Why do you NOT want to pray for the sick?

I am sure we have come across some Christians and local churches NOT praying for the sick or do NOT believe in divine healing. Have you ever wondered why?

I suggest these are some of the reasons:

1. Not applicable anymore
2. Healing can come from source other than God
3. Why bother God with such
4. Sickness is good
5. Sickness is from God
6. No faith or lack thereof
7. Malu – this is a Malay word, for embarrassment

I will elaborate more on each of these reasons:

Not applicable anymore?
There are Christians and churches believing praying for the sick, is no longer applicable for our modern context. When Scriptures from New Testament, especially from the Books of Acts, were pointed out to such, they tell us their belief is that, praying for the sick was necessary in the early days of starting the Church. In other words, what was applicable then is no longer applicable now, according to them. Actually, nowhere in Scripture was there any saying of such, that praying for the sick or signs and wonders and miracles, were only for a limited time period and for the initial building of the Church. On the contrary, it is recorded for us, by the Apostle James that the sick should call on the elders to pray for them:

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5:14)

Increasingly, I believe more and more believers are beginning to realize it is NOT true that what God did then, God will NOT do now; but because of their own church leadership continuing to hold on, to the same stand, that it is no longer applicable, members decide to continue to “tow” the line. This is a case of the leaders needing to be enlightened.

Healing can come from source other than God?
By the other source here, people are referring to other spiritual source (NOT doctors or medicine). While it is definitely true, in the spirit realm, there is NOT only God and his angels; there is Satan and his devils, and Satan and his devils are NOT without powers, the issue is NOT one that is confined to praying for the sick, if at all there is any truth to the applicability of that belief. What is that belief?

That belief, of some Christians, is that when we pray for the sick or ask for supernatural intervention (of which praying for healing for the sick does fall into), it is possible that some other gods, other than our Lord or God the Father or the Holy Spirit, come to perform the supernatural.

Is there also such thing as healing in other religious faiths? Yes, there is. Is it possible that it is genuine that one is healed in those other faiths? Yes, gods, in almost all religious faiths, are inevitably tied to spirits in spirit realm. Spirits can perform various degrees of supernatural, including healing of a sickness, depending on the “prowess” of the spirits.

But the matter is NOT confined to praying for the sick; anything we want spiritual help, is caught here. If we pray for another to be blessed with a job, are we to say, that is NOT asking for spiritual help or supernatural intervention? It is; in fact, in everything that we are praying for, and expecting God to help, it is spiritual help or supernatural intervention; if we need no such, then we would have just done them ourselves, without praying.

So, if in praying for the sick, Satan or his minion can be believed to come in place of God to heal, Satan or his minion can likewise come in place of God to answer any of the prayers we make. If one truly trusts that belief, then he should never pray, but strange enough, people who have this belief will pray for other things, but NOT for the sick. What it tells us is that, such a person is just cooking up an excuse for NOT wanting to pray for the sick.

In any case, my view is that, if at all, it is possible, it will be exceptional that God will allow Satan or his minion, to act in this manner, that when we call to God, Satan answers! God can use anything, even Satan or his minions, but that is another matter altogether.

Why bother God with such?
There is no right or wrong answer here, except that we should know that if we are in need, God is faithful to supply all our needs. I move in the word of knowledge a little, and would, from time to time, gave out words for people with physical ailments, such as backaches, severe headaches, joint pains.

To some, they wondered why I should be bothered with such, since they could be treated by doctors, and helped with proper medication; furthermore, many sufferers here, in my country, could more than afford the medical costs associated with those minor ailments. The point is, “Are we sure God is NOT interested and caring enough to want to heal us (at least some of us) of pains and aches?” Also, sometimes, what is minor may develop into something disastrous, only we do NOT know; and in His goodness, He is willing to step in and heal.

Of course, as a servant of the Lord, small or big jobs, all the same, we do as required. I will pray for one with a headache or a stomachache. Or some commented, “What are you doing here; go overseas to the poor and destitute, they need God’s healing, NOT these wealthy chaps who have access to 1st class medical treatments?” Well, we got to start somewhere. Furthermore, who knows, a healed rich chap might sponsor my mission trip to the poor and destitute!

But seriously, we “bother” God with many things, one more, out of love and compassion for the sufferers, does NOT put God off; in fact, acting in love and compassion pleases God. Ministering to the sick, in my view, is a good way of loving people which we can all do.

Sickness is good?
No, sickness is NEVER good; even if it comes because of chastisement of God. You have to read my separate article, “Sickness any good? Nah”, to fully comprehend that sickness is NEVER good. Chastisement from God is good, but sickness is NEVER good. If indeed, and it would be rare, that the chastisement from God for you, is in the form of a sickness, you are to endeavor to understand the rationale of God for your chastisement, and learn whatever that you are to learn from the chastisement, and have the chastisement ended, because you have learned well, and NOT stay in sickness.

A minister is going to have a problem praying for the sick, if he believes that sickness can be good for a person. In fact, he may end up telling the person to stop seeking medical treatment, because it would be oxymoron! Why have it treated when it is good for the sufferer?

