Prayer for the Sick
195
the individual, and knows what his future will be.... All that we are
required to do is to ask God to raise up the sick if in accordance with
his will, believing that he hears the reasons which we present, and the
fervent prayers offered. If the Lord sees that it will best honor him, he
will answer our prayers. But to urge recovery without submission to
his will, is not right.... All that can be done in praying for the sick is
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earnestly to importune God in their behalf, and in perfect confidence
rest the matter in his hands.... If the life of the sick can glorify him, we
pray that they may live; nevertheless, not as we will, but as he wills.
Our faith can be just as firm, and more reliable, by committing the
desire to the all-wise God, and without feverish anxiety, in perfect
confidence, trusting all to him.... Our petitions must not take the form
of a command, but of intercession for him to do the thing we desire of
him.—
Testimonies for the Church 2:147-149
.
1029. The strong desire for recovery leads to earnest prayer; and
this is right. God is our refuge in sickness as in health.—
Testimonies
for the Church 5:315
.
1030. Prayer will give the sick an abiding confidence.—
Testimonies for the Church 5:443
.
1031. Jesus can limit the power of Satan. He is the physician in
whom the sin-sick soul may trust to heal the maladies of the body as
well as of the soul.—
Testimonies for the Church 5:448
.
1032. I would come before the Lord with this petition: “Lord, we
cannot read the heart of this sick one, but thou knowest whether it is
for the good of his soul and for the glory of thy name to raise him to
health. In thy great goodness, compassionate this case, and let healthy
action take place in the system. The work must be entirely thine own.
We have done all that human skill can do; now, Lord, we lay this case
at thy feet, work as only God can work, and if it be for thy good and for
thy glory, arrest the progress of disease and heal this sufferer.” ... But
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after I have prayed earnestly for the sick, what then? Do I cease to do
all I can for their recovery?—No, I work all the more earnestly, with
much prayer that the Lord may bless the means which his own hand
has provided; that he may give sanctified wisdom to co-operate with
him in the recovery of the sick.—
Unpublished Testimonies, March 11,
1892
.
1033. In praying for the sick, it is essential to have faith; for it is in
accordance with the word of God.... Sometimes answers to our prayers