7 Ways to Pray When Your Body Is Weak, but Your Faith Is Strong

1. Pray for Blessings

“I pray every time I need to get up and go to the bathroom—just a small example of how dependent I am upon the Lord. I’ve grown closer to God than I’ve ever been. Such a blessing!”—Debbie 

My friend Debbie found that the blessing in her physical weakness was that she drew closer to God as she prayed to Him for every movement and exertion requiring energy. So encouraging!  We can ask God to show us how to find blessings in our circumstances, like someone’s kindness or assistance. Birds chirping out of an open window. Flowers blooming. God is helping you through a long night. Faith strengthened.

Dear Lord, I feel so weak and tired today. I don’t think I can even get out of bed without Your help. Brushing my teeth seems too hard. Please be my strength when I think I can’t go on. You assure me I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I’m completely dependent on Your energizing spirit working inside me today and every day. Thank You for the blessing of never leaving me or forsaking me. I put my trust in You alone. Praise You, Father, for caring so tenderly for me. Amen

Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God! Ps. 42:11 NLT

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2. Pray Honestly

“Why?” is a legitimate question. It’s okay to ask God for answers. He knows everything about your situation. He assures you His plans for you are for good and not for harm. God sees the whole panorama of your life when you can only see and feel your current circumstances, which might be painful. Your heart and body are weary with worry, wondering if you’ll ever feel whole again. God knows your every thought. It’s calming and reassuring to lay your burdens before Him and let His presence refuel your hope of a better tomorrow. 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for knowing me so well because You tell me in Your Word that I am beautifully and wonderfully made, but today I’m not feeling beautiful or wonderful. Please, Lord, draw near to me. Remind me of Your faithfulness in my life through good and bad times when I didn’t know which way to turn. You’ve always been there even when I wasn’t faithful, You never lost faith in me. I’m searching for answers I know only You have, so please let me ask them, and I’ll listen for Your still small voice. I don’t like what’s happening to my body right now, and I want it to end, but I also know that having faith means I trust You’re at work even when I can’t see or feel any progress. My natural way is to depend on my own strength, but my body is so weak help me Lord to depend on Your abundant strength. Amen

“For when I am weak, then I am strong.” - 2 Corinthians 12:10

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3. Pray Scriptures or Worship Songs

Praying Scripture is comforting and helps us pray God’s will for our circumstances. Most online Bible plans have a listening feature when you feel too weak in mind and body to read or write. 

Worship songs are often based on Scripture, so listening to the words and singing along can become a prayer to spark hope and joy. When we were driving to my third breast cancer surgery, the song “Trust in You” by Lauren Daigle came on the radio. “When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move. When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You, I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You.” My husband said, “I’m sure that’s how you feel right now.” It was, but this song calmed my spirit. 

The Holy Spirit will take the words of Scripture or a song, or even words on “Get Well” cards, and help you apply them to just how you’re feeling for a powerful prayer. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to face life. When we encounter a crisis, the Holy Spirit strengthens and provides a new perspective of confidence to see beyond the immediate and focus on the Lord. 

Oh Lord, I love You, Lord. I will praise You at all times and boast only about You. Lord, I exalt Your holy name. I know You hear my voice when I call to You for help. Lord, I’m calling now. Please hear my cries. Your Word says You'll rescue me from all my troubles and You're close to the brokenhearted. Father, my heart is breaking and my body is weary. Rescue me from my crushed and despondent spirit. I know that even as a righteous believer, I will face many troubles, but I also must trust and believe that You will help me this time, like every time in my past, and free me from all my fears. I want to be radiant with joy as I look to You. I know You’ll always answer me, Your child. Amen
Inspired by Psalm 34  

“Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.” Psalm 68:4

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4. Pray for Healing

Often, weakness is the result of physical or mental illness, and you’re praying for a cure or healing. Pain ravages your body, and you just want relief. Maybe it’s temporary from treatment, a chronic illness, or an ongoing affliction. Even when faith is strong, pain wears you down. You wonder if you’re ever going to feel good again. Disappointment and discouragement prey on emotions and energy. God weeps with you. It’s okay and even good to cry. Tears are a release valve God gives that refreshes like rain on your garden. It doesn’t mean your faith is slipping. You’re just tired and need a break. Rest and then pray. 

