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Yes, simple prayers for the sick can heal and do miracles. Though how orthodox it sounds, healing prayers do work and are backed by scientific explanation. While for some prayers have the power of healing , they can at least bring comfort, peace and strength for others. This may not have to do anything with your religion. And no matter what faith you follow, all emphasize on the usefulness of prayer for healing. What are prayers, how do prayers heal, and why you should pray – know all about the healing or miraculous power of prayers in this updated post. ~ Ed.
Do prayers for healing really work?
Can a prayer really heal something that even the doctors cannot cure?
Such questions probably come to your mind, don’t they? It all seems so unreasonable, isn’t it?
But then it’s not only about prayers for healing the sick – there are prayers for strength and peace of mind, prayers for peace in the world, and so on.
How much should we trust in the healing claims of prayers?
There are plenitude of people around the world who consider that prayers are mystical. There’s something magical about them. Even many scientists acknowledge that prayers have powers to heal.
Prayers change and charge you up emotionally, physically, and spiritually. They alter, awaken and transform you. Prayers are instruments of holistic healing for better health and happiness.
Let’s understand all about prayers and its miracle healing aspects, starting from the very basics.
“God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.” ~ Mother Teresa
What is a Prayer
Prayer has different meaning in religious, spiritual, and scientific contexts. However, they all end up doing the same thing, which is to heal.
For some, prayers for healing might just mean a few sacred words, for others an informal talk or ritual with God or a higher power.
The basis of prayer is a belief that there is a power greater than us, which influences our lives.
The word “prayer” comes from the Latin word precarius, which means “to entreat – obtained from begging”.
Don’t we always beg or want something or the other through our prayers, whether it is peace, happiness, or even materialistic favors?
For a spiritual person, prayer is the means to raise the level of their innerself, to purify themselves, and connect to their spirits.
A scientific person may regard prayer for healing as a way to create a harmonious balance of the mind and body, and use it as a tool to talk oneself out of depressive and down times of life.
These are all ways to heal, aren’t they? Meditation is also a prayer; however, I feel it is more about the mind, whereas a prayer is all about your heart.
You can consider prayer as a tool or technique like meditation to use your spiritual power to heal the mind and body.
I realized with time that prayers are intense emotions that arise from your heart, often called the seat of emotions. The heart is also the place where your soul is said to reside.
What Happens When You Pray
When you pray, you bypass your mind and your inner self connects directly to the higher self through the emotional channel. You receive energy through this strong emotional connection that heals you.
Or you can say you receive the key to unlock you own hidden treasure of miraculous energy and that heals yourself.
Even if you don’t believe in a higher self, you would acknowledge that you feel good with positive emotions in and around you. This is what happens when you pray – you feel good.
I also consider prayers to have a dual purpose – connect to the higher self and to my inner self. Whether these two are different or similar, is another topic for future discussion.
Prayers send positive signals, feelings, and vibrations that also heal the environment around you. They are like a happiness transmission of positive thoughts and emotions, the more you believe, the more positive you become.
The healing prayers for the sick also gives you the courage to meet the challenges of life, if you carry them out with your heart and soul. Miracle happens to those who believe!
When you start believing, you open up the vault of superpower within you. This power or energy starts flowing and acts on every cell of your body.
The healing begins at the cellular level, and most healing comes when prayer changes your mind. We’ve a post about how powerful your mind is and its ability to change you.
Religious Interpretation of Prayers
For a religious person, prayer is a conversation you have with God to have a one-to-one relationship with Him, as I would simply put it. It’s an attempt to be in the presence of Almighty.
Religious people believe that God listens, and He answers you, though His answers may be very different from what you expect. And they come to you in time, so you need to remain patient and keep the faith.
His answer may give you the strength and ability to accept what you have been denying. It might come as the strength to fight on, or be a light of hope in the face of despair.
People say that God accepts your prayer if it comes with purest of intentions, emotions, and heart.
But first, you need to believe. A tiny hole can sink a ship, and a single doubt can make your prayer ineffective.
