Prayer for Strength and Healing

for You and Your Loved Ones

Before you begin, find a quiet place where you feel comfortable. A good way to start is to address God by name. You could try “Dear God,” “Dear Heavenly Father,” “Our Father which art in heaven,” or simply “God.”

Speak from your heart and share your hopes and desires as well as your worries and problems. You can ask God for help, direction, forgiveness, or healing. Whatever is on your mind, bring it to Him, acknowledging that His wisdom and timing is greater than yours. You can ask Him what He wants for you.

Share your feeling with God about others. You can pray for their needs or ask for ways you can love and help them.

Express appreciation to God for all the blessings in your life. Even challenges can be a blessing. Gratitude helps us feel humble, which keeps our hearts and minds more open to God’s answers.

Once you’ve said all that you wanted to say, you can end your prayer by saying, “In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.” We do this because Jesus commanded us to pray in His name.

“Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;

“And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.” —3 Nephi 18:19–20

There is wisdom in the saying, “Pray as if everything depends on the Lord, then work as if everything depends on you.” It is in the process of doing that we often get guidance and help from God.

There is no such thing as praying too much. God wants to hear from you when you’re happy, or sad, or if you just need someone to talk to. You can pray whenever you feel like it or need it. In fact, if you don’t feel like praying, or feel like God doesn’t want to hear from you, that might be one of the best times to pray.

“For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray.” —2 Nephi 32:8

You should speak with God individually and regularly. But pray with others too—during worship services, before a meal, and in family prayer. One person usually offers the prayer on behalf of the group while others listen respectfully, think of the words being said, and show their agreement by saying “amen” at the end of the prayer.

In Psalm 55:17, King David said he would pray in the “evening, and morning, and at noon.” Typical times for personal prayer are as you start your day in the morning, before each meal, and before you go to bed at night. But there is never a wrong time to pray. God is always listening, so we can “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

There are times that call for extra prayer—like a prayer for healing, for protection, or for urgent needs. Fasting (purposefully going without food or drink for a period of time) combined with prayer helps show God your sincerity and provides spiritual strength.

God promises that when we turn to Him in prayer, He will give us answers and guidance.

“Ask, and it shall be give you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” —Matthew 7:7

God communicates with us through the Holy Spirit in the form of good thoughts and ideas or peaceful, comforting feelings. When we feel those things, it means God is encouraging us, showing us truth, and giving us direction.

Everyone will feel the Holy Spirit in their own way. In the Bible, it’s often described as a “still small voice” (see 1 Kings 19:11–12) that almost seems to whisper to your mind.

Often, God answers our prayers through others. God can put people into our lives at the right time who can give or be the answer we have been looking for. We can also get answers to prayers by reading what His prophets have taught in the Bible and Book of Mormon. When we pray and read these books, the Holy Spirit can give us personalized ideas and direction. Taking time to study His word is also a way we can show God that we truly desire an answer from Him.

Prayer is how we reach out to God. And more often than not, prayer lets God reach into our hearts and fill us with His love

We know that the prayer of faith, uttered alone or in our homes or places of worship, can be effective to heal the sick. Many scriptures refer to the power of faith in the healing of an individual.

The Apostle James taught that we should “pray one for another, that ye may be healed,” adding, “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). When the woman who touched Jesus was healed, He told her, “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Matthew 9:22). Similarly, the Book of Mormon teaches that the Lord “worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men” (Moroni 10:7).

A recent nationwide survey found that nearly 8 in 10 Americans “believe that miracles still occur today as [they did] in ancient times.” A third of those surveyed said they had “experienced or witnessed a divine healing.”

A Texas newspaperman described such a miracle. When a five-year-old girl breathed with difficulty and became feverish, her parents rushed her to the hospital. By the time she arrived there, her kidneys and lungs had shut down, her fever was 107 degrees, and her body was bright red and covered with purple lesions. The doctors said she was dying of toxic shock syndrome, cause unknown. As word spread to family and friends, God-fearing people began praying for her, and a special prayer service was held in their Protestant congregation in Waco, Texas. Miraculously, she suddenly returned from the brink of death and was released from the hospital in a little over a week. Her grandfather wrote, “She is living proof that God does answer prayers and work miracles.”

Many scriptures teach that the servants of the Lord “shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18).

Faith is essential for healing by the powers of heaven.

The Lord’s promise is that “he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed” (D&C 42:48). Similarly, in another modern revelation the Lord declares that when one “asketh according to the will of God … it is done even as he asketh” (D&C 46:30).