The Healing Power of Prayer

Question: My friend has been given a serious diagnosis and a grim prognosis. I believe in the healing power of prayer and I want to encourage my friend to not give up. I’m praying, but he isn’t getting better. How can I help him have more faith and how can I pray more effectively?

Answer: First of all, it’s not up to us to persuade our friends to believe one thing or another. If your friend has a short time left, he probably doesn’t want to spend that time hearing that he doesn’t have enough faith! Remember in Job’s time of distress, his friends tried to give him the answers they thought he needed, but really they only made him more miserable. He didn’t need their theology; he needed their love and support and he didn’t get much of that. I think there’s a lesson there for us.

That having been said, I too believe that prayer is a powerful force in our lives and that miracles happen every day. So, you can continue to pray for your friend. See him bathed in God’s loving light. Imagine him sleeping peacefully at night and enjoying his meals throughout the day. Hold a picture in your mind of you hugging him and telling him you love him, and imagine him smiling with joy as you share that tender moment. Give thanks for the medical care he is receiving. Pray for angels (cosmic or human) to minister to him. Ask God to bless him. And then detach from the outcome. You can certainly wish for him to feel better, and you can hope for his disease to go into remission. And you can trust that your love and hope are making a difference in his life. But don’t add to his stress by telling him how he “ought” to feel or what he “should” believe. You can believe in miracles and affirm that one is possible for your friend, and then let things unfold as they will, trusting that God is in the process and that nothing will ever separate your friend from God’s love.

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If you have questions about faith, the bible, the church, or sexuality & spirituality, you can email your questions to durrell@sunshinecathedral.org, or go to the Ask the Reverend Durrell Watkins page and click on the link there. Rev. Durrell Watkins will answer your questions and publish the answers here and in the weekly SunBurst. Your name will always be withheld, so only the actual question and the response will be published.