasingly responsive to God’s healing power, that they may increasingly be co-operative with that power. Visualize them receiving God’s healing into their being with no barriers at all.
8. Complete your prayer by agreeing to act upon whatever direction comes to you from God. Submit your will and conscience to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Results of
our prayer
Sometimes as you pray for the sick, you
may have a profound sense of participation in the healing process. At other
times you may wonder if you are “getting through” at all. Either way, give
thanks for God’s healing power for, and caring acceptance of, the patients and
yourself.
Sometimes it is obvious that healing is taking place. If so, rejoice and praise God. Sometimes, in spite of your ardent prayer, the patient merely stays the same or even grows worse. Redouble your own efforts. Ask more people to pray with you or allow more time for prayer. The Spirit may suggest to you new actions to take. If so, take them. But always remember that God’s will for the patient is wholeness, adequacy, and health. That is the direction God wants to move, if only we will cooperate sufficiently.
God does not refuse to act because of some “mistake” in your prayer. God knows you, accepts and loves you and your prayers. There is no technically “correct” way to pray for the sick. God is already acting to provide healing. Nevertheless, our prayers do make a difference.
Partnership
with God
It is never appropriate (though often
attempted) to tell God what to do. God is not a cosmic bellboy, but the almighty
and all-loving ruler of the universe. Our task is to discover ways of
cooperating with the divine will, humbly doing and being whatever God wishes us
to do and be. God loves us, cares for us, wants the best for us. Praise God!
THE SCRIPTURES SPEAK
Jesus
“Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching
in their
synagogues and proclaiming the good news
of the
kingdom and curing every disease and
every sickness
among the people” (Matt. 4:23, NRSV).
The Twelve
“Then Jesus called the Twelve together
and gave
them power and authority over all demons
and to
cure diseases, and he sent them out to
proclaim the
kingdom of God and to heal. . . . They
departed
and went through the villages, bringing
the good
news and curing diseases everywhere”
(Luke 9:1-2,
6, NRSV).
“And by faith in his name, his name
itself has made
this man strong, whom you see and know;
and the
faith that is through Jesus has given him
this perfect
health in the presence of all of you”
(Peter, in Acts
3:16, NRSV).
Paul
“(Paul) said in a loud voice, ‘Stand
upright on your
feet.’ And the man sprang up and began
to walk”
(Acts 14:10, NRSV).
The Church
“ ‘Are any among you sick? They
should call for the
elders of the church and have them pray
over them,
anointing them with oil in the name of
the Lord.
The prayer of faith will save the sick,
and the Lord
will raise them up; and anyone who has
committed
sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess
your sins to
one another, and pray for one another, so
that you
may be healed” (James 5:14-16, NRSV).
Adapted from a leaflet
written by Everett Taylor for
Discipleship Resources.