9. Pray for Healing

You may not have many opportunities to pray for physical healing with teens, but it’s necessary to be prepared when the occasion arises. It may be obvious seeing a cast or brace, or it may come when the student shares a health concern. We should see this as an exciting opportunity for God to demonstrate his love for them in a tangible way. Your opening question is simple:

“Would it be alright if I prayed for your healing right now?” If they agree (almost all will), here are some basic guidelines to follow:

• If they have pain, ask what level it is between 1 to 10, (before and after the prayers).

• Pray short prayers - less than a minute.

• Don’t touch them as you pray - this avoids problems and God can touch them without you making physical contact.

• Invite Jesus to come and bring His Kingdom right now.

• Avoid using “church language” and pray in a normal tone and volume.

• Tell the body to come under the authority of Jesus Christ and the specific problem to be made whole.

• Ask them after the short prayer: “As I was praying for you, what was happening?”

• If pain persists, you can pray again (short prayers) and then ask about their level of pain again.

• If they encountered improvement or complete healing, rejoice with them, and if not, tell them to come back next week for more prayer.

Here is an example prayer for Rafa who injured his knee at football practice:

“Heavenly Father, I invite you to bring Your Kingdom right now for Rafa. I thank you that you love him, and he is your son. I ask you to bring healing to Rafa’s knee right now in the name of Jesus. I tell the knee to come under the authority of Jesus and all the structures of the knee be made whole and all the pain to leave his body. Amen.”

Ask him, “What was happening as I was praying for you?” Listen to his answer and have him test the knee. “What is your pain level now?” Based on the results, I will usually pray up to three times with short prayers. Even if there is no visible change, you can be assured that something good has happened because when we invited Jesus to come; His Kingdom of “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” will always show up. If we treat people with respect and kindness, the offer to pray for healing is always a blessing. We will often see healing happen on the street because God loves his kids and wants to bless them. It’s always a win-win!