For someone I love who is sick
Lord Jesus, I bring (name) to You, the way people once carried their sick to Your door. You know this illness better than the doctors do, and You love (name) more than I can. Please heal them. Ease their pain tonight and calm their fear. Give wisdom and steady hands to everyone caring for them. Where the treatment is hard, give strength to bear it; where the waiting is long, give patience. Show me how to love them well: when to talk, when to sit quietly, and what practical help to give. I trust You with what I cannot fix. Amen.
“Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.”
Short prayer for healing
For yourself, when you are sick and too tired for long prayers: one for the body and one for the heart.
A short prayer for my healing
Lord, I am sick and I am tired. You made this body, and You know what is wrong with it. Please heal me. Let the medicine and the rest do their work, and give me patience while I wait. I am calling out to You, and I trust You to hear me. Amen.
“O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.”
For a heart that needs healing
God, not all my wounds show. You see the grief, the fear and the old hurts I carry under the surface. Tend them the way a good nurse dresses a wound: gently, and without hurrying. Heal what I cannot reach, and give me the courage to ask others for help with it too. Amen.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Healing prayer for a friend
For a friend who is ill, whether you are at their side or praying from far away. A short message to say you are praying can mean a lot.
For my friend
Father, my friend (name) is sick, and I wish I could fix it. You know them by name and love them even more than I do. Please heal their body. Ease their pain, quiet their fears and give them good sleep. Surround them with skilled doctors and kind people. Show me one practical way to help this week, a meal, a ride, a visit or a message, and help me keep showing up after the first rush of concern fades. Thank You for this friendship. Give us many more years of it. Amen.
“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”
Prayer for healing and strength
For a long illness or a slow recovery, when you need strength for each day as much as healing for your body. For more, see these prayers for strength.
For a long illness
Lord, this is taking longer than I hoped. Some days I feel a little better, and some days I lose the ground I gained. I still ask You to heal me, and I ask for strength too: strength for today's appointments, today's pain and today's waiting. When my body is weak, renew me on the inside. Keep me from bitterness. Keep me honest with You and with the people who love me. Give me one good thing to notice each day, and let me thank You for it. Amen.
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
Healing prayers from the Bible
The Bible does more than tell us to pray for the sick. It gives us the words. Here are five healing passages in the King James Version that you can pray just as they are. For many more, see these healing scriptures.
“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
James gives the sick something to do: call the church's elders and let them pray. He promises that “the prayer of faith shall save the sick” (James 5:15, KJV), and he adds, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16, KJV). An earnest, heartfelt prayer does a great deal.
Churches live out these verses in different ways. The Catholic Church sees in them the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, which a priest gives to those who are seriously ill (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1510-1511). The Orthodox Church celebrates Holy Unction, its prayer for the healing of body and soul. Whatever your church, you can do what James says: ask your pastor, priest or elders to come and pray with you.
“Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.”
“The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.”
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases”
“Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.”
Notice how honest these prayers are. In Psalm 6:2, David says plainly that he is weak and hurting. Psalm 41:3 pictures God at the bedside of the sick, giving strength and tending to them. Psalm 103 puts healing and forgiveness side by side, because God cares for the whole person. And Jeremiah 17:14 is a one-line prayer you can borrow when you have no words of your own.
If you are too tired to read, Faithero can read a psalm aloud to you, verse by verse, even with your screen locked.
Prayer for healing from cancer
For yourself or someone you love facing cancer: the diagnosis, the scans, the treatments and the waiting in between. If surgery is part of the plan, these prayers for surgery cover the days before, during and after.
Through diagnosis, treatment and waiting
Lord, the word cancer has changed everything, and I am scared. I ask You plainly: heal this body. Stop what is growing where it should not. Make the treatment work and limit the harm it does. Give wisdom to the oncologists, the nurses and everyone reading the scans. Through every appointment and every result, hold us steady. On the days of sickness and exhaustion, stay close. When fear wakes us in the night, remind us that You are still here and still good. Whatever this road brings, we are Yours, and nothing can take us out of Your hands. Amen.
