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Zitat

Prayers For Anxiety, Illness, Surgery, And Stress

Earlier today, a dear friend of mine emailed to let everyone know that his Dad is back in the hospital again and perhaps in need of another surgery. Of course, this has caused a considerable amount of anxiety and stress within his family.

Knowing that they're not the only ones going through something like this right now, I wanted to share with you the very same prayers of comfort I shared with him today from my Lutheran Book of Prayer.



AT TIMES OF ILLNESS IN THE FAMILY

Almighty God, with whom all things are possible, hear our prayer as we come to You in trouble and distress. You are our hiding place. You are our very present help in trouble. We have no other refuge in an hour like this. Gracious Lord, You can heal. Your grace can restore to health and give us strength to carry on. We know that You are compassionate, for You have sent Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer the death of the cross in order to redeem us and make us Your own. As You did not forsake Him, surely You will not abandon us in this time of great need. As You raised Him from the dead on the third day, so we ask that You would also raise us up with Him from this present danger. O Lord, we humble ourselves before You and confess our many sins. We pray, merciful Father, for Your grace hour by hour. Forgive us and restore us, for You have made us Your own children in Christ. Remove the worries and anxious fears that would crush us. Give us grace to trust in You, whose will is wiser than our own, for we have been baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

BEFORE SURGERY


Heavenly Father, in this hour of anxiety I pray for your divine presence and aid. As the time of the operation draws near, I need a staff on which to lean. To whom shall I turn but to You, gracious Lord? You have created, redeemed, and sanctified me. I am Your beloved child in Christ. You will not forsake me as I cry to You for strength in my trouble and pain. I confess to You my unworthiness, my many weaknesses, an my transgressions. You mercifully forgive me for the sake of the sacrifice of Your dear Son, my precious Savior. Give wisdom and skill to the doctors and nurses, that all they do will bring about a speedy recovery in keeping with Your good, fatherly will. I commend myself into Your hands. While I slumber and sleep, watch over me. Take every fear out of my heart. Comfort me with the assurance of my salvation through the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and grant me a faith that clings only to Him, who is the great and eternal cure for all sin, sickness, and death. Your name I praise, O Lord of life and death. Hear my prayer for the sake of Your dear Son. Amen.


AFTER SURGERY

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is in me, bless His holy name. O merciful Father in heaven, you have fulfilled Your promises to me and have been with me in my hour of anxiety and pain. When I was weak and helpless, You were my strength. I called upon You in the day of trouble, and You delivered me. Now I glorify You. You gave to the surgeon and medical team skilled hands that have brought me through this operation. You did not count my sins against me, but have graciously forgiven them for Christ's sake. O precious Father, continue Your mercies and, if it be Your will, grant me a full and speedy recovery. Bless me with a restful day and refreshing sleep this night. As You watch over me in these coming days of recovery, grant me patience, and let my thoughts dwell on Your goodness. You are my Shepherd, I shall not want. O gracious Father, I cast all my cares upon You, for You care for me. Hear my prayer for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.
"CAST ALL YOUR CARES UPON GOD, FOR HE CARES FOR YOU"
(SEE 1 PETER 5:7)


Heavenly Father, You are indeed my Lord and God, who has created me when I was but nothing. In addition, You have saved me through Your Son. Now You have appointed me to this official responsibility and set this work before me. It does not proceed according to my will, and it is so great that it would otherwise weigh heavily on me and cause me great fear, that I of my own ability could find neither counsel nor help. Therefore, let everything be commended unto You, give me counsel and help, and remain faithful in everything, as You have promised. Amen.


In a Lutheran Layman's terms, I hope you have received some measure of comfort through those words of prayer to our Lord who wants you to cast your cares upon Him.

[NOTE: As you know, I am a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is not consistent with Lutheran doctrine -- in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word -- so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray. Thank you in advance for your time and help. Grace and peace to you and yours!]

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About JKR

Christian. Husband. Father. Friend.

1 comment

  1. My prayers are with you and your family through this difficult time which I know all to well myself.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting A Lutheran Layman! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question since we do not exercise censorship. We've seen a similar policy with other blogs and it's worth repeating: Please act as if you're a guest in my home, and we'll get along just fine. I think anyone would agree that the kind of back-and-forth that is characteristic of blogs/chat forums and social media is becoming tiresome for all of us. Still, we should confess, edify, and love (and contend and defend when needed). Bottom line? Search the Scriptures! Apply Acts 17:11 to anything and everything you find here and, if you do happen to disagree with something you find here (which is certainly ok), or think I'm "irresponsible" and "wrong" for writing it, then please refute my position by supporting yours with Scripture and/or the Confessions. I don't think that's an unreasonable request, especially for those who identify themselves as "Christians" here, right? Besides, Proverbs 27:17 tells us "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" and 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." If you have an opinion that's great, I welcome it, but try to support it using God's Word. I mean, if the goal here is to help us all arrive at the truth of God's Word (myself included), then it should be easy to follow through on this one simple request (I'm talking to all you "Anonymous" visitors out there). Grace and peace to you and yours!

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