As an Aside: A Prayer for Healing

I can’t heal anybody. But I can pray. There are scores of people to pray for, people who need healing inside and out. Most people who need prayer are at some distance from me; but that distance is no impediment to reach out to God for them. God has our prayers when we pray them; He is perfectly capable of bridging the gap that physical distance may impose.

This prayer incorporates quite a bit of what must be on the shepherd’s heart. While we may not be a shepherd, I see no reason not to pray like one or care for others like one. So, here is a prayer for healing. I’ve left the person’s name for you to fill in. But remember: this prayer is, at best, a first step towards praying for someone in need of inner or outward healing. If it is helpful to you, great.

Blessed and holy is the Lord, king over all the ages—incorruptible, invisible, God only wise. Blessed are You in Your Holiness. You find the froward, and turn him from his evil ways, and You heal him, and You lead him in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. You are true and pure and right when we are not.

God, when Abraham prayed unto You. It was You. You healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. Have mercy and hear our prayers for _____________.

You are the God who heals us. May we diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord, spoken to us in these last days in Christ Jesus such that we do what is right and just in Your sight. Teach us to love out the pure heart, good conscience, and unfeigned faith purchased for us by Christ our Savior so that we will give ear to his great commission, and keep all the things he has commanded us.

Lord, you hearkened unto the voice of Moses when his brother, Aaron, and his sister, Miriam, were foolish and sinned against God. Moses cried, “Heal her now, O God, I beseech you.” We too are foolish, and shut out with broken fellowship, estranged from all You are. O heal us, and bring us in again. Though our many sins be as scarlet, may we be washed as white as snow in Christ our righteousness.

Clearly Lord you are God. You, ever You, are He; and there is no other: You kill and you make alive, Amen. You wound, and you heal, Amen. Neither is there any that can deliver us from Your hand, Amen.

Lord, we have no desire to be delivered from Your hand for You bind up the brokenhearted. You are near to him with a broken and contrite heart. With us, you have made a covenant of peace in his blood that we may dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep soundly in the desert.

You, Lord, have made us and the places around us a blessing in Christ our redemption. And you have caused the shower to come down in his season on Pentecost, and for us, there are showers of blessing in Your presence, both now and even forevermore.

Lord, you have brought us out; You have gathered us together from the nations, and You have fed us with the Bread of life, You have slaked out thirst with the Living Water, and You have opened the way everlasting through the Light of the world.

We were lost, but you sought us. We were driven away, but you brought us near in Christ our reconciliation. So now, bind up that which has been wounded, injured, or torn, according to Your promise to do so, and strengthen that which was sick or weak that those might be healed, that the redemption in Christ Jesus might roll on like a river, that the name of Jesus might be high and lifted up, and that Your word which you once spoke in the Law and the Prophets, and now in these last days in Christ Jesus might be honored forevermore.

Lord God, plenteous in mercy, full of compassion, you heard the petition of Elijah and Naaman was healed and he honored Your name. You heard when Elijah beseeched you; the widow’s son was healed, he was raised from the dead, and he was given back to his mother, and You were glorified

All of these things and more were worked at the hands of Jesus Christ—a man full of grace and truth, the Son of Man established in word and deed, revealed to be the Christ by strong signs, wonders, and miracles, and confirmed Son of God through the resurrection. You affirmed his name. You spoke, “Beloved Son,” and You acted. Women received back their dead, lepers were cleansed, sight was given to the blind, hymns of praise to the mute, and rejoicing to the lame.

Lord, You healed and You proclaimed Your goodness in it, and You elevated Your good name above all other names. Heal again, Lord God. Otherwise, we are bereft. Heal again, Lord, and hear our cries for mercy. You are our peace, and so we call upon Your name for __________________.

Blessed are You because You are. Blessed are You because You will be. You are not a deaf one that cannot hear. You are not a mute one that will not speak. You have spoken comfort to us. You have announced good news, and fullness. Make our hearts glad with healing for ______________ according to Your lovingkindness and the things You have said about Your love for us.

For a blessing, not a curse, Amen. For wholeness, not for loss, Amen. For health and healing, not for famine or disease, Amen. For hope and a cure, Amen. For the lifting up of Jesus that at his name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. For Your glory, now, in the earth as it is in heaven for Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. Amen.