Prayer Strategy for Health and Science – October
(by Lilian Schmid)
Prayer Strategy for Healing
Core elements:
- Faith in Action: Prayer is not just asking but believing that healing is already given through Christ.
- Receiving, Not Pleading: Shift from begging God to confidently receiving His promises.
- Inner Healing: Address emotional and spiritual wounds as part of physical healing.
- Scriptural Foundation: Use Scripture to affirm God’s will for wholeness and restoration.
- Community Support: Healing is nurtured in a faith-filled community that prays with expectancy.
- God’s healing power: “praying from victory, not for victory.”
Prayer Strategy for Health and Science
Here’s a structured prayer strategy:
- Foundation: Healing as a Continuous Process
- Recognize that healing—physical, emotional, and spiritual—is ongoing.
- Acknowledge that every person is “touched by the dust of the world” and needs restoration.
- Scriptural Meditation: Psalm 46
- Use Psalm 46 as a tool for inner healing:
- “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
- Meditate deeply on the entire psalm, allowing its rhythm and truth to penetrate your spirit.
- Visualize the “river that makes glad the city of God” as a source of divine healing.
- Pray for Gatekeepers in Health & Science
- Intercede for doctors, researchers, nurses, and policymakers.
- Ask God to guide their decisions, protect their integrity, and fill them with compassion and wisdom.
- Pray against corruption, misinformation, and exploitation in medical and scientific fields.
- Spiritual Warfare & Discernment
- Recognise that the enemy uses fear, disease, and confusion to weaken society.
- Declare God’s sovereignty over every lab, hospital, and research centre.
- Pray for breakthroughs that align with God’s will and benefit humanity.
- Healing Testimonies & Community Support
- Encourage sharing of healing testimonies to build faith.
- Create prayer forums or healing ministries (as Lilian did with her “Businesswomen Healing Ministry”).
- Support those suffering from trauma, abuse, or chronic illness with persistent prayer and love.
- Use Exodus 15 as a Model
- Reflect on Exodus 15:25, where God made bitter water sweet.
- Pray for divine intervention in areas of contamination—physical, emotional, or systemic.
Sample Prayer
“Lord, You are the healer of nations and the source of all wisdom.
We lift up the sphere of Health and Science to You.
Guide the hands and minds of those in medicine and research.
Let Your truth prevails over every diagnosis, every discovery, and every decision.
Heal our bodies, renew our minds, and restore our spirits.
May Your river of gladness flow through every hospital, lab, and clinic.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
You can explore more on Lilian Schmid’s official site for prayer letters and resources. Books – Prayer Strategy for the Spheres of Influence
Listening Prayer in the Seven Spheres
(by David Seargent)
Many Christians today believe that God is calling them to be the salt and light within the “spheres of social influence”, that is to say, within those features within society that exercise influence over society as a whole. These are broadly identified as family, religion, education, government, media, entertainment and business. Within these general categories there are many contributing strands, for instance, “entertainment” includes such diverse sub-categories as theatre, sport, hobbies etc. and “media” likewise covers a broad range of activities such as traditional newspapers and television/radio, social media and so forth. However, in general terms, identification of the spheres is fairly straightforward.
The big question is “How are Christians supposed to be salt and light in these spheres?” Are we supposed to take over the spheres in an aggressive manner or are we merely to be witnesses within them? Is praying for the spheres to be our main influence and, if so, how are we to pray for them?
There are some Christians who advocate a strategy of taking over the spheres and exercising control from the top down. At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who believe that Christians should simply be witnesses for Christ within the spheres in which they are most involved. This last is something about which all Christians should agree, even those who do not specifically identify with the seven spheres philosophy.
Clearly, there is quite a wide range of opinions here, and this is reflected in different visions of what the outcome of Christian influence within and through the spheres should be like and for what we should pray concerning the spheres and how they should be shaped through the influence of Christians.
But let us take a few minutes to consider something more radical. Let us try to picture, not what Christian influence would be like, but instead, what Christ’s direct influence would be like. Can we imagine a business in which Jesus was the Managing Director, a country in which Jesus was the Head of Government, a newspaper where Jesus was the Editor in Chief, and we could continue imagining a family with Jesus as Head a Church with Jesus as Minister, a school with Jesus as Headmaster, etc. This may seem complete fantasy, but there is a sense in which it can happen, even in the present age!
Let me explain.
As recorded in Matthew 18:19, Jesus told his disciples that “If two of you agree on earth about any request you have to make, that request will be granted by my heavenly Father.” Let us look more closely at this promise. I recall that, many years ago, I went forward for prayer at an evening Gospel service at a Pentecostal church. After telling the minister of my prayer request, he asked me to agree with him that the prayer would be answered. I agreed, because I was asked to do so, but I had no inner conviction that what I was agreeing about would come to pass. I am sure that this sort of “agreement” was not what Jesus was talking about in this passage.
Jesus went on to say (Matthew 18:20) “For [= this is so because] where two or three meet together in my name, I am there among them” (emphasis mine). The agreement about which Jesus spoke proceeds from a supernatural, not a natural, conviction that the request being made is the will of God. It could truly be said that, agreement with God precedes agreement between the praying people. Such agreement is possible because Jesus is present. Jesus reveals the will of the Father and through the Holy Spirit guides the will of those praying into harmony with the Divine Will.
In the Matthew passage, Jesus is addressing the specific issue of a church member who lapses into sin, but I believe that what he is teaching in these verses goes well beyond matters of church discipline.
