Short prayer
A short prayer for the sick
Lord, You know who I am praying for. You love them more than I do. Heal their body. Ease their pain. Guide every doctor. Bless every treatment. Stay closer to them than the fear.Amen.
Get them in front of Him
The friends in Mark 2 could not heal the paralyzed man. They could tear a hole in a roof and lower him to Jesus. That is what a prayer for the sick is.
You are not the healer. You are the ones carrying the mat. Name the person. Ask plainly. Stay.
James is blunt about it: if someone is sick, call for prayer. Not as a last resort after the consultant has spoken. As part of the care, with the oil and the medicine and the people who sit through the night.
Ask like the Gospels asked
The sick people who got to Jesus were not eloquent. Lord, if You are willing. Have mercy on my son. I want to see. A prayer for the sick should sound like that. Direct. A little desperate. Specific.
Pray for the body. Pray for the doctors. Pray for the fear in the chair beside the bed. Sickness is never only a diagnosis. It is a whole house under weather.
If you want words for your own recovery, or for the long wait when healing is slow, that lives on our prayer for healing. This page is for the person you cannot stop thinking about.
The hours in the waiting room
Hospital time is phone time. You refresh nothing. You scroll because the alternative is feeling the thing.
Try filling some of those reaches with the short prayer instead. Or let PrayerMax turn the reflex into intercession, so the forty times you would have opened a feed become forty small prayers over the person you love. He hears the short ones.
More prayers for the sick
2. For someone else
Prayer for a sick loved one
Father, they are sick and I cannot fix it, and that is the hardest part. I am placing them in Your hands, which are better than mine. Restore what is broken. Strengthen what is weak. Give them rest tonight and courage tomorrow. Let them feel You in the room. Bring them through this. Please.Amen.
3. For children
Prayer for a sick child
Jesus, You took children in Your arms and blessed them. Take this one. They are small and they are hurting and I would trade places if I could. Heal their body. Take away the pain. Let them sleep and wake up better. Give the doctors everything they need, and give us strength to be strong for them. Hold this child tight.Amen.
4. Longer prayer
A longer prayer for the sick
God, I am here because someone I love is not well, and I have run out of useful things to do. You made this body. You know every part of it that is fighting and every part that is failing. Nothing about this illness is a surprise to You. So I am bringing them to You the way the friends in the Gospel tore a hole in the roof: I cannot heal them. I can get them in front of You. Heal them. I am asking plainly. Drive out what does not belong. Give the medicine power and the surgeons wisdom and the nurses endurance. Work through every ordinary hand, and work in the ways none of us can explain. And while the waiting lasts, be in the waiting. Comfort them when the night is long. Guard them from despair. Give the people around them patience and sleep and the right words, or no words. I trust You with their life. I do not trust myself with it. That is why I am here.Amen.
5. For someone else
Prayer at a hospital bedside
Lord, this room is loud with machines and quiet with fear. Be the quietest, strongest thing in it. Lay Your hand on this person. Give the staff wisdom. Let whoever sits in this chair know they are not sitting here alone.Amen.
6. Longer prayer
Prayer for a long illness
Father, this has gone on longer than anyone wanted. The visitors have thinned. The updates have got shorter. The tiredness is its own sickness now. Keep being the God who heals, even on day ninety. Keep being the God who stays, even if healing is slow. Give them dignity on the days the body feels like an enemy. Give them one good hour. Give the people who love them a second wind. I will keep asking. You told us to.Amen.
7. From Scripture
Prayer for the sick from Scripture
Heal them, Lord, and they will be healed; save them and they will be saved. The prayer of faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. You heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.Amen.
8. Traditional
A Catholic prayer for the sick
Lord Jesus, You went about doing good and healing all manner of sickness. Come now and touch the one who is ill. Mary, Health of the Sick, pray for us. Through Christ our Lord.Amen.
Scripture to pray with
“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.”
James 5:14-15
“Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.”
Jeremiah 17:14
“The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.”
Psalm 41:3
“I was sick and you looked after me.”
Matthew 25:36
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Psalm 147:3
“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.”
3 John 1:2
How to pray a prayer for the sick
-
Name them and name the illness. “Heal David's lungs” is a truer prayer for the sick than “bless the ill.” God does not need the detail. You do.
-
Pray with them if you can. Hold a hand. Say it out loud. James 5 says to pray over the sick, not only about them from the car park.
-
Pray for the doctors by name. God heals through medicine as surely as through miracle. Wisdom, steady hands, the right diagnosis — that is all one prayer.
-
Pray for the fear as well as the body. Sickness attacks the mind and the family. Ask for sleep, for peace, for the person in the chair.
-
Keep coming back. A long illness needs a long prayer. Persistence is not doubt. It is refusing to leave.
Questions people ask
What is a good prayer for the sick?
“Lord, You love them more than I do. Heal their body, ease their pain, guide the doctors, and stay closer than the fear. Amen.” Name the person. That is a complete prayer for the sick.
How do I pray for someone who is sick?
Name them. Name what is wrong. Ask God to heal, to ease pain, to guide treatment, and to hold their fear. Then, if you can, pray it in the room with them. Presence is part of how the Church has always prayed for the sick.
What Bible verse is for the sick?
James 5:14-15, Psalm 41:3, Jeremiah 17:14, Psalm 147:3, and Matthew 25:36 (“I was sick and you looked after me”). Read one over them aloud.
What is the difference between a prayer for the sick and a prayer for healing?
A prayer for the sick is usually intercession — you, standing in the gap for someone else. A prayer for healing is often for your own body, or for recovery after the worst has passed. Use both. God hears both.
What if I do not know what to say at the bedside?
You do not need a speech. The short prayer at the top is enough. Or read Psalm 23 or Psalm 41. Silence with a hand on theirs is also a prayer. Jesus is already in the room.
