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Prayer for the Sick
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God is just as willing to restore the sick to health now as when
the Holy Spirit spoke these words through the psalmist. And Christ
is the same compassionate physician now that He was during His
earthly ministry. In Him there is healing balm for every disease,
restoring power for every infirmity. His disciples in this time are
to pray for the sick as verily as the disciples of old prayed. And
recoveries will follow; for “the prayer of faith shall save the sick.”
We have the Holy Spirit’s power, the calm assurance of faith, that
can claim God’s promises. The Lord’s promise, “They shall lay
hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (
Mark 16:18
), is just
as trustworthy now as in the days of the apostles. It presents the
privilege of God’s children, and our faith should lay hold of all that
it embraces. Christ’s servants are the channel of His working, and
through them He desires to exercise His healing power. It is our
work to present the sick and suffering to God in the arms of our faith.
We should teach them to believe in the Great Healer.
The Saviour would have us encourage the sick, the hopeless,
the afflicted, to take hold upon His strength. Through faith and
prayer the sickroom may be transformed into a Bethel. In word and
deed, physicians and nurses may say, so plainly that it cannot be
misunderstood, “God is in this place” to save, and not to destroy.
Christ desires to manifest His presence in the sickroom, filling the
hearts of physicians and nurses with the sweetness of His love. If
the life of the attendants upon the sick is such that Christ can go
with them to the bedside of the patient, there will come to him
the conviction that the compassionate Saviour is present, and this
conviction will itself do much for the healing of both the soul and
the body.
And God hears prayer. Christ has said, “If ye shall ask anything
in My name, I will do it.” Again He says, “If any man serve Me,
him will My Father honor.”
John 14:14
;
12:26
. If we live according
to His word, every precious promise He has given will be fulfilled
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to us. We are undeserving of His mercy, but as we give ourselves
to Him, He receives us. He will work for and through those who
follow Him.
But only as we live in obedience to His word can we claim the
fulfillment of His promises. The psalmist says, “If I regard iniquity