Our heavenly Father wills for His children to manifest the good health accomplished for them through His Son, Jesus Christ.
I Peter 2:24:
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
One powerful way to claim the good health God desires for us is by having a strong prayer life. As we live in a lifestyle of prayer, good health can become a reality in our lives.
The promise of good health and healing spoken of in God’s Word and made available to God’s children is certainly right for us to believe to manifest. So, what is prayer, and how does prayer help us bring this healing into our lives and the lives of others? Prayer is a means by which we can open our hearts to our heavenly Father as His children. It is a means of reaching out and asking for His help in our lives. Prayer is being on talking terms with God—connecting with the Creator of the universe on a personal level. God is Spirit, and as children born again of His spirit, we can talk with Him in prayer with our understanding, praying in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. We can also pray with, or in, the spirit by speaking in tongues, as noted in I Corinthians 14:15. When we pray to our heavenly Father as His dear children, we are laying our hearts wide open before Him as David describes in Psalms.
Psalms 30:2-4:
O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
Whether praying with our understanding or by speaking in tongues, God’s Word speaks of praying continually (Acts 6:4) and praying without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17). One study aid defines “without ceasing” as “without intermission, incessantly.” Incessantly means without interruption. Informally you might say “24/7.” In other words, it is a lifestyle.
A wonderful believing man who lived in the 1800s in England, George Müller, made prayer a lifestyle. He said that he prayed as he walked about, when he lay down, and when he rose up. And he didn’t stop praying. He said that once he was persuaded that a thing was right and for the glory of God, he went on praying for it until the answer came. Good health is right and it does glorify God, so let’s claim it through prayer until we see it in our lives and the lives of others.
Why make it a priority to live in a lifestyle of prayer? Prayer brings us into God’s presence to claim His promise of health and healing. Praying in the spirit brings rest to our soul as Isaiah 28:11 and 12 make reference to. And as we pray with our understanding, we are inviting the opposites of anxiousness, such as calmness, peacefulness, tranquility, into our lives. Prayer brings us near to the heart of God, to a place of quiet rest. It’s where we want to “continually resort.”
Psalms 71:3:
Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.
Continual access to the heart of God is ours—this peaceful haven where we can remain at rest. Prayer is God centered. When we pray perfectly by speaking in tongues, we are reminded that God’s power and presence are with us and in us in every situation, which is believing rightly.
The healthy state of mind that results from prayer has long been understood by the medical profession. It is widely accepted that the mind affects the body and that prayer can affect the mind. Therefore, prayer can affect the body and can be a significant factor in claiming the good health promised to us in God’s Word (III John 2).
As we recognize God as our ultimate Healer, we can take advantage of the power of prayer and have a direct impact on manifesting good health in our lives and helping others do the same.
With childlike confidence, we can make it a lifestyle to go to our heavenly Father in prayer and manifest the good health He so lovingly made available to us. Along life’s journey, God has given us a means of talking to Him without interruption by way of prayer with our understanding or in the spirit. We can pour our hearts out to Him at all times. As prayer becomes our lifestyle, we can be confident in the knowledge that our heavenly Father hears and answers us and desires that we receive all the benefits reserved for us in the name of Jesus Christ.