DAY 25 | PRAY FOR THOSE THAT ARE SICK AND SHUT IN

Pastor Kerrick Butler | Senior Pastor | Faith Christian Center, Austell, GA

Good morning, I'm Pastor Kerrick Butler. Welcome to day 25. You've made it, day 25. I'm so proud of you. Thank you for taking this time at the beginning of the year to start in prayer and pray for others. Today we'll be praying for those who are sick and shut in and I want to share with you some pro tips about praying for those who are sick and shut in especially those who might be fighting a disease or illness for a long time. Did you know that Philippians 2:27 talks about healing is a mercy? And so one of the things that I do when I'm praying for people where we don't know the cause of the illness or the sickness and it's a battle, I start from the mercy of God. Why? For God is good and His what? Mercy endures forever. We have a covenant of mercy with Him and He is a merciful God. And so one of the things I pray, “Father, I said you have mercy upon them.” The next thing I do is because - I want to read this Scripture to you. Proverbs 18:14 says, “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness. But who can bear a broken spirit?” So even while they're going through the natural process of healing - receiving their healing by faith and doing the natural things they know they need to do and apply the wisdom God has given them, if their spirit is strong, it will help their body endure. So one of the things I also do is I pray that their spirit will be strengthened. You know, we see a wonderful prayer about the strengthening of the spirit in Ephesians chapter three, and I encourage you to pray that for yourself every day as well as pray for those who are sick and shut in that God will strengthen them by the might of His power - that they won't get tired fighting this illness. They won't get tired fighting the disease, but they'll stand strong. They'll do the natural things, they'll do the spiritual things and they will be healed and made whole. So we pray for mercy. We pray that they'll be strong. We also pray that God will grant them and their family wisdom and the medical team wisdom so they know what to do because sometimes we may be believing right, but remember the Scripture says - my people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. We may not know all the things we need to know. And so we pray that God grants them the knowledge and the wisdom that they need so they can walk in the health that Jesus purchased for them. So we pray for mercy. We pray for strength. We pray for wisdom. And then we take time and allow the Spirit of God to lead us in our praying. I want to encourage you as you pray for the sick and shut in today, take some time and pray in tongues, pray in the Holy Ghost over the sick and shut in you know, as well as let the Lord lead you about people you don't know. He will lead you, He will guide you and He will move in their life because He is good. He's the Almighty God. His mercy endures forever. And He is Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals us and takes sickness away from the midst of us. Have a wonderful day. Thank you for praying.