A friend asked me to pray for their sick family member. As I write the friend’s family member’s name down in my prayer journal, I see all the names of people I am asking God to heal. Is there more to prayer than only for the sick? What is the biblical understanding of prayer?
Baptist Preacher and Expositor Alexander McLaren (1826-1910) gives great insight into a Christian’s prayer life:
“A man’s prayers for others are a very fair thermometer of his own religious condition. What he asks for them will largely indicate what he thinks best for himself; and how he asks it will show the firmness of his own faith and the fervor of his own feeling.”
This quote speaks volumes in regard to how we pray for those who face an illness or those who are suffering in general. The one thing that I have learned over the years is that prayers for those who face an illness are most of the time centered on physical healing and requesting doctors and their procedures to be effective. I believe there is a tendency for Christians to view these types of prayers as a “Let go . . . let God” scenario and then Christians simply wait to see if God will answer their prayers for healing. Unfortunately, these prayers can become too self-centered and may fail to focus on the need for spiritual maturing in the circumstance. This type of prayer falls short of the biblical viewpoint on prayer and therefore needs to be re-visited in order to renew our minds (Romans 12:2) in praying for those who are suffering (this can apply to emotional pain as well).
Like any other weakness or trial, sickness can be a road that leads to possible temptations that will most likely reveal the heart of a person. Here is a brief list of possible temptations when facing sickness:
- Complain, grumble or be grouchy.
- Anger
- Deny the reality of the seriousness of the sickness.
- Use sickness to avoid responsibility (I.e., serve me out of pity)
- Keep pressing on when the Lord wants to teach a lesson on weakness.
- Fear, imaging the worst, and end up planning their demise.
- Self-indulgence (e.g., food & TV)
- Depression, questioning the value of their existence.
However, if we maintain a spiritual focus when praying for the sick then these types of trials can force us to face ourselves and to stop and relate to the Lord.
This is how David Powlison seeks effective change in the way Christians should pray for one another (as well as for themselves) when facing an illness: If your understanding of prayer changes, then your practice of prayer changes. If the prayer requests you make and the ones you ask others to make change, then the model of your prayer that you share with others and before others changes.
What I am not saying is that Christians do not pray for changed circumstances or healing. In fact, Asa was chided by God for failing to pray through his sickness (I Chronicles 16:12). However, Christians need a more balanced and earnest prayer approach that incorporates spiritual changes that focus on God changing us and for God to reveal Himself more.
-Doug Ingram, BP Elder
*Title borrow by an article from Author David Powlison