Praying for Healing: A 5-and-a-half step model
As a community, we want to equip everyone with the tools to respond to the nudge of the Holy Spirit. So many of us know that Jesus calls us to heal the sick, and we want to do that – but it can also be daunting! So here is a simple framework that we hope will help.
Caveat
Our greatest advice on praying for healing ultimately is to do whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to do – it may be that in the midst of prayer you throw this ‘model’ out the window! This is not “the way to pray”, but a simple, repeatable model that gives us somewhere to start when someone says yes to receiving prayer for healing.
In 2024 we’re going to be much more intentional about equipping folks for the work of the kingdom – things like praying for healing, prophecy, sharing testimony and much more! So this little blog post isn’t meant to answer all the questions – it’s just a resource! Keep an ear out for our “Hands On” workshops in the new year.
The steps:
1. Interview
Find out what’s wrong. What needs praying for?
2. Wait
Take a moment, pause and wait for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the vital. If you’re doing this in public, it may be worth explaining that you’re just “waiting for God” or similar.
2.5. Ask
Ask if you can lay hands on the person you’re praying for. Especially important if you’re not in a church context! Remember, it’s not normal in broader culture!
3. Command
Pray! But prayer doesn’t look like “pleading with Jesus to do something”. There’s some theological work to do here, but, in brief – we says all authority is given to him (Matt 28:18-20, Matt 10:1), which he ‘delegates’ to us. So our prayers should really be quite short! E.g. “leg, be strong” (see Acts 3:1-8). Remember what was said at the interview stage. Top tip, pray with your eyes open and watch what’s going on with the person.
4. Check-in
How’s the person doing? How’s the pain (if they we experiencing pain). Ask them to ‘check it own’ e.g. if they had tennis elbow, ask them to stretch it our. A helpful question can be “if the pain was 10/10, what is it now? 2/10? 5/10?”.
This should be quick!
This whole process can be done in well under a minute! Each time is different.
Typically we end up caught up on step 3 – praying. We default to our tendency to “beg God to do something”, and fall into use long prayers (because many of us intrinsically believe longer prayer = better prayer that God hears) and big words.
Above all – enjoy it! Not everyone is healed (there’s theological ground to cover here!), but when they are, it’s a wonderful heaven-meets-earth moment that may change someones life and reveal Jesus to them. (And in our experience, most people a blown away even by the offer of prayer).