Dear Father, I know You are Jehovah Rapha, the Great Healer, and You provide my medical team with their giftedness. But I need Your divine intervention to give my body vitality and health again. I’m so tired all the time. Emotionally and physically drained. I cry out to You, trusting You to make me well either in my earthly or heavenly body. Please, Holy Spirit, hear my plea and heal my body. Restore my energy. Remove barriers to my health. I know You want the best for me, Lord, and if I’m to remain weak, then teach me to accept my limitations and live for Your glory. Amen

“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” - Nahum 1:7

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5. Pray for His Strength

The apostle Paul, who pleaded with God three times to remove an affliction, wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.’”

Dear Father, It’s hard to consider boasting about my weakness, but when I’m at the end of myself, often that’s where I learn to surrender and depend on Your strength and not my own. Like Paul, I ask for relief from my trials, but I know that Your spiritual strength is always there for me to use my weakness to Your glory. Please give me wisdom and direction in decisions, comfort in disappointment, hope in what might seem hopeless. I know hope isn’t wishing. It’s Christ. Amen 

“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” - Psalm 105:4

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6. Pray for Peace While Waiting

Whether you’re waiting for test results, healing strength and health to return, the pain pills to kick in, or for elusive sleep, waiting is difficult. It’s hard not to worry. Praying for peace can help you not borrow problems to agonize over. Only God can give us peace in the middle of a crisis that passes all understanding. If we’re anxious or worried, we might not be trusting the Holy Spirit’s leading in our situation. 

Dear Heavenly Father, it’s hard to be content while I wait for answers. Wait for my strength to return. Wait for my body to heal. Please quiet my anxious mind and soul and give me the peace that doesn’t depend on the outcome I want. I need to trust You’re working out all the details and will help me accept the results and answers. I don’t like feeling weak and tired, and I want my old life back. Help me accept the life I have now and wait on Your timing. I know You’re in control and You want the best for me. Help me surrender my future to You, Lord, and learn to live with my restrictions for now. Amen

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” Romans 8:26 NLT

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7. Pray for Others

When Shannon Bream was interviewed about her book, Nothing is Impossible with God, she said that when she can’t sleep, she goes through the alphabet, thinking of someone whose name starts with each letter to pray for them. She joked that some nights she gets to the letter “Q” before falling asleep. What a blessing to everyone she lifts up in prayer in her own weakness. 

Author and speaker Pam Farrel says that while battling ovarian cancer, she surrounded herself with pictures of family and friends and prayed for them when she opened her eyes after catnaps, praying for each person as she fell in and out of sleep. 

Pray for doctors, caregivers, healthcare teams, and people who send cards, texts, calls, or bring meals.  To everyone offering to pray for you, ask how you can pray for them. It’s a blessing to be a blessing to those who are blessing you.

Dear Lord, I'm so in need of prayers that in my weakness, I often forget to pray for others. Forgive me, Lord. Remind me to show my gratitude by praying for each one, and bring those to my mind that are especially in need of prayer. Lord, I praise You for every person in my life stepping in to help me when I can’t help myself. Remind me they need You too. For those who don’t know You, maybe I can be a witness that even in my body’s weakness, my hope and faith are in You alone, Lord. Let each person see Jesus in me. Amen

Even in bed, on the couch, in a recliner or wheelchair, in pain, you’re always in God’s presence, and He’s only a prayer away. Keep praying, resting in His promises, trusting He sees you, loves you, and is working everything out for your good. Your body’s weakness isn’t unseen by God — He’ll use it to reveal His strength in you. Trust God to answer and trust His answer to be what is best in the situation.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. - Mark 11:24

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

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