A prayer for healing is asking Jesus, in plain words, to do for you what He showed He was willing to do for a leper who had no right to ask. Scripture gives you the words, the grounds, and a pattern for what to do when the answer is slow. It does not give you a formula, and no honest teacher will pretend it does.
Before anything else. If you are sick, see your doctor, take the treatment you have been given, and keep your appointments. Prayer and medicine are not competitors. God heals through both, and the man in the story below was declared healed by, in Marilyn Hickey's words, “even the most skeptical doctor.” Asking God for healing has never meant walking away from the people He has trained to help you.
The teaching in this article is Marilyn Hickey's, from God Still Heals, the book she built around seven truths. We draw on three of them: Truth 2, Truth 3, and Truth 7. Her words are quoted exactly as she wrote them.
Is Jesus willing to heal me?
Most people who search for a healing prayer already believe God can. The question underneath the search is whether He will, and whether He will for someone like them. Marilyn starts exactly there.
Many believe God has the power to heal, but some may wonder if He has the willingness to heal. This was the question asked by a leper in Luke 5:12-16. Notably, this was also the first time a leper was healed in Jesus’ ministry. He had heard good things, but he truly did not know if Jesus was willing to heal someone like him. You may not realize it, but it took guts for the leper to even show up!
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #2: Jesus is willing and able to heal
And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.
Luke 5:12–13
Read what Jesus did before He said anything. He reached first.
Do not miss this! Jesus extended His hand to the leper first. He did not just say He was willing; He showed He was willing. At Jesus’ command and touch, the leper was cleansed. Jesus could have healed the leper without touching him, but the Word wants you to know that there is nothing so ugly and broken about you that Jesus cannot touch and heal.
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #2: Jesus is willing and able to heal
That is the ground every healing prayer stands on. Not your worthiness, not your track record, not how well you phrase it. His willingness, demonstrated. And it has not expired:
Hebrews 13:8 tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” From the very beginning to now until forevermore, Jesus has not and will not change! He is still willing and able to heal!
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #2: Jesus is willing and able to heal
A prayer for healing you can pray right now
This is the prayer Marilyn wrote to close that truth. Pray it as it is, or make it your own.
God, I thank you that you not only have power to heal me, you are willing! Please help me to remember that there is nothing beyond your reach that you cannot touch and heal. I praise you, Jesus, for being my great High Priest! You are sympathetic to my needs, and you have the authority to cleanse. You had the power to atone and heal when you walked the earth, and you still have the power to heal me today. God, please stretch out your loving hand and show me your healing. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #2: Jesus is willing and able to heal
If you are praying for someone else, here is a short one from us. Father, You are willing. I bring You [name] by name, and I ask You to reach for them first the way You reached for the leper. Heal what is sick, strengthen what is weak, and give the doctors wisdom. Let [name] know today that there is nothing about them You will not touch. In Jesus' name, amen.
Is healing part of what Jesus paid for?
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
Marilyn taught that healing belongs inside salvation, not beside it. Here is how she says it:
When you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, you get the whole salvation package—deliverance, redemption, and healing. The Greek word for salvation in the New Testament (sōzō) means all three. Jesus took your sin and gives you righteousness. He took your sickness and gave you health. He took your death and gave you eternal life. He gave you a great package deal!
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #3: Jesus already paid the price for my healing, so it is mine to receive
People act like you have to struggle to get healing, but you did not struggle to get saved. Salvation is already here because Jesus paid for it. The same is true of healing! Jesus already paid for it. Receive what is yours!
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #3: Jesus already paid the price for my healing, so it is mine to receive
We want to be careful with that, because it can be heard wrong. It is a statement about what Jesus purchased. It is not a verdict on anyone who is still sick. Marilyn's own granddaughter has lived inside that tension for years, and Marilyn does not hide it. Which brings us to the truth most healing articles leave out.
Why hasn't my healing come yet?
Sometimes you feel like you have just run out of faith. You think, I’ve believed in God’s goodness. I’ve believed in His healing. I’ve kept on believing, but now I just feel pressed to the wall. It looks like healing is just not happening for me. It is at these times that you must choose to stay in the process of healing.
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #7: Faith and patience inherit God’s promises
Then she says the thing that a lifetime of praying for the sick taught her:
While I have seen God heal people in an instant, most healing is a process. Given that many healthy practices in life take time, this should not be a surprise. There is something about the process that helps every part of us get better. Whether it’s physical or spiritual exercise, many people stop short of what they could have because they don’t get immediate results. But so often I’ve seen that when people get prayed for and begin to believe God for themselves, they get a little bit better, then a little bit better, and so on until they are totally healed.
