A Prayer for Healing Physical and Emotional Wounds
By Ashley Moore
Bible Reading
“Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes.” - John 9:6, NLT
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Does the story of Jesus healing the man born blind fascinate you as much as it does me? Or how about the paralyzed man whose friends lowered him down through the roof? In the former, Jesus spit in the mud, placed it on the man’s eyes, and told him to rinse off in a water source nearby. In the other story I mentioned, Jesus forgave the man’s sins and healed him so he could walk again. These stories represent only a fraction of the many places in the Bible that show God’s power to heal our physical and emotional wounds.
What wounds do you need healing from?
Maybe you endured some sort of tragedy and find yourself dependent on others in ways you haven’t experienced before. Or perhaps you have soul wounds from a childhood with complex family dynamics. Do you suffer from a chronic condition with no end in sight? These may not be your exact situation, but you likely resonate with the helpless feelings accompanying the need for healing, whether it's a physical ailment or a less noticeable (to outsiders) emotional wound.
The stories from the Bible remind me that healing requires humility. For the man born blind, he had to allow Jesus to wipe saliva on his face and follow his directions to wash afterward. Think about that for a second. Imagine what you would do if a man and his friends walked up to you, and one of them spit and rubbed it on your face. I would be disgusted, but because this man desperately wanted to heal and see, he humbly did what Jesus instructed. Or put yourself in the place of the paraplegic man when his friends came to take him to Jesus. I can hear myself now, “Oh, it’s too much trouble. It’s fine, just sit me down. Don’t bother carrying me up on the roof. Putting a hole in the roof is going to cause a scene. Let’s just come back later.” Pride can cause us to resist the very things we need to do to heal.
Maybe we need to get on our knees and ask God to help us for the first time. We have discussed our problem a lot and worried over the details, but we’ve felt too afraid to ask God for help. We’ve powered through trying not to burden others, but I wonder if it’s time we need to allow a friend to help us get our groceries while we recover from surgery or a sickness. Or perhaps we know we need to get checked out by a professional. It may be time to make that much-needed appointment with a counselor or a doctor that we keep putting on the back burner. God’s Word demonstrates that He can heal all our wounds and reminds us He uses various measures to do so. Will we humbly welcome the physical or emotional healing we desperately desire?
Let’s Pray:
Lord, we thank you for the powerful display of healing we witness in your Word. We marvel at the promise of a forever future without sickness or sadness. Jesus, thank you for ultimate healing for all eternity. Lord, we also thank you for the grace of healing available to us in this life. Lord, will you help us to know when your will includes healing and when we must longsuffer through the thorns in our sides? Jesus, help us accept both outcomes with humility. Comfort us with your Holy Spirit and help us experience joy when you don’t provide the desired healing. Lord, direct us to you in willingness and humility when your plan includes healing for us. Would you give us an open mind for the unexpected ways and everyday graces you provide in this life as a means for healing. Sometimes, you may ask us to do something uncomfortable, but remind us that humility comes before healing. Let our desperation be stronger than our hesitations.
We love you and pray all this in your powerful name, Jesus, amen.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/fcscafeine
Ashley Moore is a writer and host of be the two™podcast. She is known for her relatability and for passionately writing and speaking about mental, emotional, and relational health from a biblical worldview. She has written for Kingdom Edge Magazine, Guideposts, Crosswalk, The Secret Place, enLIVEn, The Bubbling Brook and more. If Ashley isn't writing, you can find her with her husband, three children, and two floppy-eared Goldens on their south Georgia farmland. The best way to connect with Ashley is to grab a free devotional or Bible study and join her newsletter at free.ashleynicolemoore.com.
Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.
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