How Do I Pray for Healing and Honor God’s ‘No’?

Ask Pastor John
Episode: 1275

[timhendrick]

For anyone struggling with faith right now, God is truly our only Healer. This year in February, my mom was put in the hospital and our family did not know if we would ever be able to see her again. But Our Merciful, Kind and Generous Father healed her and now she drives, cooks and does things how she did before. Praise be to the Lord God Almighty, Forever and Always 🙏

[calledtoshinemusic]

This is something I have been really curious about too, it's amazing how God knows what we need and provides it through this blessed podcast. Thank you pastor John.

[joshtablante]

I need this. My Dad is currently in the ICU due to Covid. I keep praying for his healing. I know God wills and God's glory will be shown in bringing my dad back home to us or with Him. We have to be confident in our prayer and our faith for God to heal him.

[owenernest]

Please pray for me, my lungs are heavy and it's hard to breathe. God bless you.

[lighteninggazelle]

Slightly different topic, but I am suffering from severe pregnancy sickness and I am finding myself distant from God. I should feel at my closest to him when going through a time of suffering, and while I am not bitter, I simply find it hard to concentrate on anything besides trying to stay alive and making to to the end of the day. I pray God forgives me because I know this is nothing compared to the suffering a true believer should and will encounter.

[jimsardina]

Please pray for my uncle who is in intensive care section because of covid, please pray that God will give him strenght to overcome this and please pray that through this suffering he will come to know Christ.

[h.p.]

Everything God allows is good and He knows what is best, God loves us and for people who are suffering: God is working in you and allowing everything for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). Praise the Lord and have faith in God

[saurabhjohnson]

It's very specific question. Thanks, mate for asking this. I have been really struggling this from past years.
Sometimes, I have restrained from prayer, imagining the negative outcome and thereby, disappointing the one for whom I was going to pray.

[francismausley]

"Ultimately it is God’s will destined for us that will be established, but we are assured that prayer for the sick is efficacious and is often answered. It may take time, but we should have faith." ~ Shoghi Effendi, Baha' Faith

[richellepeace]

After being told no so much, I just don't bother asking anymore. Whatever happens I will just assume it is the way he wants it and not waste either of our time.

[michaelnelson]

Heal my foot that's sprained God! :(

[Liminalplace]

Matthew 8:16-17 New International Version (NIV)

16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities
    and bore our diseases.”[a]

Physical healing Jesus "bore" on the cross.

[gracereneerosepetals]

In listening to this ... there were a lot of ''Puzzle'' pieces to the answer to the question ... There have been many that have clicked on this thumbnail looking for a simpler answer ... and will scroll on no better then when they clicked on this ... To you I say from God's word ... ''By his strips ye are healed. '' (1 Peter 2:24 )

[setionos]

- Biblical texts suggest confidence in receiving what is asked in faith, as well as submitting to God's will.
- Jesus' words in Luke 22:42 emphasize aligning with God's will.
- Jesus encourages asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer (Matthew 7:7–11).
- Assurance in prayer rests on God's promises, not presuming to know what's best.
- Spiritual gifts, like faith and healing, play a role in prayer, but not all possess them.
- Confidence should be based on Jesus' promise (Matthew 7:11) and Paul's assurance (Romans 8:32).
- God gives what's good for his children; spiritual gifts might enhance prayer, but not every prayer follows this pattern.

[nopretribrapture]

my house is filthy my garden is a mess because of sickness and disabilities, can't get any help and can't afford hundreds and even thousands of pounds to get this place sorted.i can only do tiny tiny bits every few days.ten years later and the place is still dirty.ive begged GOD to help but nothing...

[paulg]

Rom 8:32... Show me a verse where he says no to healing because Romans 8:32 clearly says otherwise.

[dankeane]

ALRIGHT JOHN PIPER! I expect to see a video response to my query! Seriously. Here it is: Is it a "denial of Christ", Who said He'd send the Comforter, to refrain from telling people that you feel the comfort of the Comforter, because you don't ?

Or beyond "refraining from telling them that you feel the comfort", to even tell "everyone you know" that you don't feel it....because you feel more like you've been abandoned by Him? Is this "denying Christ"?

Next, if Christ, with all of his faith, as Son of God, cried out, "Why have you abandoned me?", than WHY CAN'T WE? Does this constitute a "denial of Christ"?! I am not going to proclaim His "abundant blessings in my life" when they are not there, or His healings, when they haven't taken place.... out of some compulsion that to do so would be an "act of faith" to bring it about, because "it's impossible to please God without faith". He said, "Ask Anything in my name and I will do it that the Father may be glorified by the Son." I have. Why doesn't He? No, don't tell me because "in my name" means "according to His will", and so whatever you are asking for (healing of my wife, from M.S.?) must not be "according to His will"....or "He doesn't have to do even what Jesus says He will do, SO THAT the Father may be 'He's sovereign' ". If "His thoughts and ways are not ours" or vice versa, and we are so far apart in our thoughts and ways that His simple promises to us just "have to be so confounding", what's the point??! Argh!

And I'm curious: Jesus said, "Because I go to the Father, you'll do greater works than I". I am not doing that. Are you? Also, "Signs and wonders will follow those who believe." They aren't following me. Are they following you? If not, why not? People say, "Well perhaps you/we are unaware of the signs and wonders that follow us...." Then to whom is a sign "a sign", if it is not observed?! Ridiculous.

Jesus said, "Love one another as I have loved you." What, as "living sacrifices"? Okay, I get that. But how did He love us before laying down His life? With compassion and power to heal, by any chance? Of course. And, "the sign of believers will be that they will lay hands on the sick who will recover." Who is doing this, out of love and compassion? Shouldn't we all? When we lay hands, why must we leave the gathering with the refrain, "Well, the Lord will heal her "in His time"? To whom Is it "a sign of believers" if not those who witnessed the laying on of hands, by them? The Lord said we are to love one another as He loved us. We do love. Very, very, much. We Are compassionate. But we are NOT equipped to love as He loved us....because He does not equip us to do so. (It's "all our fault", because we're sinners?) Where's the power? "Love one another as I have loved you": Another commandment, like the first ten, that we cannot fulfill....that is, if the "fruit of our faith" is an indication! And what is that "fruit"? "Believing in our heart, and having what we say", with faith being also "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"?

Yet I refuse to believe that Jesus was just a "motivational speaker".

Have I denied Christ?

[nopretribrapture]

God won't heal me either, bed bound with multiple health problems and disabilities, it gets very lonely and very depressing, been praying for many years but prayers totally ignored.

[AJTramberg]

I respect the attempt here, but that response didnt begin to answer the paradox. This is a deep mystery as the texts that seems so straightforward are far far from it in reality. Verifiable miraculous healing is incredibly rare despite the billions of prayers offered up everyday. Furthermore, JP again, flips in and out of his reformed theology. Bad things do happen. His theology says nothing happens outside of Gods will, so that contradicts the notion that "God doesnt give his children bad things". Not all of these ideas can be correct.

[Todd_Kuhns]

Well, God's wil is to always heal. Jesus took our diseases and infirmities on the cross. Matt. 8:17. So, this is a dumb conversation.