Study Finds Nearly 90 Percent of Americans Have Prayed for Healing

Prayer may be one of the most widely used forms of medical treatment among Americans, rather than just a "fringe activity."

That's a conclusion drawn by Baylor University professor of epidemiology and population health Jeff Levin from a survey he headed, which was conducted by the Gallup Organization on behalf of the school (see full study report in links list below). It found that despite declining participation in organized religion, almost 80 percent of Americans have prayed for their own healing and nearly 90 percent have prayed for the healing of others.

The study found that most of those who use prayer for healing also rely on regular medical care, and even 62 percent of those who said they would "only seek medical care and not prayer," still acknowledged that they had used healing prayer at some point in their lives. Additionally, more than half of the respondents have participated in prayer groups to help themselves or others heal, and more than a quarter of those queried have practiced or received "laying on of hands" as a means of relaying spiritual blessings.

"This blew me away," Levin said of the findings. Praying for healing "is more than just an alternative practice; this is kind of everybody. I think these findings cause us to re-evaluate what is normative and what is marginal. Maybe these practices are as normative as it gets, and to not participate, maybe, is marginal."

The survey results challenge preconceived notions about religious people. Levin noted that contrary to popular belief, it's not just "poor, uneducated, rural folks, or old people, or people who are suffering from a health crisis or who are depressed or stressed out" who turn to prayer for healing. What's more, neither is healing prayer a last resort for people who lack health care access or have no health insurance.

Levin said that according to the study, the highest predictor of whether a person engages in healing prayer is whether that person thinks he or she has a "loving relationship with God."

The survey did not investigate whether prayer actually caused healing, but previous studies have shown that prayer can have beneficial effects on those who pray -- effects such as lowered stress, better sleep and strengthened brain function.

In an email to the Huffington Post about the study results, Levin wrote, "It is unlikely that so many people -- most of the U.S. population -- would continue to pray for themselves and to serve others through prayer, throughout their lifetime, if they did not perceive that something efficacious was happening in response, whatever that might be."

And speaking to CNN, Levin said, "A lot of people may not be institutionally religious in the same ways they have been, but as far as their own private practices and beliefs, they are still very engaged. It still remains a very spiritually involved country one way or the other."

More on this story can be found at these links:

90% of Americans Have Prayed for Healing, Study Finds. CNN 
Nearly 90 Percent Of Americans Have Prayed For Healing. Huffington Post 
A Scientist Explains How Meditation And Prayer Rewire Your Brain. Huffington Post 
Prevalence and Religious Predictors of Healing Prayer Use in the USA: Findings from the Baylor Religion Survey. Journal of Religion and Health

The Big Questions

1. What do you think accounts for the high reliance on prayer for healing even when the society as a whole is becoming increasingly secular? Should we assume that God is always the addressee of these prayers?

2. What do you expect to happen when you pray for your healing or that of someone else? Why?

3. When you prayed for healing -- your own or someone else's -- and the healing did not occur, what, if anything, did occur that you considered an answer to prayer? Why?

4. How do you see the relationship between prayer for healing and medical care? Why?

5. What is your reaction to the following, from TWW team member Mary Sells? "Sometimes I find it more satisfying to pray for God’s best outcome, rather than for a specific desire of my own. I don’t know if that is lack of faith, or simply admitting that I am powerless and thereby more willing to accept that God walks with me in pain and sorrow, not just in giving me what I want."

Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:

James 5:14
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. (For context, read 5:13-20.)

It is easy to misunderstand the message of this verse from James, as though it were a promise that any prayers from the church will automatically heal the sick. Rather the focus is on the meaning of prayer and anointing.

The elders of the church represent the faith community's willingness to overcome the emotional and spiritual isolation that illness often imposes on a person who is sick. God makes the prayers effective when they are prayed by someone who reaches across the isolation that illness brings and spiritually embraces the sick person, whether that person is physically healed or not. God makes the oil efficacious when the one administering it communicates the care and solidarity of the faith community with the one who is ill, whether that person is physically healed or not.

Note that James empowers the sick with this verse as well, urging them to "call for the elders of the church." Of course, in an attentive faith community, the elders might already be aware of the sick person and have initiated contact and prayer first.

TWW team member Frank Ramirez, who is a pastor in the Church of the Brethren, comments, "Brethren have always differentiated between healing and curing. We believe that miraculous cures are always possible (and I have certainly witnessed some) but that God heals in different ways."

