11. Four Ways to Pray for Your Patients

We all know prayer is good and that you should probably be praying for your patients. But how exactly? Will I look unprofessional doing so?

In this episode of the 'Heal the Healers' podcast, Inga Hofmann discusses the importance and implications of praying with patients as a physician. She provides four practical ways physicians can integrate prayer into their practices and addresses some common concerns like being hesitant about repercussions or crossing professional boundaries. Inga emphasizes the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit's guidance when and how to pray and obtaining the patient's consent. She shares 4 specific ways how we can pray for our patients.

00:00 Introduction to Praying for Patients
01:47 Why Should We Pray for Our Patients?
02:47 Scriptural Basis for Praying for Others
08:32 Why We Might Be Hesitant to Pray for Patients
12:22 Four Tips on How to Pray for Patients
13:12 Praying for Patients: Practical Examples
23:34 Overcoming Uneasiness About Praying
24:19 Special Announcement: Heal the Healers Mentorship Program
25:22 Conclusion and Farewell

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Transcript

0:00

As physicians, we might be hesitant to pray for or with our patients, and this is what this next episode is all about. I'll give you four tips on how you can pray with your patients effectively. Welcome to the Heal the Healers podcast, where we explore the intersection of faith and medicine. Discover your God-given potential and experience Christ's healing in the midst of medical burnout. I'm your host, Ingar Hoffman, a pediatric key mock doc, physician, coach, and follow of Jesus. Together we will navigate the challenges of medicine, integrate faith into our personal and professional lives. Experience, spiritual renewal and find restoration in Christ. Welcome to the Heal the Healers, where Christ heals one physician and one patient at a time. Well, welcome back to another episode of the Heal the Healers. I'm your host, Ingar Hoffman. I'm really excited to be here with you today, and today I want to talk about four ways to pray for your patients and this is an important topic to talk about because honestly, I think in many ways we are just the perfect people to pray for our patients. So I wanna kind of review that, but before we go there, I would love it if you could just number one, follow the show on YouTube, Facebook, or any of your favorite podcast platforms. And I also would love it if you would subscribe and share the show so that other people can learn about it. And we can serve more people. That will be super awesome and I so appreciate it. So hit that share and subscribe button and let's dive into today's episode. So when I thought about this really how we should pray for our patients, I think the first thing we really should think about is, you know, why, why should we pray for our patients in the first place? And obviously there was many reasons to consider that we should be praying for our patients. And I haven't always done this as consistently when I started out in my career, although I always felt like. Prayer for my patients is a critical part of what I should be doing, but sometimes we are worried about repercussions and things like that, and we're also honestly not quite sure how to do this. So I wanted to share some tips on how I integrated my faith into my medical practice and how I incorporated prayer for and with my patients in pretty much whatever I did in medicine. So first, let's explore some reasons why we actually should pray for our patients in the first place. And some of them might be pretty obvious, but I think it's good to review number one, there's a bunch of scriptures that actually really tell us to pray for people, and I wanna highlight them first because I think it's always great to start with scripture and then go from there. So the one first one is Ephesians. Six 18. You can read it on the screen here. So I will do the same and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers into a request. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Now I do realize that this scripture points out praying for your fellow Christians, your fellow Christian physicians. You should be praying for'em. So I do realize that that is true, but I think this is an instrumental scripture in part because it follows right after the spiritual armor of God, right? We know the armor of God, but actually we often forget the second part, how important it is that we should pray in the Spirit on all occasions, and I know this is Pointed towards Christians praying for other believers. But I wanna encourage you really meditate on those scriptures, the armor plus the prayer scripture. So number one, it really tells us Paul tells us to pray for each other, and that's what we do at Heal the Healers as well. The second part is that in Matthew 5 44 it says, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Now you might say, well, my patients are not my enemies. And that is true. They are not. They are the people entrusted to you to care for, but if we should pray for our enemies, how much more do you think we should pray for our patients now, Obvious scripture is one Thessalonians five 17, where Paul again tells us, pray continually. And I