April 10-14 is National Cancer Registrars Week. Are you taking care of or know any patients who are battling the big C?
Despite the advanced technology and modern treatment plans, we, as nurses, should still value the proven benefits of prayers in healing our patients. We should take care of their faith and spiritual health as much as we care for their physical and mental needs.
Here are some of the most powerful healing prayers for cancer you can share.
A Healing Petition
May God heal me, body and soul. May my pain cease, may my strength increase, may my fears be released, May blessings, love, and joy surround me. Amen.
Prayer for Easing Pain
Father, with you nothing is impossible. You are God of all flesh; we love you and we are confident that no situation is too hard for you. We come to you on behalf of this dear one seeking healing from cancer. God, Jesus Christ has fully paid the price by the stripes He took; we therefore are asking that the devourer gets off from this child of yours in Jesus Mighty Name, Amen.
Prayer for Healing
Father God, we humbly pray for all those who are fighting cancer. Give them the hope and courage they need each day. Comfort them in their pain and bless them with healing. Strengthen their family, friends, and caregivers. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer for Cancer Fighters
Heavenly Father, Give all cancer fighters comfort when they are in pain. Lay your healing hand on all and remove every cancer cell so that they may be healed! Amen
Prayer for Physicians and Nurses
Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon your blessed name and we pray for your merciful heart to surround these with love, strength, and courage and we ask Your hands to touch them with the power of healing. May they be directed to the right treatment in Your blessed name as we ask You Lord to represent the physicians, nurses, and medical care aids and administer them in Your spirits. May every cancerous cell be cast out and replaced with good ones. May every spot of this deadly cell be wiped out by Your powerful hands.
Prayer through St. Jude
God of healing mercy, in Jesus your Son you stretch out your hand in compassion, restoring the sinner, healing the sick, and lifting up those bowed down. Embrace us now in your loving care, particularly those afflicted with cancer, for whom this intention is offered. May the Spirit of Jesus bring us all health in soul and body, that with joy and thanksgiving we may praise you for your goodness, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
See Also: 20 Short But Effective Prayers for Surgery
Prayer through Saint Peregrine
O great St. Peregrine, you have been called “The Mighty,” “The Wonder-Worker,” because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from God for those who have had recourse to you.
For so many years you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fibre of our being, and who had recourse to the source of all grace when the power of man could do no more. You were favoured with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Cross to heal your affliction. Ask of God and Our Lady, the cure of the sick whom we entrust to you.
(Pause here and silently recall the names of the sick for whom you are praying)
Aided in this way by your powerful intercession, we shall sing to God, now and for all eternity, a song of gratitude for His great goodness and mercy.
Amen.
Prayer through Saint Agatha
Oh St. Agatha, who withstood the unwelcome advances from unwanted suitors, and suffered pain and torture for her devotion to Our Lord, we celebrate your faith, dignity, and martyrdom. Protect us against rape and other violations, guard us against breast cancer and other afflictions of women, and inspire us to overcome adversity. Oh St. Agatha, virgin and martyr, mercifully grant that we who venerate your sacrifice, may receive your intercession. Amen.
Prayer for Strength
Lord, at the moment nothing seems to be able to help the loss I feel.
My heart is broken and my spirit mourns. All I know is that Your grace is sufficient. This day, this hour Moment by moment I choose to lean on You, For when I am at my weakest Your strength is strongest. I pour out my grief to You And praise You that on one glorious day When all suffering is extinguished and love has conquered We shall walk together again.
A Simple Prayer for Healing
Lord of Heaven,
I rest underneath your mighty wings of love.I dwell within your gentle heart.I know there is healing in your touch.Through the sufferings of Christ I can ask for restoration And trust in your goodness.You are my Lord, my Saviour, My healer and my friend.I dwell within your gentle embrace.Amen.
See Also: 35 Nurse’s Prayers That Will Inspire Your Soul
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Catholic
Religious practices include bedside prayers, the Eucharist (if requested) and the use of sacramental aids in the spiritual life, including such items as rosary beads and holy images of saints, especially Mary, the mother of Jesus.
“During the Anointing of the Sick, a priest will anoint the patient with blessed oil, forgive all sins and offer the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist, sometimes referred to as Holy Communion. The ritual also includes prayers for both physical and spiritual healing,” explains Sr. Anne.
Jewish
Prayers for the sick can be an important part of faith in illness for observant Jews. The most common prayer used in this context is called the Mi Sheberakh.
