Prayer for the Sick ~ Susan Ray

I have had a healthy life.  I’ve never had a serious illness, had never been hospitalized for anything but childbirth.  I’ve never even had the flu!  I can’t remember ever asking for prayer for a health issue--until recently, of course.

The recent events that changed all that for me began with a cat bite.  That was followed up by infection, a doctor’s visit, oral antibiotics, a visit to a different doctor, a new antibiotic, a surgery, yet another new doctor, a trip to the ER, another surgery, admission to the hospital, IV antibiotics, insertion of a PICC line for at-home IV antibiotics, and finished up with weeks of occupational therapy.

I had a great desire for people to be praying for my healing.  Having health problems meant being out of control, and I really, really did not like it.  My patient husband who was dragged through this along with me can tell you that I didn’t handle it well.  I just wanted to be finished with it, to get back to my regularly scheduled life, but every few days I would get more bad news emphasizing my lack of control and increasing my frustration.

I had prayed, and wanted others to pray that the antibiotic would work quickly and that my finger would be back to normal quickly.  But that didn’t happen, and as the days turned into weeks and then into months, my spiritual need was uncovered along with my physical need.  I saw things about myself that I would not have recognized if I had gotten well in the first 10 days of antibiotics.

This should not have been a surprise to me because Scripture is full of the uses that God makes of suffering.  It is right for us to pray for healing.  God has revealed himself as the Healer, and healing is a way that he shows mercy to his saints, but I would like to encourage us all also to keep before us the good that he does when he doesn’t heal.  What a benefit it would be to suffering people if we were to pray for that as well!

These are some of the things we can pray for those suffering:

• That God would show mercy to the sick and their loved ones by healing them (Philippians 2:27)
• That God would be glorified in the suffering (John 9:3)
• That they would rejoice in their suffering because of the good God is doing in it (Romans 5:3 and James 1:2)
• That God would use the suffering to produce endurance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3, 4)
• That suffering would produce steadfastness leading to the sufferer being perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:4)
• That the suffering would show the genuineness of their faith and may be found to result in praise and glory and honor for Christ (1 Peter 1:6, 7)
• That they would cast all their cares on God knowing that he cares for them (1 Peter 5:7)
• That they would know of the sufficiency of the Lord’s grace ( 2 Corinthians 12:9)
• That they would boast of their weakness because in it Christ’s power is made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:9)
• That they would be content in their weakness and know God’s power (2 Corinthians 12:10)
• That they would not be anxious but would present their requests to God with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6)
• That the peace of God would guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7)
• That through Christ’s strength they would learn to be content in every situation (Philippians 4:11-13)

I did not like suffering, but it is good news to us who live in this world of groaning that suffering is not empty and meaningless even when it drags on.  Romans 8:18 tells us "that the sufferings of this present time and not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us", and 2 Corinthians 4:17 gives the ultimate encouragement to all kinds of sufferers. "Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

That’s what I needed much more than quick healing, God’s working eternal good in me and for me.  Let’s pray for that eternal good as we suffer together and expect God’s good answers.

Prayer ~ Jan Landsbaum

One of the best answers to prayer I ever received was “no.” Not a gentle, “no, my child, I have better things in mind for you,” but an emphatic “NO! NO WAY! NOT EVER! QUIT ASKING!” Apparently, God had been answering my long-term prayer and I hadn’t paid attention to gentler versions of that answer. I wanted my answer, not His. I wanted my will, not His.

My entire working career was at daily newspapers in Arizona and California. For a long period I continually sought to work for bigger newspapers and more important beats. I always accompanied these efforts with prayer – after all, God tells us to “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened” Matthew 7:7.  In hindsight, although I prayed for God’s will in my life, I really sought my own glory.

For 10 years, I periodically applied for various jobs at the Los Angeles Times, the largest and most prominent newspaper in the western United States. Finally, in the spring of 1988, I prepared another application packet and told God that I would accept the response as His final word on the subject, expecting that it would be “yes.” The rejection letter came back so fast that I’m convinced the editor had pre-typed it and stamped the envelope before receiving my packet.

"OK, Lord, I get it,” I prayed without enthusiasm, peace or joy. “I won’t apply to the Times again. But what do I do now?” God had every right to wait years, decades or a lifetime to answer that prayer, which though joyless, was completely sincere and offered with a contrite heart.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. – Psalm 51:17

Within weeks, my editor at the newspaper where I worked offered me the job of writing a column about the problems small businesses face and solutions to those problems. It was in addition to my current work with no additional pay. The column wasn’t high prestige; after all, covering small businesses isn’t as important in the journalistic world as covering the large, public companies. But the timing told me this was God’s answer to my prayer. I accepted and over the following 25 years, that work shaped my professional career. My prayer journals over that time reflects a move toward what God wanted me to write about, how He could use my work to help others and glorify Himself.

I certainly encountered other struggles and problems in this work but I always saw it as God’s assignment. I came to understand that the lessons, which apply to one’s life calling of the Lord, include:

1.     Pray fervently and continuously about anything that you care about.

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication – Ephesians 6:18

2.     Listen more than you pray for God’s answer.

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. – Proverbs 2: 1-5

3.     Continually examine your motives in prayer.

 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. – James 4:3

4.     Accept when the answer is one you don’t expect or don’t want.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. – James 4:7

and

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

God is infinitely wiser than I. As C.S. Lewis said, "If God had granted all the silly prayers I've made in my life, where should I be now?" And Terry Glaspey wrote, "Sometimes we realize only in hindsight that the answer we had hoped for would not have been the best thing for us. God, in His wisdom and love, often withholds our requests on the grounds that they would be harmful to our ultimate good."