Healing Prayer

Prayer draws us closer to God. Prayer helps us orient our wills toward God's will. There are many ways to pray and the Bible encourages us to pray constantly. We are guided to seek healing through prayer, assured that God has healing power to give. N. Graham Standish, in Becoming a Blessed Church, offers some guidelines to healing prayer.

To begin, you need to have faith that God does heal and you have to surrender yourself to God. Take a look at your Bible and recognize that roughly one fifth of the stories in the Gospels are about Jesus healing all kinds of illnesses. Have faith that God does heal. Having doubts? Good, that shows you are thinking. Offer up those doubts to God and ask for faith. One of the most powerfully honest verses in the Bible is in Mark 9:23, when a father seeking healing for his son cries out to Jesus, "I believe, help my unbelief!" That is the human condition. God understands and God will help. Jesus healed the struggling father's son. Surrender, however, is as important as faith. We all need to recognize that God may decide to heal us in ways far different than we had expected or hoped. Surrender yourself to God and let God decide what sort of healing will be truly best for you. Keep in mind that God's healing preference is to heal from the inside out, beginning with your soul.

One more thing before we begin. As Standish advises, it is most significant that you work hard to trust that God is at work, even when you cannot feel anything happening. Real healing takes time ... and God does not work on our timetables.

Here are the steps to follow in seeking healing. Since this is a blog posting, it has to be short and this list is streamlined. Refer to this book for a more detailed approach. This will, however, give you enough to get started:

1. Lay your doubts, cares, and worries aside. Be still and calm as you pray, as Psalm 46:10 recommends.
2. Open yourself to Christ. Standish suggests taking a minute to repeat to yourself, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Once you feel more open to Christ, invite Jesus into your life to live with you and grow in you.
3. Pray for healing. Be specific. Ask with confidence. Standish suggests using the following language: "Lord, I know that it is your will for me to be whole and holy. Let your power enter me and heal me. Heal me by [name specific request]. Thank you for healing me." 
4. Trust and believe that God's power enters you: When the Holy Spirit enters people and begins work, we generally don't see, feel, or sense the Spirit at work. No "Spirit at Work" signs are erected. Healing may be immediate or take a long time. Trust and believe that healing is underway.
5. Thank God for healing you. By thanking God we appreciate God and allow God more deeply into our lives. Gratitude changes attitudes.
6. Set up a prayer discipline. Don't pray once and stop. God wants to be in conversation with us always. That way God is allowed in and increases God's influence in our lives. 
7. Finally, follow these challenging biblical guidelines:
1. Rejoice always.
2. Pray without ceasing.
3. Give thanks in all circumstances.

This prayer discipline will work when praying for others as well.

If you wish to order this book and learn more, here are the details: N. Graham Standish. Becoming a Blessed Church: Forming a Church of Spiritual Purpose, Presence, and Power. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2005, pp. 219-221.