Prayer for the Sick
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openly confessed. Wrong done to a fellow being should be made right
with the one who has been offended. If any who are seeking health
have been guilty of evilspeaking, if they have sowed discord in the
home, the neighborhood, or the church, and have stirred up alienation
and dissension, if by any wrong practice they have led others into sin,
these things should be confessed before God and before those who
have been offended. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1
John 1:9
.
When wrongs have been righted, we may present the needs of the
sick to the Lord in calm faith, as His Spirit may indicate. He knows
each individual by name, and cares for each as if there were not another
upon the earth for whom He gave His beloved Son. Because God’s
love is so great and so unfailing, the sick should be encouraged to trust
in Him and be cheerful. To be anxious about themselves tends to cause
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weakness and disease. If they will rise above depression and gloom,
their prospect of recovery will be better; for “the eye of the Lord is
upon them” “that hope in His mercy.”
Psalm 33:18
.
In prayer for the sick it should be remembered that “we know
not what we should pray for as we ought.”
Romans 8:26
. We do not
know whether the blessing we desire will be best or not. Therefore
our prayers should include this thought: “Lord, thou knowest every
secret of the soul. Thou art acquainted with these persons. Jesus, their
Advocate, gave His life for them. His love for them is greater than
ours can possibly be. If, therefore, it is for Thy glory and the good
of the afflicted ones, we ask, in the name of Jesus, that they may be
restored to health. If it be not Thy will that they may be restored, we
ask that Thy grace may comfort and Thy presence sustain them in their
sufferings.”
God knows the end from the beginning. He is acquainted with the
hearts of all men. He reads every secret of the soul. He knows whether
those for whom prayer is offered would or would not be able to endure
the trials that would come upon them should they live. He knows
whether their lives would be a blessing or a curse to themselves and
to the world. This is one reason why, while presenting our petitions
with earnestness, we should say, “Nevertheless not my will, but Thine,
be done.”
Luke 22:42
. Jesus added these words of submission to
the wisdom and will of God when in the Garden of Gethsemane He