Prayer for Health
Prayer for Health
Lord, I trust in you to safeguard my health and well-being. Please guide me as I work to improve my health and appearance. Please grant me the wisdom to make better decisions about my diet and lifestyle, and the strength to follow through on those decisions.
Discussion
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:7–8
Matthew 7:7–8 is the starting point on the journey to better health through prayer and action. Although this is a well-known passage, it is worth a fresh look. This passage is from the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus explained, among other things, that we should not judge others, we should love our enemies, and we should treat others in the way that we would like to be treated.
Among these important passages, we find the famous phrase “Ask and it will be given to you.” In this manner, we are invited to pray to God. And we are told, “everyone who asks receives.” Many other passages in the Bible echo this idea, such as James 5:16 (“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”) and Matthew 21:22 (“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer”). Prayer, then, should be considered a fundamental element of any endeavor. As in other matters in life, your work toward better health should be based in prayer. Pray regularly and sincerely as you work toward your goals, and God in his wisdom and grace will take care of the rest.
Note, though, that the last sentence above says that you should pray as you work toward your goals. It is not enough to simply recite a prayer for health — you will still need to do the work necessary to reach your goals. Matthew 7:7 instructs us to “seek” and “knock” in addition to asking through prayer. These words describe action, and suggest that prayer and action are a most powerful combination. In that spirit, each step of this program combines prayer with specific actions to move you toward your goals. You must walk down the road to your destination, but God will support you along the way.
Over the course of this program, you will address – through prayer and action – various issues related to your health and well-being. Central to this effort will be examining the quality and quantity of what and how you eat. Your diet is, of course, central to any efforts to improve your health or lose weight. But you will also address several other lifestyle factors that play critical roles in your health and appearance, such as exercise, sleep, and resisting temptation.
It is fine to ease into this gently, however, and for the moment, simply focus on getting into the habit of praying to God about your health, beginning with the prayer for health above. Recite the prayer several times each day to prepare yourself for the work to come. Your practice of prayer should become comfortable and routine, as it will serve as the foundation for all of the subsequent parts of this program. Moreover, this step will reflect the seriousness of your intention to build your relationship with God through your pursuit of good health, and it will help to promote the discipline that is central to this undertaking.
A Note About the Prayers and Praying
This site sets forth suggested prayers for each topic. These prayers have been carefully crafted to suit the topic being addressed and can be used as written with confidence. Of course, they cannot account for each individual’s circumstances and goals, and can be modified as appropriate to address your specific needs. Establish regular times each day that are set aside for prayer – it need only be a few minutes – and you should find a quiet, private place to pray, as urged in Matthew 6:6: “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
