Prayer for the Sick
The very essence of the gospel is restoration, and the Saviour
would have His servants bid the sick, the hopeless, and the afflicted
take hold upon His strength. God’s servants are the channels of His
grace, and through them He desires to exercise His healing power. It
is their work to present the sick and suffering to the Saviour in the
arms of faith. They should live so near to Him, and so clearly reveal
in their lives the working of His truth, that He can make them a means
of blessing to those in need of bodily as well as spiritual healing.
It is our privilege to pray with the sick, to help them to grasp the
cord of faith. Angels of God are very near to those who thus minister
to suffering humanity. The consecrated ambassador of Christ who,
when appealed to by the sick, seeks to fasten their attention upon
divine realities, is accomplishing a work that will endure throughout
eternity. And as he approaches the sick with the comfort of a hope
gained through faith in Christ and acceptance of the divine promises,
his own experience becomes richer and still richer in spiritual strength.
With awakened conscience many a troubled soul, suffering bodily
ailments as the result of continued transgression, cries out, “Lord,
be merciful to me a sinner; make me Thy child.” It is then that the
minister, strong in faith, should be ready to tell the sufferer that there
is hope for the penitent, that in Jesus every one who longs for help
and acceptance may find deliverance and peace. He who in meekness
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and love thus brings the gospel to the afflicted soul so much in need of
its message of hope, is a mouthpiece for the One who gave Himself
for mankind. As he speaks helpful, appropriate words, and as he
offers prayer for the one lying on a bed of suffering, Jesus makes the
application. God speaks through human lips. The heart is reached.
Humanity is brought into touch with divinity.
The minister should understand by experience that the soothing
power of the grace of Christ brings health and peace and fulness of
joy. He should know Christ as the One who has invited the weary
and heavy-laden to come to Him and find rest. Let him never forget
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