A Prayer About Health Care
Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. Psalm 103:1-3
Heavenly Father, all the current conversations, conflicts and confusion about heath care are causing me to look up, to look to you. For there is no one who takes a greater interest or who has made a greater investment in every aspect of our health than you, most loving and gracious Father.
Through the work of your Son, Jesus, we already enjoy the perfection of complete forgiveness and, one Day, we will forever enjoy the perfection of physical, spiritual, mental and emotional health. Hallelujah! How we praise you that health is your domain and healing is your delight. “As far as the curse is found,” so outstretched is the reach of your redeeming and restoring love in Jesus. Again we say, “Hallelujah!”
Lord Jesus, it’s obvious that you didn’t heal every malady you encountered in your 3 years of public ministry, and it’s also obvious that the apostles didn’t command wholesale healings on demand either. BUT it’s equally obvious that you DID call your people to bring a wholistic healing presence wherever the gospel of the kingdom is preached.
Show me, show us, as your people what this means in our day, as we ponder health care issues in our country, and as we seek to live and love missionally with our neighbors and among the nations. Accordingly, here are some things I’m pondering before your throne of grace.
Jesus, we ask for “gifts of healings” in our churches and communities, that your name would be magnified. I don’t want my cynicism towards tele-evangelists to rob me any longer of childlike openness towards your sovereign goodness in bringing spontaneous healings.
Jesus, we ask for conviction about healthy living. We’re diseased enough through the fall. We don’t need to speed the process of decay by living self-destructively. In our country, health issues springing from obesity are as much of a problem as those coming from poverty. Give us grace, give us wisdom. As the church, how does this become a part of our discipleship?
And Jesus, in our churches, lead the conversation about health care. How does bearing one another’s burdens include caring for one another in times of disease and illness? How are we to bring your healing presence into the communities where you have placed us as local churches?
We praise you for our country, and we pray for our leaders, and for legislation that would reflect mercy and justice, but we would look not to Caesar, but to Christ, to you Jesus, in these critical issues. The government of all healing is ultimately upon your shoulders, Lord Jesus, and of the increase of your government and shalom (perfect wholeness), there will be no end!
One Day, there will only be perfect health. Until that Day, teach us, lead us, show us, Jesus, how to live and love, missionally and medicinally. So very Amen, we pray.