There are many different kinds of prayer, such as prayers of thanksgiving, intercession, petition, declaration, spiritual warfare, and healing prayers. When we talk about “healing prayers” for issues of the heart, we are talking about a specific kind of prayer. It accesses the resources of heaven in a particular way that accomplishes physical or emotional healing.

While I was growing up, my father was an alcoholic, and though he showed me he loved me in many ways, I often felt confused and afraid. Many nights I lay awake in bed listening to my mother and father argue. I determined then that my children would never hear their parents raise their voices or use harsh words when relating to each other. To my dismay, that was not the case. In the early years of our marriage, Hal and I argued frequently, and some arguments in those days were quite heated.

One day, while our daughter Nicole was visiting a friend and I was putting laundry away in her room, I sat down on her bed and began to weep. “Lord,” I said, “You know I never wanted Nicole to have to see or hear her parents argue. I thought if I married a Christian we would have a perfect home.”

How to reconcile

The Lord spoke something to my heart at that moment that forever changed the way I parented: He pointed out to me that I couldn’t protect Nicole from the problems of life. No family is perfect. However, I could turn mistakes and even painful experiences into opportunities. Opportunities to help her handle in a godly way the problems she would face in life.

Up until this time, when an argument occurred, I would interact with Nicole as if nothing had happened. After all, this was something between her dad and me; it really didn’t concern her. Though Hal and I would reconcile, Nicole rarely saw this side of our relationship. 

About this time, Hal and I discovered a model for asking forgiveness and extending healing prayer. Hal would express to me that he was sorry for his hurtful words and ask my forgiveness. Then he would lay his hand on my heart and pray something like this: “Lord I’ve been an instrument of pain to my wife; now I ask You to use me as an instrument of healing. Please heal the wounds that I’ve inflicted and restore our love and closeness.” Then, using the same model, I would pray for Hal with words that came from my heart. 

A powerful prayer model

As we talked about how powerfully this prayer model was impacting our relationship, we both decided that it would be a good idea to include Nicole in these healing prayers. So, instead of ignoring the problems, we began to talk to Nicole about them. We let her know we knew our arguing hurt her and made her afraid.

Additionally, we told her we had asked each other for forgiveness. Then we asked her to forgive us, too. Sometimes we did this together, and sometimes only one of us talked with Nicole. However, the time always ended with one of us putting our hand over her heart and praying that God would heal the wounds we had inflicted and bring our family close together again.

Through the years, Hal and I have learned to celebrate each other’s differences rather than argue over them. However, had we not prayed with Nicole along life’s sometimes difficult journey, she might have grown up wounded and bitter. She might never have learned how to give and receive healing prayer. 

I know we are not the only family with a story like this. We are a testimony to the healing power of prayer for our hurting hearts. Families today suffer a barrage of hurts, conflicts, and challenges. Healing prayer is a divinely powerful weapon God has given us to deal with these kinds of problems, to overcome the continual assaults of sin, injustice, and pain in the broken world we live in.  Additionally, Healing prayers go to the wounds in our hearts and appropriate God’s mercy and love, similar to the way salvation prayer goes to the brokenness in our spirits and appropriates God’s grace and forgiveness. 

Healing prayer versus salvation prayer

A major difference is that we only have to pray the salvation prayer once. We can pray for healing over and over again!

Excerpted from Prayer-Saturated Kids: Equipping and Empowering Children in Prayer by Cheryl Sacks and Arlyn Lawrence, Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2007.

About the author

Cheryl Sacks is the best-selling author of The Prayer Saturated book series: The Prayer Saturated Church, Prayer-Saturated Kids, and The Prayer Saturated Family—How to Change the Atmosphere in Your Home through Prayer. Her newest book, Reclaim a Generation, 21 Days of Prayer for Schools, will be available soon at ReclaimAGeneration.com

You can learn more about Cheryl and her husband Hal’s work at PrayerSaturated.life and BridgeBuilders.net.