Do you know that you can go to your father and ask for anything? Do you believe that he hears you?
More times than not we seem to couple suffering, pain, lack with God not hearing us or that it’s pay back for something we have done wrong. Sickness and health issues are indeed difficult and frustrating to manuever but what happens when we allow God to transform our perspective? In John 16, Jesus is explaining what has to happen for us to receive the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. For us to have received this gift, a suffering had to take place. Similar to a woman suffering the pains of labor. When the child is born, the Bible says her anguish gives joy to the birth of the new baby. So even though we have sorrow, we can rejoice because we will see Jesus again.
Recently, I was sick with a fever, and that hasn’t happened since I was a child. I felt awful, and all I could do was lie in bed all day and rotate between taking Tylenol and Motrin. What I discovered was God’s love for me, his presence, and that healing was more obtainable than I could have expected. My body was physically suffering, but my spirit was rejoicing through the suffering. Though I used medicine to give me temporary relief, it only lasted for a short period of time. What does this tell me?
Everything that we can see now that is tangible is only temporary. We should utilize the help when the situation calls for it, but only put your hope, trust, and faith in the one who doesn’t change, in the one who is all knowing, all powerful, and everywhere. In the one who loves us so much that he manifested himself into someone we can see tangibly, just to suffer on our behalf, so that we don’t have to. Suffered a slave’s death, so that we can live a life free from the grasp of sin. If we choose to.
For you and me, this means that no matter what our bodies suffer physically, there is hope. You just have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and believe that he sent Jesus to save you. Therefore, he loves you; he does not want you to suffer. So know that when in fact your body is suffering, know that he is near. So call on him for help. Pray this prayer with me:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the access you have given us through your son Jesus Christ. We believe that you sent him to save us and that you allowed him to suffer to leave us with the gift of the Holy Spirit. So with the help of the Holy Spirit, I lay hands on my body if there is no other believer around me. I believe and boldly confess the words you have spoken all throughout the Bible. I believe I am healed (Psalms 103). I believe that you will let me rest in green meadows (Psalms 23). I believe that you bore my sins in your body so that I may be dead to sin (1 Peter 2). Don’t let me forget all the good things you have done for me. Thank you, Lord, for loving and caring about even the little details of my life. Right now, I ask in Jesus’ name that these symptoms diminish, that even down to a cellular level, may you rejuvenate me, heal my body. And all glory belongs to you, Father, for all the miraculous miracles that are going to happen through me. May you give me the strength to handle the daily activities. May you refresh and renew my mind to focus on you and to understand why that’s important. May the veil be lifted. I know that you hear me, Father, and that my prayer will be answered according to your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.