“There are some beautiful aspects to that prayer,” explains Rabbi Elisa Goldberg, beginning with invoking the patient’s family member for whom the person was named. “It’s very powerful when you are facing a serious illness to evoke your ancestors. It’s that sense of lineage and connection. The Mi Sheberakh is a prayer for ‘a healing of body and healing of spirit’ and then ‘complete healing,’ but that word complete is a version of the word shalom, which is ‘peace.’ So, ultimately, the prayer is about finding a sense of peace and wholeness with whatever happens.”
Muslim
Many cultures in Islam practice their own particular rituals; however, there are some rituals that all observe: Chapter 96 (Surah Yasin) of the Quran is read to the sick, and the Declaration of Faith is said by the patient at the end of life.
“When Muslims visit a Muslim who has been diagnosed with cancer and is going through trials and tribulations, we ask that patient to pray for us because at that point they are closer to Allah than we are,” explains Imam Amin Abdul-Aziz. “And the prayer goes both ways: The community will pray that Allah will send the patient the best of his wisdom in the person of the doctors and other health care professionals because we believe that whoever comes to the patient’s bedside was sent there by God.”
Protestant
Rituals practiced by Protestants include prayers for the healing and comfort for the sick, personal prayer, sacraments, anointing, reading the Bible and bedside baptisms.
Jacqueline Griffin, MATS, Chaplain at CTCA® in Goodyear, Arizona, says that “oftentimes patients ask for prayer before a procedure or surgery and afterward express their sense of peace and calmness and release of anxiety.” At CTCA in Goodyear, she adds, “Special ceremonies such as baptisms for patients and their children have been performed upon request during end of life. These rituals have given a sense of peace and closure with family and God as well as offered hope and comfort to patients who are being treated.”
Source:
1. Handbook of Patients’ Spiritual and Cultural Values for Health Care Professionals, available at healthcarechaplaincy.org
2. Surah Yaseen. Muslim World. Retrieved May 27, 2015, from /> 3. Declaration of Faith. Why Islam? Retrieved May 27, 2015, from
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Here are three prayers you can pray for those who are battling cancer.
Praying for Healing
Great heavenly Father God, thank You for the good health that I have but I have a friend/family member who is battling cancer right now. I am asking You to do the impossible because for You, nothing is too hard. Oh God, Glorify Your Name and let us bring praises to You for healing my friend/family member so that others can hear of Your marvelous works for Your children. I am praying in faith but I am trusting in Your sovereignty and for Your will to be done above what we think is best. Your ways are higher than mine and Your ways are beyond finding out (Rom 11:33) so help me to trust You with the outcome and no matter what, I know You are always in control over all things and not even one radical cancer cell can do anything that You do not first allow and is part of Your divine will. Please heal my friend/family member so that I can praise You before others and further glorify Your name to those who don’t yet know You and in Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
Praying for Comfort
My God, my Father, I come to You on behalf of my friend/family member to ask You to supernaturally intervene and heal them. I know that You never waste suffering and trials, so help me and them to look for Your purpose in all this for we know there is (Rom 8:28). I ask You to comfort them and their family, help them to deal with this life and death struggle, help them to be grounded in the assurance that even death cannot separate them from God (Rom 8:31, 38). Thank You for that promise that brings comfort to those who are losing their battle with cancer. I pray it is not my friend/family member, but if it is, then help them and their family (and me) accept it as much as possible, knowing that this is not the end but the beginning of a truly magnificent and eternal life in the presence of God (Rev 22) so nothing is lost. In Jesus great name I pray, amen.
Praying for Acceptance
Dear God, my Father, I have a friend/family member who appears to be fighting a losing battle with cancer. The end appears close. It gets harder and harder to prepare my mind for their passing…but for them, God help them to process this and to grow to accept it somehow. They might be losing this battle but cancer will not win in the war. God, You are the God of the living and not the dead (Mark 12:27) saying “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Marr 22:32) so I know that even if they die, they will yet live again because they believe in You and Your Great Son, Jesus Christ (John 11:25-26). Oh the great hope of the believer in Christ because when we’re absent from this body, I know we’ll be with You Lord (2nd Cor 5:8) and I also know I will see my precious friend/family member again and so thank You for that and in Jesus most precious name I pray, amen.
Conclusion
My hope is that you never need these prayers but of course, you eventually will or someone may need them for you and for me. These are prayers that I have actually used, not literally word for word but very close to them. The only real difference of course is that I used the person’s name. I do hope they can help you know how to pray and what words to use because that’s often a struggle for many believers, but even here, we have the help of the Spirit as “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:26-27). I don’t know about you, but I can use all the help I can when I pray.
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.
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