If you combine prayer and meditation, you become a powerhouse of energy that can help heal yourself and others too.
Do you know that there are more ways than one to pray? Let’s know some of them.
“Prayer is where the action is.” ~ John Wesley
What are the Different Prayers for Healing
Praying is perhaps one of the most ancient and personal human experiences. It probably started as a way to speak with the unseen forces.
How to pray for healing? There is no single way of praying because it has many forms like silent prayers, spoken prayers, or prayers of the heart, the mind, and the union with God.
Some hold prayers in group sessions, or just meditate and reflect to converse with God in their own way. When your intentions are clear and sincere, any way is alright.
All prayers lead to one destination – healing.
Prayer researchers have identified four main ways in which we pray for healing and it’s suggested that we use one of these four ways or a combination of these. The four ways are –
Informal Prayers
These are also called Colloquial prayers, they are offered in everyday language.
Petitionary Prayers
These are requests to God.
Ritualistic Prayers
Perhaps the most familiar of all kinds of prayers, they consist of precise words spoken at a specific time or year.
Meditative Prayers
Some people say prayer is “speaking” to God and meditation is “listening” to God. When you do both, you are one to one with God or your innerself.
Other kinds of healing prayers include –
- Intercessory prayer, which is praying for someone else.
- Distance healing prayer for the sick, where again your prayer for healing are for someone, at a distance.
- Petition prayers are when you ask God for something.
- Centering prayers center on a word or phrase in silence for at least 20 minutes.
However, there is also one last way of prayers, the one that’s based on feeling or the “lost mode”.
Pure feeling-based prayers have the ability to communicate with the greater force that most people believe in.
I’d say the best way to pray is to close your eyes and speak to an imaginary person to whom you surrender yourself totally and you let your emotions do the talking. You can do this anywhere and anytime.
But before accepting prayers for healing and starting to pray, it’s good to know the reasons for doing so.
“When we pray to God we must be seeking nothing – nothing.” ~ Saint Francis of Assisi
Why Should You Pray For Healing
Spending a little time to thank the Almighty isn’t asking for much. After all, being humble and grateful is what makes you more human and loving, isn’t it?
A simple prayer can change you and even lead you on the path of healing yourself and the world around you.
Healing prayers take a few seconds to utter if you are really rushed for time, but its influence on your behavior, your life, your heart, and your perception can be permanent.
So pray! Pray for healing, pray for peace, strength, courage to overcome injustice, resolve, pray for others and yourself.
There are prayers for healing a loved one and a friend. There are prayers for healing body after surgery, cancer, and for fast recovery. For healing all kinds of aches, illnesses, injuries, and pains, there are specific prayers.
Your prayers for healing and peace may not always yield results, because the working of God is mysterious. Nevertheless, that should not deter you from praying.
If you believe, prayers can change the way you think and it can transform the way you behave, feel, and work.
If you’re a non-believer, you still have many reasons to believe in prayers and their healing abilities that are backed by science.
Prayers for healing resolve the conflicts of your heart and mind, and give you peace.
Let’s know about the specific advantages of prayers.
“The trouble with our praying is, we just do it as a means of last resort.” ~ Will Rogers
Healing Powers of Praying
I possibly cannot list out all the healing effects of praying, but let me try to list a few of them here-
- When you pray, your mind becomes more alert, enlightened, and focused.
- Prayers alters you, awakens you, and it makes your priorities shift.
- You feel free when you forgive others while praying, and this helps in healing.
- Emotionally, patients respond better and remain positive, which helps in the healing process.
- Spiritually, patients become prepared for the outcome. They are inspired and feel better through the loving acts of their friends through prayers.
- Prayers bring about feelings of compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, and hope, which are all associated with healing and well being.
- Prayers have the power to transform your fear and anxiety into faith. It reminds you that you are never alone.
- Prayers for healing and strength are free, unlike other treatments. They have no bad side effects either. 🙂
- They take very little time, and have no risk in trying them out too!
