Is there a point to praying, "God please heal this person from cancer," when God already has a plan for them..

Question

and you can't change his mind? Shouldn't our prayers just be "May your will be done?"

Answer 1

jesus_,
I've heard of people praying like this. But, usually when they pray like this, isn't that a bit selfishly praying, as if you wish them harm? When you think about it, you want this person to live to see there dreams fullfilled, or their children raised-up, or to see how their lives would have turned out had they died of natural causes, instead of some deadly disease, you know. I once, heard about this testimony this man gave. His wife had terminal cancer, and what he did, was he put banners all over her hospitol room about LIFE, and the meaning of LIFE, and everything good about what the bible had to say about Jesus healing the sick, and so forth. And he refused to take any calls, of "I'm sorry" or "Sympathy Calls" of any sort!! And everyday he and his wife, would pray and he fasted. And they wouldn't take any visitors who were negative about her, as if she were already gone. And believe it or not, God healed her, and delivered this woman from near death, to complete REMISSION!!! I can see now how they go around and give this Wonderful news to others!! Because it showed how strong their faith was in the Lord, and how much he loved his wife, and didn't want to plan a life without her!! I cried my eyes out when I heard this testimony!! And if you think about it, why would the word of God speak of Jesus's healings, and how their's power in prayer, and having faith even as much as little as a mustard seed, you know. God's about life, not death. And Cancer and sickness is about the devil, when you think about it. So, really sickness isn't in God's plan for our lives. So, to answer your question, we should be praying for this person to Live and not Die!! Instead of God's will be done. But then, God's will is that she/he lives and not die's, so you basically have prayed for LIFE for this person. Smile!!!

Answer 2

Good question with no easy answer. You can pray for what you want, but you also need to be prepared for your desires to not fit into God's plan. Even if the prayers are not answered as you would hope, God wants to hear from you. While you pray for healing, you can pray for peace. Pain, sickness, and death are horrible results of sin, and we were never really meant to understand them. Thankfully God can use our most difficult and painful circumstances for His purposes even when we cannot possibly see or understand how there is good in a situation.

Answer 3

1st of all I wouldn't think that God would "have a plan for them" to include getting cancer.
There IS no plan. Life is life. No one on the planet has escaped death yet. How would you pray for a 100 yr old person on THEIR death bed ?......Please God, make her younger??
At least you have the sense to feel that this praying stuff is just not going to work.
If you really believe that it works, pray that they're healed and that you win the lottery.
Don't hold your breath on either one. Chances are 99% that if the person gets healed, it's just good luck, if the doctors can't do anymore.( And at some point they can't)

Answer 4

There is always a "point" to honest prayer: obedience to God. We are commanded to pray, even when things seems hopeless. What good would it do to pray for things that are "likely to happen" on their own? Where is the faith?

Jesus spoke very clearly to this issue in a variety of places in the bible, but here is a specific parable, and please note how Luke records the begining, "...that men always ought to pray and not lose heart...": http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2018:1-8;&version=50;

Having said that, a believer also understands from Jesus' own prayer that, no matter what we pray for, we place our hope and faith in the omniscient will of God, knowing that "He works all things for the good..." that is, our eternal good, not necessarily a temporal, material good. God ALWAYS sees the eternal point of an illness, accident, disease, promotion at work, finding a lost wallet, etc. Nothing is beyong His eternal perspective and knowledge, so it is from THAT that we believers draw our comfort in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.

But... always pray, as you are commanded by God to do.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Answer 5

God is omnipresent but not omnipotent. With enough prayer i believe it can be answered sometimes. When they say God has a plan for your life it is my feeling that it means following god and doing your best to live in his likeness will give you purpose and help you lead a more fulfilling and pure life. I don't think it means throughout your life anything that happens is him moving you around like a little chess piece and theres no other way things can go. Prayer itself is a very powerful thing, especially if many people are pulling together praying for it at the same time. My answer is yes there is a point to praying for that person to be cured.

Answer 6

I have to agree with the sentiment. Praying for changes or miracles seems very arrogant and selfish, given that if there is a God out there and he or she is what people make him or her out to be, he or she already has a plan that's in the works, making prayer not just a vain desire but also futile.

As to God's will being done, it's already going to be done.

If someone wants to pray, perhaps they could pray that a person will be able to accept the trials that come before them. Or rather, stop wasting the time praying all together, and start spending the time helping the person directly to deal with their problems.

Prayer really seems to be a psychological way for people to deal with their own problems, rather than a way to actually create any solution. It makes some people feel better to hope for leniency and new chances.

Answer 7

Prayer for others is for our, own good. God wants to see if we really care [love], about others or not. Yes; God does have a purpose and plan for each of us here, on earth. God can change His mind or redirect that individual. God doesn't allow nothing to happen to each of us that isn't for our ULTIMATE good. God looks beyond the here, and the now - directly into the future, as He "molds" and shapes each one of us for the eternal future awaiting us all. There is nothing, that happens on this earth, that God does not know about.

Answer 8

a) "your will be done" all the time is kind of lazy and generally against what Jesus said. you know of the Lord's prayer? it's our blueprint and there are lessons to be learned from it

b) one such lesson is trust. since we don't know God's will, we have to trust Him. and you have to learn to deal with certain things. some things depend on us. sometimes you are the one who needs to overcome. who can overcome God? it's part of the warrior thing

c) God wishes us to reach to a place where we can ask and you will receieve; seek and ye shall find; knock and ye shall enter. that can't happen unless you reach a place where your will co-incides with God

d) it promotes stagnation. if you start off not growing, there's a problem. what if God has placed a gift of healing in you and you never use it? what if His will is for you to go and lay hands on that person? you never do it because you're always saying "you're will be done" and never doing anything, so they may not be healed, and you become (eventually, possibly) a wicked and lazy servant.

"your will be done" is a realization and something always to keep in mind. at the end of it all, God is sovereign. but of course, you're included in His will.

Answer 9

Good point, as is the fact so many christians suffer so much at the death of loved ones, after all they are going to a better place.

Prayers really are an offensive waste of time, the time wasted in such an indulgent practice would be much better used working to help raise money to cure cancer.

I struggle with the fact that while so many people in the world don't even have safe drinking water, many christians are indulgent enough to pray that they will get a promotion.

Answer 10

I think you bring up a valid point.
But from what I have learned/heard over the years you can "petition" God when you have a special request. I'm also aware of "intercessory prayers" when you want God to do something for a person. I am also of the firm belief that if God gave us "free will" then to a certain extent we make our own destinies. I don't think that that anything is hard and fast.