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Prayer for a sick child
Watching your child be sick may be the hardest waiting there is. When Jairus's little daughter was dying, he fell at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come, and Jesus went with him (Mark 5:22-24).
For my sick child
Jesus, my child is sick, and I would trade places in a heartbeat if I could. You welcomed children and took them in Your arms. Please hold my child now. Bring down the fever, ease the pain and heal what is wrong. Give the doctors clear minds and gentle hands. Help my child not to be afraid, and help me stay calm enough to comfort them. When I am exhausted and scared, be my strength too. Thank You that You love this little one even more than I do. Amen.
“I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.”
When healing does not come
Sometimes we pray with everything we have, and the person we love does not get better. It is one of the hardest things a Christian faces, and the Bible does not pretend otherwise.
Paul begged God three times to take away his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7, KJV), and the answer he received was not healing but grace: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, KJV). Paul had seen God heal others, yet he also wrote, “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick” (2 Timothy 4:20, KJV). Even in the apostles' time, healing did not always come, or come quickly.
An illness that lingers is not proof that you prayed wrongly or believed too little. Christians hope for a healing that is still ahead. In the new creation, God “shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4, KJV). Until then, keep praying, keep caring for the sick, and let others care for you. If you are wondering why some people are healed and others are not, we look at that question in Does God still heal today?
If you are grieving, these prayers for grief may help. And if the weight becomes more than you can carry, please tell someone: a pastor, a doctor or a friend. In the US and Canada you can call or text 988.
When the answer is not what we asked
Lord, we prayed and prayed, and this is not the answer we wanted. I do not understand it, and I will not pretend I do. I am hurt and tired, and some days I am angry. Stay close to me anyway. Hold the one I love, in this life and the next. Keep me from believing that You stopped listening, or that we did not pray hard enough. Give me grace for today, and keep alive in me the hope of the day when You will wipe away every tear. Amen.
“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
Frequently asked
What is a good prayer for the sick?
Name the person, ask God plainly to heal them, and ask for what they need today: relief from pain, good sleep, wise doctors, courage. For example: “Lord Jesus, I bring (name) to You. Please heal them, ease their pain and calm their fears, and give wisdom to everyone caring for them. Amen.” You do not need special words. Short, honest prayers are welcome.
What does the Bible say about praying for the sick?
James 5:14-16 is the clearest passage. A sick believer is to call for the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil, and James promises that “the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up” (James 5:15, KJV). Jesus healed many people, and when He sent out the twelve, they “anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them” (Mark 6:13, KJV).
Is it OK to keep praying for healing for the same person?
Yes. Jesus told a parable to teach “that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1, KJV), and Paul asked God three times about his own affliction (2 Corinthians 12:8). Asking again is not a lack of faith. It is how a child keeps talking to a father they trust.
Should I stop medical treatment if I am praying for healing?
No. Prayer and medicine are not rivals. Paul's co-worker Luke is called “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14, KJV), and Paul told Timothy to take something for his frequent stomach trouble (1 Timothy 5:23). Doctors and treatment can be one of the ways God heals. Keep praying, and keep following your doctor's advice.
Is sickness a punishment for sin?
Not as a rule. When the disciples assumed a man's blindness came from someone's sin, Jesus answered, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents” (John 9:3, KJV). Illness is part of life in a broken world, and it comes to faithful people too. If an illness stirs up guilt, bring that to God as well. He is gentle with the sick.
Does God still heal today?
Christians agree that God can heal, and many tell of recoveries they see as answered prayer. They differ on how often He heals by miracle today, and on whether gifts of healing continue as they did in the New Testament. Churches on every side of that question pray for the sick and care for them. Our page on whether God still heals today looks at the different views.
Prayer for the sick (for someone you love)
For a parent, a spouse, a grandparent or anyone you love who is ill. Say their name where you see (name), and add what you know: the diagnosis, the next appointment, what they are afraid of.