- When you pray, you feel calm and uplifted, which reduces the release of stress hormones like cortisol, thus reducing the impact of stress and promoting healing.
- Prayers heal the mind, body, and soul, besides reinforce relationships when times are tough.
- Prayer elicits the relaxation response, which reduces blood pressure and stress.
There are more ways in which prayers provide healing and you can add them in the comments section.
“God always answers our prayers, but sometimes the answer is no.” ~ Author Unknown
How Prayer For Healing Helps Recovery and Gain Strength
People turn to various sources of healing prayers once they are faced with a terminal illness, or perhaps tormenting pain, a failing heart, or other diseases.
At different times the healing prayers for the sick have been put to test, and there are studies and researches that claim that prayers have a healing effect on patients.
Prayer for healing body isn’t a substitute for medicines. You still need to pursue the best medical advice you find. And prayers do not guarantee miracles or relief from your sufferings.
However, you don’t need to neglect prayers, which are a treatment path that’s available to all – free of cost!
Belief in healing makes the praying person heal.
Various doctors believe that prayer for healing do wonders for patients as they’ve seen patients who pray recover from illnesses without any specific treatment or medical explanation.
How does that happen?
Some say it’s a miracle, but for those who believe in the powers of prayers, believe this to be as faith. They believe in the higher power to heal the body, mind, and soul.
Many who have faith claim that prayers have cured them of deafness, blindness, and even terminal illness like cancers. Some even believe that have been resurrected from the dead.
Some agree and some disagree with this. How about you?
Healing prayers make you more positive and reduce negativity.
Prayers for healing and recovery help a person to cope with addiction, depression, pain, despair, emotional pain, medical illness, and much more. When you pray, you free your mind and body of the fear and anxiety.
Once your mind and body relax, you bring positive energy that helps you feel better. Even patients are known to respond to treatment better and are filled with hope.
Those patients who believe in the healing power of prayers become more hopeful, gain more strength, remain energetic, stay at ease, and have a will to survive.
Some facts that come to light –
- Heart patients who don’t participate in a religion were 14 times more likely to die following surgery.
- Elderly people who rarely or never attended church had more chances of a stroke than those who were regular.
- Religious people in Israel had a 40% lower death rate from cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Prayer for healing make you relaxed and stress-free.
Dr. Wayne Jonas says that, “Surveys indicate that nearly 90% of patients with serious illness will engage in prayers for the alleviation of their suffering or disease.”
According to Herbert Benson, MD, a Harvard scientist – all forms of prayers evoke a relaxation response that reduces stress, quiets the mind, and promotes healing. He adds that prayers involve the repetition of sounds, words, which heals.
Even research indicates that prayer is the second most common method of pain management, the first being oral pain medication.
“You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.” ~ Khalil Gibran
Wrapping Up
I’ve often seen many people quit praying after a while because they want healing magic and miracles to happen when they pray.
They want it to work like a light switch, where the light comes on the moment you put the switch on. They want instant answers to their prayers, and instant healing.
Such people will pray only when in trouble. Now, isn’t that being selfish?
People realize soon enough that prayer isn’t like that – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it just takes longer than usual.
They tend to get discouraged or find healing prayers to be ineffective and quit praying. Only if they had persisted to see amazing things happen, they’d realize the healing powers of prayers do work.
You cannot decipher His ways. You only have to keep believing and praying. The prayers for healing do work.
Okay, before you go, here’s a short poll to know your views. Let’s be honest. 🙂
[polldaddy poll=7869428]
I strongly believe that prayers heal us mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s a scientific process as well. What did you find out in the results to this poll?
So, now that you know all about miracle healing prayers, what are you waiting for? Aren’t you ready to start praying even harder now, for healing yourself and others – to make this a better world!
“Work as if you were to live a hundred years, pray as if you were to die tomorrow.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
Over to you –
Do you believe that simple prayers can have miraculous healing powers? Have you used praying for your healing, prayers for healing the sick, your loved ones and the world? If you pray, how do you pray, and if you don’t, what are your reasons? Share in the comments.