How to Pray in Times of Physical Pain
This article is part of the How to Pray series.
We Look to Christ
Father in heaven, in spite of all our uncertainties and all our embattled anxieties and all our discomfort, we say, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. You are to be feared above all gods, for you made the heavens and the earth and our physical bodies. You sustain all things. You know all things. You rule all things. You are infinitely wise and powerful. And you are merciful—all-merciful—to all who receive your precious Son as the treasure of their lives.
So we do. We look to Christ. We look away from all self-reliance. Our trust is not finally in medicine or in man. We trust you. We call on you.
Lessons from a Hospital Bed
John Piper
Short and practical, this book by best-selling author John Piper encourages those struggling with illness to focus their attention on God and his grace through reflections on ten lessons he learned while in the hospital.
O God, hold fast to us. Preserve us by your power. Sustain our faith.
Don’t let us waver in unbelief. Shine your irresistible light of glory into our hearts, and grant us to hope fully in your grace. Don’t let the pain be more than we can bear. Guard us from murmuring or complaining. Give us your peace that passes all human understanding. Keep our minds focused on your precious promises. And make us know your sweet presence at our bedside.
Nothing Is Too Hard for You
Grant your wisdom and skill, we pray, to the doctors and nurses. We thank you for the stunning advances in medical science that you have given to mankind. What a mercy to this undeserving world—including us!
Don’t let us waver in unbelief. Shine your irresistible light of glory into our hearts, and grant us to hope fully in your grace.
And Father, we ask for your healing. You are the Great Physician. Nothing is too hard for you. To be with you in heaven would be our great pleasure. If that is your will, we embrace it with joyful hope. But there is work to do. There is family to care for. There are souls to touch and a church to serve and a world to win—and the second coming of your Son to hope in. So we ask to be raised up for your great glory.
Father, thank you for sending Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Thank you that “for our sake [you] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). O the wonder and privilege and peace of hearing you say to us, in Christ, “No condemnation. I do not appoint you for wrath” (see Rom. 8:1; 1 Thess. 5:9).
Into your hands we commit our bodies and our souls. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
This article is adapted from Lessons from a Hospital Bed by John Piper.
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