Ask before praying

Once upon a time, one of the treasured elderly ladies at church became ill, and ended up being hospitalised. She was a faithful, humble, gentle woman that had helped to shepherd me through my early days as a believer, and I was very fond of her. Naturally, most of the church had automatically gone full-steam ahead into healing-prayer mode, but I chose not join with them because I had wanted to pause and enquire of God first what His desire might be for her. I wanted to be sure my prayers were really about what was truly best for her, and not just what I thought she needed or what the best outcome was for me.

Through my prayers, I perceived that not only was she was now ready to join her beloved Jesus after patiently waiting through a lifetime of faithful service, but that He was ready to receive her. Feeling the urge to visit her in the hospital, I wanted to take the opportunity to let her to know how thankful I was for having known her, and how grateful I was for her quiet, positive influence over my life. During our visit, I shared with her what I had perceived, and with a degree of relief, she agreed and acknowledged the truth of it. She was prepared and ready for her life to end because she was keen to finally stand face to face with the One she had loved and worshipped for so long. So before I left, we prayed a simple little prayer together in accordance with God’s will, and she passed away peacefully the next day.

From this experience, I came to understand that the prayers for healing by well-meaning saints can often be misguided, because a presumption is made that healing is the only acceptable option or outcome. This dear lady’s ill-health was treated as though it was somehow an affront, rather than a doorway. Praying for healing in this instance then, was essentially an unthinking, and ill-considered prayer because those prayers were effectively holding her here with us. It was understandable that no one wanted to lose her because she was precious to us all, but it was unfair for us to keep her here just to spare ourselves the grief and sorrow of losing her.

This experience taught me that just because someone is sick, it doesn’t mean we should automatically pray for healing. And before you get all lemon-lipped or recoil in horror at such a statement, I’d like you to consider that sometimes it is an incredible presumption to automatically pray for healing. We cannot know what is truly best for a person unless we actually take the time to enquire of God first. He is the one most intimately acquainted with us. He doesn’t just know when we wake up and when we fall asleep, or the number of hairs on our heads, but He also knows our innermost thoughts, beliefs and desires. Most importantly, He is the only one best placed to know what it is we truly need in any instance.

If we fail to consult with God first, it could be possible that we might actually be making things worse for them. Our prayers ought to be the conduit through which God can achieve His will in another person’s life, but if we pray amiss, our prayers can instead become a barrier. Automatically praying for healing when someone is sick is probably more about us than it is about the sick person. We shouldn’t risk making the presumption that we love and care for a person more than God does, because sometimes the kindest and most courageous thing we can do is let go.