Ramirez continues, explaining his church's practice of anointing for healing and the laying on of hands: "Typically I meet with the person who is sick, allow them to speak about what we are praying for, and discuss the history of the practice. I then trace three crosses on their forehead with olive oil as I say, 'Recognizing your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I anoint you with oil for the forgiveness of your sins, the healing of your body, and the restoration of wholeness to your spirit.' I then place my hands on the head of the anointed one and invite all present to lay a hand on my hands or in some way be connected to each other, I pray, then pause and allow others to pray, then I will conclude by leading everyone in the Lord's Prayer."

TWW team member Misty Wintsch, also a pastor who anoints the sick, says, "Anointing is one of the things that feels like such a pastor privilege for me. I usually begin by saying, 'We aren't saying that the anointing brings an expectation of a kind of "magic" healing itself, although God can certainly do that any time he likes. It is meant as an act of worship to bring you closer to God and therefore, more open to the healing and peace that God has for you.'"

Questions: Whether or not your church anoints the sick with oil, how do you reach across the isolation that illness brings and express the solidarity of the fellowship with those members who are sick? When you pray do you tell God what you want to happen? Should you? Have you felt prayer helpful when you were sick? Why or why not?

2 Kings 5:13-14 
But [Naaman's] servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. (For context, read 5:1-19.)

Regarding prayer and healing, there are times we overthink this. People want to know the right words and right actions to achieve the right result, almost like magic. The verses above are from the story of the healing of Naaman from leprosy. Naaman was a big shot and was offended when the prophet Elisha -- through a messenger -- told him to go wash in the Jordan. "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!" (v. 11), Naaman protested.

But when Naaman finally did as instructed by the man of God, he was healed.

Questions: The Bible tells us to pray for the sick (see James 5:14 above). Do you ever suspect you are overthinking that? Does thinking too highly of yourself (as Naaman did), ever keep you from receiving what God wants you have? Does an unwillingness to pray ever keep you from receiving what God wants you have?

Philippians 4:6
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (For context, read 4:4-7.)

Here's another verse urging us to pray for what we'd like to happen.

Questions: Why do you think Paul included that thanksgiving should be the tone in which our prayer requests are made? Do you think our prayers that do not include thankfulness also reach God? Why or why not?
In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Paul mentions that he had prayed three times to be relieved of a thorn in his flesh -- an unnamed illness -- and did not receive relief. Does this affect your interpretation of Paul's earnest call to prayer in Philippians, and if so, how?

3 John 2
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. (For context, read verses 1-4.)

Third John is a short letter of encouragement written by a church elder traditionally considered to be John, the person who wrote the gospel by that name, to a church leader named Gaius (v. 1). The letter is in regard to a certain man named Diotrephes who is dividing the church and defying Gaius' authority.

Of note here is simply that in his greeting, John mentions his prayer that Gaius "may be in good health." There's no suggestion that Gaius is ill, but John's statement shows that he considers it appropriate to pray for someone's ongoing well-being. Note that John prays not just for Gaius' physical health, but also for the health of his soul.

Questions: If you are in good health, do you express thanks to God for that? How, if at all, is physical wellness related to spiritual wellness? If you had to choose, would you prefer spiritual health or physical health? Why?

Acts 9:36-37 
Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. … (For context, read 9:36-42.)

This passage goes on to tell that Peter raised Tabitha from the dead. But during the time she was being mourned, her friends lamented that her death was the end of her charitable ministries.

Most of us haven't raised someone from the dead, but when we pick up the charitable ministries of a fellow Christian who has died, we are keeping their healing ministry alive.

Questions: When has a death in your church brought a significant ministry to an end? When have others chosen to continue that ministry in some form?

For Further Discussion

1. Discuss Lamentations 3:19-23 -- "The thought of my affliction ... is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

2. Comment on this, from TWW team member Edward Hortsch: "A couple years ago we lost our pastor to cancer. He was 50 years old. Before his death, we prayed for him, and anointed him. A group of believers and their pastor came to our church and prayed for him with us. He was given two months to live; he made it six. Frankly, we were all devastated when he died. We had a hard time accepting God's will in this case. Yet it seems God used us to help him and his family when his time came. God moved him and his family to our area (a place where he really desired to be), and he and his family were deeply loved by all of us. We were able to minister to him and them in a unique way. It took us some time to accept that."

Responding to the News

This is a good time to review the arrangements your church has for keeping in touch with ill members and to keeping up frequent prayer with them and for them.

Prayer

O Lord, with thankful hearts, we praise you that you hear our prayers and that even when we don't receive the answers we hope for, you are with us as we go through the hard places. In Jesus' name. Amen.