I have wondered about what exactly Jesus meant by saying that he is present when two or three are gathered in his name. Surely, Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, indwells all born-again believers and this is a continuing presence. He does not leave us when the meeting is over and we all go our separate ways! I now think that he was simply reminding his disciples that he truly is present with them all and that when they come together in acknowledgement of his presence he is (so to speak) in charge of that meeting.
A group of Christians gathered under the direction of Jesus manifests his corporate body; a body of which he is the Head. The head of a human being is the bodily part that houses the brain, which in its turn is the seat of the mind or spirit. So Jesus, as the Head of his corporate body, is the seat of the Divine Mind and the Holy Spirit who binds the group together into a unity.
In the mid-1600s, the spiritual indwelling of Christ in the genuine Christian formed the key belief of the English prophet and Quaker founder, George Fox. For Fox, this was not only a doctrine but an experience. Quoting Jesus’ parable (John 10:3-5; the lost sheep) Fox stressed that the true Christian hears (in some sense), recognises and continually obeys the voice of Christ. True worship, in Fox’s opinion, is meeting in reverent silence, only speaking if one is moved by the Holy Spirit to give a word of prophecy, encouragement etc. The same approach is taken by Quakers to the conduct of what in some other churches would be called church council meetings i.e. meetings concerning the practical issues concerning the congregation. For Quakers, these are called “worship meetings for business”; a term which says it all.
Ideally, consensus should immediately be reached on any proposal put forward. This would happen if each member of the meeting was completely empty of self and completely open to hearing the Voice of Christ within. But there are other voices, such as one’s own subconscious mind or even Satan manifesting as an angel of light. Moreover, one may truly hear the voice of Christ, but the static of the mind (one’s own hopes, fears and prejudices) may distort what one hears. We all have some degree of “spiritual tinnitus” that can make it difficult to accurately hear the inner Voice of Christ!
Looking more closely at Jesus’ parable of the sheep and shepherd (John 10:3-5), we should note that a shepherd leads a flock of sheep and it is the flock that hears his voice and follows. A lone sheep may indeed hear the shepherd’s voice, but mistake its direction and go where the shepherd does not want it to go. But, sheep being sheep, if it is within a flock that follows the shepherd’s voice, it will follow the flock and, in so doing, will also correctly obey the shepherd’s voice.
Relating this to the spheres of cultural influence, we could say that Fox showed the way to bring the immediate Voice of Jesus into the sphere of religion. Jesus is the Minister of the regular worship meeting and the Chairperson of the worship meeting for business. I believe that meetings of listening prayer, broadly modelled on the Quaker worship meeting for business, held by Christians within business firms, political parties and so forth are the way forward in bringing the leading of Christ into the spheres of influence.
As a suggestion, a meeting could begin by recalling the promise of Jesus in Matthew 18:20 and thanking him that he is present. Then pray that he will bring to the minds of those gathered anything that God wants them to pray about or in some way act upon within the business, political party or whatever else they are involved. When agreement is reached by the meeting as to the will of God concerning some specific action, this is accepted as a true leading from Christ and is to be obeyed.
For example, in the political sphere it may be an article of legislation, in a business, a proposed merger with another company or, perhaps, manufacture of a new product. If God does not bring anything specific to mind, the meeting simply rests in the presence of Jesus for the time set aside for listening prayer (probably about 15 or 20 minutes, but remaining flexible). At the end of this listening period, there will be a time of spoken prayer, beginning with a petition that God will guide these prayers according to his will.
In a listening prayer meeting for the spheres in general (i.e. a general meeting not associated with a specific sphere), the meeting should also include an opening prayer that God will bring to mind any sphere that requires special prayer.
Please pray about these suggestions as I feel that they are in accord with God’s will.
With Thanks
(by Bjorn Schmid)
And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
(Revelation 5:13 NJKV)
I have said this so many times before, but I will keep saying it – GIVING THANKS IS FOR YOUR BENEFIT. Because Christ is a consuming fire within me, destroying all the works of the rebellious enemy of God (1 John 3:8) and of my selfish flesh (Romans 8:13), I am compelled by God’s immeasurable love for you – to urge you to be thankful to Him. He does not push this onto us for His benefit – He needs nothing from us, but IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR US TO HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF THANKFULNESS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF HIS LIVING AND ACTIVE GRACE TO US.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
(Acts 17:24-25 NIV)
Without this grace, we are nothing and trapped in a shadow of life that leads us into deeper and deeper darkness and despair. But when we open our hearts in thankfulness to Him who breathes life into us – breathing that life back out in words and songs of praise to Him, we grow tall in our spirits – like the cedars of Lebanon, we become fountains of love, joy, and peace that the world cannot replicate nor dry up.
Read a Psalm in the Bible every day (or have it read to you). Try it in the morning before you face the day’s challenges to strengthen yourself against the inevitable attempts by the enemy to distract you from being thankful. In all things, yes all, give thanks to Him (1 Thessalonians 5:18) – there is nothing here on Earth that is too big for Him to deal with (Jeremiah 32:17), and as you live in thanks you will discover that He has already anticipated and dealt with your problems in advance (Matthew 6:8).
Just be thankful and travel with Him through it all. LIVE IN JOY – eternity with Him is waiting for us!
I cry aloud to the Lord;
I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
I pour out before him my complaint;
before him I tell my trouble.
When my spirit grows faint within me,
it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk
people have hidden a snare for me.
Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
no one cares for my life.
I cry to you, Lord;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
Listen to my cry,
for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison,
that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
because of your goodness to me.
(Psalm 142 NIV)