think that is true for all people. We should pray continually, not just for our fellow Christian believers, the fellow physicians in Christ anybody really. And I think that's important so that we can spread the gospel. And care for each other and lift each other up in prayer. And you never know what happens of the back end of your prayers, whether it's for your patients or other people. And then the last scripture I wanna share with you is First Timothy two, one. I urge you then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving made for all people. So that is a very obvious prayer. A very obvious comment that we should pray for all people. So if that is written in scripture, guess what? I think you should be praying as well. But that is. One part Scripture tells us to pray for other people. Now I wanna take it a little bit specifically though, to our patients, and here is the thing. The second reason why I think it is important to pray for your patients is precisely that. You might be the only person that is praying for them and perhaps nobody else will. But imagine if that is true, and that might be true for a lot of patients, we don't know exactly because we don't see into everybody's Personal life behind the scenes, so to speak, and know who's really praying and interceding for them. But it should be our job to pray for our patients because we might be the only one. And the third reason is I think that we are very uniquely positioned to pray for our patients. Number one, we understand their medical concern in a very unique way that nobody else does. We have particular insight, especially if they are ill and if maybe they're even gravely ill. We have very unique insights into their illness, whether it's acute or chronic, and can pray very specifically based on our Additional knowledge of anatomy and physiology to pray and intercede right into the specific area. And yet we also understand that there might be more than meet CI that goes beyond our physical understanding and our medical knowledge. And that's what we talked about in a prior episode where I talked about, you know, you shouldn't put Your medical knowledge above a God. So they go in hand in hand. But in the end the words of wisdom from the Lord and the Holy Spirit instruction he's giving you really go above and beyond what you know by your medical book knowledge and training. So the last part, number four, why we should pray for our patients is that our patients very much are fragile, especially when they are sick. And that is often a scenario where people are. Sometimes coming to the end of their rope and they're looking for ways, they're looking for answers, they might need help. That is beyond their understanding. And as you know, sometimes people turn in desperate situations to God. Now what if our prayers even more uplift them and help them and, and Provide ways and connect with God beyond our understanding. So that is a wonderful way that we can pray for our patients. So scripture tells us we have unique insights. They are in a specific situation that there might actually seek the Lord and who knows, nobody else might be actually praying for them. So these are the first parts. Now let's reflect on reasons why we might be hesitant to pray for our patients. And I would say over my career I have experienced some of those and I've heard other physicians share that they might be hesitant to pray. And here are just a few reasons that I wrote down. I'm gonna pick up my notes so I don't forget anything, but that we might Be hesitant to pray for patients. The first one is that we are afraid of people and what they think. We are afraid of what the patients might think. We are afraid of. What might our colleagues think if they find out we are praying for people, but in fact, I know from a dear colleague from years ago who did a lot of research on terminal ill patients, and they are receptiveness to spiritual questions, including prayer and faith. You know, most patients actually want a physician that caress about these things. They might not share your faith, that's okay. But they do care. They see you compassion for them if you see them beyond their illness, and it is a very powerful way. To also conne, build connection with your patient and build rapport. And most patients, the vast majority actually really appreciate that. And they appreciate a physician that cares this deeply, not only about their physical needs or maybe their social economic factors and status, but also about their personal spiritual health and their faith. So that's a really important part. So you are actually. In a better position than you think you are. I wouldn't worry too much about what patients think, but I know that that fear comes into people and holds them back, so that's why I'm laying it out there. Actually, your patients want to hear from you. Number two, we are afraid of repercussions that, could happen when we pray for patients, especially in a professional medical setting, if it's your own practice, you can do whatever you want, right? But it, if it's in another person's practice, if you're private practice or you work in a hospital or an academic setting, you might be really concerned. If they are repercussions, what if this comes out and somebody reports you? And I think that is a huge part