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #7: Faith and patience inherit God’s promises
Scripture backs that up more than we usually notice. The blind man in Mark 8 saw people like trees before he saw clearly. Naaman had to wash seven times. Lazarus's sisters had to wait two days past the point where waiting made sense. Process is not the absence of God. It is often where He is working.
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6:11–12
Like the blind man in Bethsaida, you might not know what’s going on. Like Naaman, you might be angry about what you think your healing should look like. Like Lazarus’ sisters, you might even express pained disappointment over what you thought Jesus should have done already, but listen to God and the encouragement of faithful people who are praying for your healing. God knows what He is doing. Trust His process!
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #7: Faith and patience inherit God’s promises
The hardest question, answered honestly
Marilyn's granddaughter Isabell has preached openly about praying for years without the answer she wanted. Marilyn put Isabell's words in the book, and we are putting them here, because anyone who has prayed for healing and is still waiting deserves to hear this from someone who knows.
It is hard to have faithful believers declare your healing, to believe them, and then still be sick. Isabell remarked, “I’ve read Isaiah 53:5. I believed that by Jesus’ stripes I was healed, but I asked God, ‘Why am I not seeing healing?’” Oh, how it has hurt her! Oh, how it hurts me as her grandmother! I still pray for her healing, but I love seeing Isabell’s trust grow in God in the process. She remarked, “As I cried out to God year after year, for a long time, I heard nothing. I just kept going. I was learning that God is good even if I never get the answers to the questions I desperately want answered. Then one night, as I called out to God with the same hurt, He told me, ‘You are healed. It’s just a matter of when you receive it.’ Since that time, God has taught me that sometimes we receive healing this side of heaven, sometimes on the other, but our time on earth is just a very small part of our stories. Your story is not over yet!”
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #7: Faith and patience inherit God’s promises
Sometimes this side of heaven. Sometimes the other. That is not a loophole. It is the whole Christian hope, and it is why we can keep praying for healing without lying to anyone about outcomes. Then Marilyn closes the book with a question worth sitting with:
We are not all healed the same way, we are not all healed in same timing, but God is at work in each of us (Philippians 1:6). You might not have the physical healing you want yet, but I guarantee you have seen God’s healing at work. Do not take for granted the work God has already done. Has He given you some level of healing in your heart? Rejoice! Has He given some level of healing to your mind? Rejoice! Not everyone has received that. You have.
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Everything Beautiful
A prayer for when you are tired of praying
God, I thank you for the full assurance of hope in Jesus. Please help me to remember that when I am patient and faithful, I will inherit your promises. Even when I am confused, hurt, or angry, help me trust you. Encourage me to stay diligent, patient, and faithful. I know you reward me when I diligently seek you. I am healed! It is just a matter of when I receive this healing. I may not understand everything right now, but you are making my story good in eternity, so I will choose to abide with your healing process. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Marilyn Hickey · God Still Heals · Truth #7: Faith and patience inherit God’s promises
If you are in a long illness, or standing with someone who is, please do not carry it alone. Keep your medical team close. Tell your church. And know that Miracle Word Ministries prays with people every day; the prayer line is open. His Word. His Power. Your Miracle.
Common questions
Can a Christian take medicine and still pray for healing? Yes. Prayer and medical treatment work together, and choosing treatment is not a lack of faith. Never stop or change a treatment without your doctor.
What is a short prayer for healing? Lord, You are willing. Touch me and heal me, in Jesus' name. That is the leper's prayer, and it was enough.
How do I pray for healing for someone else? Name them, ask Jesus to reach for them first, ask for wisdom for their doctors, and keep praying. Marilyn taught that most healing is a process, so do not stop after one prayer.
Does God still heal today? Marilyn's answer, from Hebrews 13:8: Jesus has not changed, so He is still willing and able. That is the ministry's conviction and its name.
What if I am not healed? Scripture never promises every healing arrives on this side of heaven. Isabell Bowling's words above are the most honest answer we know: sometimes here, sometimes there, and your story is not over.
The teaching in this article is drawn from Marilyn Hickey's God Still Heals: 7 Truths Every Believer Must Know, Truths 2, 3, and 7. Quoted passages appear exactly as written.