Prayer for a Friend Whose Husband is Sick

Are you looking for a Prayer for a Friend Whose Husband is Sick. You have a beloved friend whose husband is sick.  Unfortunately, he isn’t sick with just the common cold or even the flu.  Your friend’s husband is gravely ill, and doctors have informed them that his prognosis is not good.  In fact, they’ve told her there is nothing they can do to eradicate the disease from his body, and that the best they can hope for is to slow the process while administering palliative care, which means they will keep him comfortable as the disease takes its toll.

What do you say to your friend?

How can you pray for your friend?

What if God doesn’t heal him?

How to comfort a friend whose husband is sick:

When trying to comfort your friend whose husband is sick, it is extremely important that you avoid the trap that not only Job’s friends, but also the disciples of Jesus, fell into.  What trap is that?  The trap of trying to figure out why bad things happen.  It’s not up to you, or even your friend, to determine if her husband “brought this illness upon himself” or not.  Don’t seek to place blame on his thoughts or actions (Job 4:7).  Don’t try to discover a root cause for his malady (John 9:2).  Jesus taught that God causes the sun to shine upon both the evil and the good, and He sends rain upon the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).  Each of our lives consist of seasons, all of which are purposed by God, and these seasons include a time to be born and a time to die (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).  Therefore, your job is not to try to figure out “why,” but to speak comfort, peace, and strength to your friend, being careful not to tear her or her husband down with your words (Job 19:2).

In addition to speaking words of comfort, it’s also vitally important that you pray both for and with your friend whose husband is sick.  Too many times, Christians fervently pray for healing for the person who is sick and forget to pray for the spouse who has become their caretaker.  Your friend may very well feel overwhelmed with the transformation from her role as “wife” to her new roles of “nurse” if her husband is unable to care for himself, “dietitian” if she has to monitor her husband’s calories, carbohydrates, fluid intake, etc., “pharmacist” if her husband is unable to manage his own medications, “chauffeur” if her husband is unable to drive to his doctor appointments, and “accountant” if her husband has medical bills associated with his illness (which he probably does).  She may even begin to have feelings of resentment toward her husband for no longer being able to take care of himself due to the toll that caring for him is taking on her own physical and emotional wellbeing.  That’s why you must pray not only for your friend, but also with her.  A prayer said with someone is much more powerful than a prayer said for someone; this is true not only because your friend then knows that you truly are praying for her, but also because when the two of you come together in the name of Jesus, He will be in your midst (Matthew 18:20).

A great prayer to offer your friend whose husband is sick is what is known as “the Aaronic blessing.”  This is a simple yet powerful blessing that you can pray over your friend when she is too overwhelmed to cry out to God for herself (Psalm 69:2-3).  This blessing, found in the 6th chapter of Numbers, is the blessing that God commanded Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to speak over the children of Israel.  It’s a blessing that puts the name of the Lord upon His children and causes Him to bless them.

The next time you see your friend whose husband is sick, let God use you to stand in the gap for her (Ezekiel 22:30) and make intercession for her (1 Timothy 2:1).  Take her hands in yours, look her in the eyes, and speak the Aaronic blessing into her life:

“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26 KJV)

The words you speak into someone’s life hold the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21); therefore, praying these words over your friend speaks the Lord’s blessing, grace, and peace into her life.  Remember, if you can’t meet with your friend in person to pray with her, message the blessing to her on social media or send it to her in a text message.  Whether spoken or written, it is still the unstoppable Word of God (Hebrews 4:12).

How can I pray for my husband who is sick?

Your friend may seek guidance from you regarding direction in praying for her sick husband.  You can direct her prayers through scriptures of healing and hope—not just in the natural world but, more importantly, in the eternal world to come.

One of the more well-known scriptures she can include in her prayers for her husband is found in the book of Isaiah, which says:

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”  (Isaiah 53:5 KJV)

This scripture speaks prophetically of Christ paying the price on the cross, not only for our sin and iniquity, but also for our healing and our peace.  This is a powerful scripture to pray over someone who is sick; in fact, Peter referred to it in his first epistle to the Church (1 Peter 2:24).

It is important to remind your friend when praying for her husband’s healing that God’s Will is sovereign and perfect.  Therefore, she needs to seek her husband’s healing, while also submitting her will and her wishes to God’s Will (Matthew 6:10).  This is one of the hardest prayers to pray, but she needs to release her husband to the Lord and be ready to accept the possibility that God might answer her prayers for his healing with a definitive and resounding “No” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).  Why would a loving and compassionate God refuse to heal someone from a terminal illness?  One reason might be to spare him from any heartache, pain, and suffering that the enemy has planned for him (Isaiah 51:1).  That is true compassion, grace, and mercy (Psalm 86:15).

Finally, if her husband’s illness is terminal and God is not healing him, your friend should pray that God will give him peace and comfort as he says his final goodbyes to those on Earth and prepares to meet Jesus (Psalm 23:4).  If his illness is terminal, she should pray that God will remind both of them every day that, as believers, their reward is in Heaven—and so to live is Christ, but to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

Her prayer might sound something like this:

Lord, I know that You paid the price for my husband’s healing, both physically and spiritually, and I thank You for that.  I come to You today seeking a manifestation of that physical healing in his body that would rid him of the illness that is threatening his life.  I speak life into his body right now in Jesus. I command every cell and organ in his body to function properly.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.

Prayer for my friend whose husband is sick:

When you don’t know how to pray for your friend whose husband is sick, you can also pray the Aaronic blessing over her in your own prayer time.  It might sound something like this:

Lord, You know how sick my friend’s husband is and how his illness is impacting her both physically and emotionally.  I ask You to bless my friend, Lord; allow Your blessings to come upon her and overtake her (Deuteronomy 28:2).  I ask You to keep my friend, Lord; be unto her a refuge and a fortress as she puts her trust in You (Psalm 91:2).  I ask that You make Your face shine upon my friend, Lord, and that You will be gracious to her; for You, Lord, are gracious, righteous, and full of mercy (Psalm 116:5).  I also ask, Lord, that You would lift up Your countenance upon my friend and that You would give her Your peace; for Your peace is perfect, Lord (Isaiah 26:3).  These things I pray in the name of Jesus.  Amen.