I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD. Jer. 30:17 (ESV)
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 John 2 (NIV)
Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. 1 Tim. 5:23 (NIV)
We who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. 1 Cor. 15:52-53 (NIV)
Heavenly Father, it’s national Nurses Week, and though this annual event will never make it into the Hallmark Card design department, we’re all thankful for those you’ve placed in our lives as an extension of the healing ministry of Christ—nurses and doctors, healthcare workers and good neighbors. Free each of us to live a more engaged and compassionate lifestyle.
Father, we long for the Day of no more cancer or dementia, no more heart disease or respiratory issues, no more AIDS or infections, no more med-resistant bacteria or even common colds—the Day of perfect health, when Jesus returns.
Thank you for the promise of a resurrection body that will never get sick, wear out, or die. Thank you that our life in the new heaven and new earth will not include visits to the ER, health insurance, medical bills, hospitals, nursing homes, palliative care, or funeral homes. Hasten that Day, Father, hasten it.
Until then, we will pray for healing and will work for good health, thankful Jesus’ finished work has secured the redemption of our whole being—mind, body, and spirit. Though we’d love for you to answer all of our prayers for healing on our timetable, as our Father, you do all things well, even when you don’t do all things easy. If you give us sufficient grace instead of instant healing, like the apostle Paul, we will be grateful (2 Cor. 12:7-12).
We will also seek to take care of these “tents” in which we live (2 Cor. 5:1-5). Thank you for good food, opportunities for exercise, the gift of sleep, and clean water—gifts you’ve given us by grace. May our suffering make us more sensitive to the sufferings of those around us. Grant us great joy in fulfilling the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) as we bear one another’s burdens. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ triumphant and tender name.