why many physicians do not pray for their patients. And a huge part why I held back for years to not pray for my patients and pray with them specifically because I was worried, what if I get reported? What if I get called into my boss's office that I shouldn't be praying for patients that could happen? We think it probably happens a lot less than we think and we worry about and. But if you feel led to pray for patients, I think you need to put that above your fear. So these are common reasons. The other one, the third one I would say is that we might perceive this as unprofessional, that we cross some sort of Boundary with the patient if we introduce a spiritual aspect such as prayer. And again, I think it is largely in our head that we have these fear of man, fear of the patient, fear of repercussions, fear of judgment from other colleagues and physicians. But I just wanna lay them out there in the open because. Chances are that's probably going through your head. And I've spoke with many Christian physicians over the years where I felt like, how do you guys handle this? And this comes up as a common reason. So these are the reasons people are hesitant to pray. We talked about why you should be praying. Now let's go into the specifics, actually how you can pray for your patients specifically. So I wanna share four tips and how you can do that while you are in a medical setting, in a practice or in a hospital. So it doesn't matter where you are. These four tips work, and I sort of put them in different stages for you to realize. What are some easy entry ways and what are some more obvious ways to pray for people? So let's get started here. And again, if you have been clicking into this just now and tuning in, I would love it if you just share and subscribe this show and share it with other people and with your colleagues because it will help them as well be bold about their faith and integrate their faith into their medical practice. Thank you so much for doing that. I really appreciate it. So let's go and dive into the four tips for how you can pray for your patients. The first one is a pretty easy one. You can just pray on your own, and that means you pray alone without the patient present when knowing. I would say I do this a lot and I have done this a lot over years. Maybe not for every patient. This is my, the honest truth. Have I prayed for every single patient that ever crossed my path? No. But I have prayed for a lot of patients and a lot of them I. I prayed this way. They perhaps never knew that I prayed for them, but I did, and I prayed for them specifically perhaps for their illness, for divine instruction for holy Spirit inspired instruction of what I should be doing with this particular case, especially when I felt like I'm out of my depth here. There is no clear medical answer. I need some higher answers that are beyond my medical understanding or even that of my colleagues. So that is a common way. So you just pray during your quiet time or Anywhere else really where you want to just lift that patient up in prayer. So that's a pretty easy one. And I would say we should do that on a lot of our patients, at least all of them that God puts in our heart and. I should have prefaced this whole section by the most important thing or the most important thing. You should listen to the Holy Spirit's instructions first and who you should pray for, how you should pray for them, and when you should pray for them, and how often. So that goes above all. So listen to the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord, who should I pray for? When should I pray for them and how? And then, you know, use these four kind of examples I'm giving to guide you and the Holy Spirit might tell you these simple things that I'm laying out here. Or you might hear something crazy and if you are sure it is from the Lord, best is to follow it. The second way you can pray for your patient is just pray over them quietly. So that means you are with a patient and praying for them, but they don't really know that you're praying. You are not saying, Hey, I'm gonna pray over you. You're just going about your business. You're praying over them. Now, I have done this a lot and I would say that is probably the most common way I have prayed for patients and exams. Clinical exams lent themselves beautiful because you have a quiet moment when you are. Listening to the heart and lungs, right? You're using a stethoscope, you're tuning in and you are listening, and often I do close my eyes. That's just how I function in the medical practice. I often kind of close my eyes to tune really in, into my exam. I do that quite often, especially with complicated patient or exam. It just, I don't know, helps me with my exam skills. To really visualize what's going on and what a beautiful way in that moment to lean into the Holy Spirit and quietly pray in your head. So again, I'm not praying out loud, I'm just praying over the patient basically in my head quietly, and I think that's very powerful. We have done this a lot is in clinic. During exams, but also particularly, and there, I would say I've done this routinely with very sick patients, especially in the ICU and intubated when the patient is sedated. I'm just listening. I'm just praying over them. If I'm Palpating their