Sickness is from God?
A sick person’s sickness is NOT from God; that is the premise that we will assume unless God reveals otherwise. For full understanding of this, read my separate article, “Sickness and God”. If you think God gave you the sickness, you should ask Him. If you have asked Him clearly enough, and He does NOT say it is from Him directly, you just assume it is NOT from Him, and therefore, you should want it healed, even divinely, by Him.

If you encounter a minister who approaches the issue from the opposite way, assuming sickness is from God unless He tells you otherwise, he (the minister) is probably “sick” himself, and you should have nothing to do with him, for he may tell you to stop seeking medical treatment! Why have it treated when it is the will of God; it will be against the will of God, will it NOT, to have it treated?

No faith or lack thereof?
While there is a verse in Scripture that speak of doing thing within the measure of faith that we have, the faith in that verse, I believe, is NOT referring to the gift of faith or supernatural faith, but to normal faith.

We are to operate within our measure of faith: For by the grace given me I {Apostle Paul} say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you (Rom 12:3).

The phrase “God has given you” in the above verse is NOT to be literally treated as a faith that God must give you to operate. For an exposition of this Rom 12:3, read the section, “Romans 12:3 – faith is given by God?” of my separate article, “Correct understanding of salvation, and relationships between salvation, grace, faith and good works”. Briefly, the verse is exhorting us NOT to “run-ahead” or “run outside” of what God is doing or intending to do with us; but the onus of normal faith lies with us, NOT God. So, if we have no faith or lack of it, to pray for the sick, for example, it is because we have NOT learned to develop our faith. In that same article, it was mentioned briefly how faith is developed, you should read it.

To raise the dead, perhaps, needs supernatural faith, but to pray for the sick, generally, demands normal faith, which you and I have the responsibility to develop through exercising. Do you NOT know Scriptures has many recordings of praying and ministering to the sick with the result that God healed the sick? Do you NOT believe God can and does heal? A belief turns into a faith only when you exercise it.

Malu or embarrassment?
“Malu” or embarrassment is of course, a common impediment to prayer. Self-consciousness is another, but is lesser of an issue, since no matter non-elegant my prayer is, if it brings forth healing, all self-consciousness may soon disappear. But the embarrassment from the lack of effectiveness of a prayer is altogether a different thing. When we pray, and the result is not forthcoming, all kinds of negative thoughts enter our mind: maybe I am not good enough, not righteous enough, not holy enough; people will think that I am without favor with God, appeared holy but without “power” or “got form, no substance”; I should have sat tight and did nothing, in that way, nobody would know, and so on, and so on.

Of course, the subject of prayer, i.e. for healing, makes it worse, for often, instantaneous result is expected, and we have to face the result on the spot with the person we are praying for. If you are praying for someone to get a job, it is NOT expected that instantly he secures a job; whereas, those in pain expect the pain to leave, and to be able to do the things they previously cannot do, and instantly to feel a difference in their conditions.

Also, sickness often falls under the category, the sufferer can “effort not”, unlike other conditions, like a need of a job opening or progress in career or business, where the person is expected to effort, and in due course, perhaps, by a combination of factors, no less, his effort, satisfactory outcome can be seen in the future, in another time, NOT at the prayer session or at the end of it. Because of the greater possibility of embarrassment, people do NOT want to pray for the sick.

When we serve the Lord, we endeavor to serve Him well, and we do all that is necessary, and NOT do any that hinders. Afterwards, even if there is no positive result, it is NOT you could have done anything supernatural like healing the sick, but it is the Lord who does or does NOT do any such things. And because we are clear that God can and does heal but NOT He MUST heals, we should NOT be embarrassed that people are NOT healed.

For clear understanding of God can and does heal, and it is NOT that He MUST heal, I will be putting up an article to expound on that, but for now, in a nutshell, we believe God can and does heal because of this:

“God CAN heal because He is the Omnipotent God who created us; and He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Eph 3:20). He DOES heal because HE has healed before; He has given promises (conditional) that He would heal; Scriptures has accounts of Him doing as He promised; there was also prophecies in Scripture, saying the He would heal, and they came to pass; there were also many recordings in Scriptures of Him healing people by His compassion and mercy, NOT based on Man’s desires or effort; outside of Bible, in more contemporary times, and even presently, there were and are numerous undisputed testimonies of God’s healing for individuals. Finally, there is nothing recorded in Scriptures that says God’s healing was for a season, and would NOT be available anymore, and so, there is nothing to the contrary; we can expect God to continue to heal, and so, the stand of God DOES heal.”

But it is NOT God MUST heal, and so, we do NOT need to be embarrassed when nothing happens.

These reasons aren’t good enough
The above reasons are NOT good enough to justify us NOT praying for the sick. Sure, we can conveniently say that sickness of others are NOT our business, but the same can be said for the hunger, poverty, joblessness, and afflictions of others. Some may say the more practical way is to give the sick money to see doctors or pay for medical help for them. Yes, that too, you can do, and maybe you should do or do more. We can do a combination of things; the point is that we should love others more. The well-to-do, could provide financial assistance, those with time on hand, can provide of their time, but every believer can pray for the sick.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions – Praying for the sick is a good works, we all can do, and should do, as a believer.

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