belly. And look, if they have a large liver or spleen, I'm praying over those organs and I'm really just touching them with a love of Jesus to let them know, baby, you are loved. I'm a pediatric oncologist, so I pray for little kids. So I would pray over them. I would pray that they're loved, that through my touch they would feel the love of Jesus. Now I. Wanna be very clear here. When I do this, I am not at all suggestion healing touch therapies and all these woowoo and quite oc cold things that are out there. That is not at all the practice I'm suggesting. I'm literally saying you go about your medical exam and as you do it, that hopefully they will feel You care and compassion and the love of Jesus, and you pray over them. So hear me clearly. I'm not a healing touch therapist. I do not endorse those in quite the contrary. We can cover that in another episode, so I just wanna make it very clear. Because sometimes languages and lines between those different disciplines can become blurry, and I want to make sure that we are staying. What is scripturally sound now? Laying off of hands is a scripturally sound practice. We can talk about that another time. I wanna just be very clear here. Because there's a lot of practices in alternative medicine that are lookalikes and sound alikes have nothing to do with scripture, and I wanna be very crystal clear here. So again, that is number two. Pray over your patient quietly. Over exam times is perfect. Now the third way you can pray for your patient, that means you actually verbalize that you want to pray for them or that you're praying for them, but pray on your own. So this might come up in conversation. I have had countless of patients over the years where I sensed they are open to spirituality or faith, or they might be even Christians and they won't They appreciate that somebody says, I am praying for you, and I've certainly done this with a lot of my patients that are quite honestly in difficult situations, and patients always appreciate it. I never have anybody else tell me I don't like that. Please don't pray for me. They're very appreciative because they, again, they see that you care and that you have deep compassion. Now, sometimes you might say, why don't you just pray with them? You know, sometimes the clinic situation doesn't lent themselves to that. Sometimes they are just not in the right spot to receive that prayer right there in the hospital or clinic setting. But they do want you to pray for them, and so that's where I say I'm gonna specifically pray for that, that whatever, that your blood counts get better, that your patient responds to the infection and the antibiotics, whatever it might be, so that you pray for that specifically. And then the last one is the very, that's the last big step, right? That's the bold step. Pray with your patient together. Pray with your patient, with you, present out loud. That can either mean you pray for them. With them present. Basically pray over them and if they're comfortable, you might even lay hand on their shoulder or whatever is appropriate. Also here, just a quick note. You want to always ask permission. When you pray for people out loud, you want to ask for permission. If you can pray for them, if they want that they might indicate that they want that. And before you touch anybody, a mother, a caregiver, a patient, please make sure that you are highly sensitive to really Not touch in any areas that are not appropriate. That seems very obvious, but I mean, even in church services, I ask for permission to lay my hands on the shoulder of a person. Or you might just skip it all together to keep the lines very clear use the Holy Spirit's guidance here. What you should do and When you do anything, please ask the patient for consent and permission. Really important, really important. You might also find yourself in a situation where the patient really wants to pray with you and praise the lord, that is wonderful. I can tell you a quick story. This is some years back, I was still at Boston Children's. There was a very, very sick patient. I don't even remember what their primary diagnosis was, but they were in the ICU. That kid was in the ICU was basically end of life care after bone marrow transplant with multiple complications, and I was. Pretty clear medically speaking, that patient is likely gonna die. And that family was devastated in grieving. Lots of family there, but they were also believers. So when we came to support the family and talk with them, I remember my fellow at the time was also believer. We met with the family. We helped answer their questions, checked in with them to give them updates and comfort them. And because I knew based on their feedback and what they were saying that they were praying that they're believing in God. That that I said, is it okay? Would you like me to pray with you? And I just prayed the name of the Lord over them. I prayed for their comfort. I don't remember all the exact words, but I prayed out loud. I. With them and over them. The people in the room, they were fellow believers, but you know how much they appreciated it, how much they felt cared for that the Lord has put them up on that weekend. I think it was a weekend call. I didn't know that family where we, well, that he put somebody in their path to say I'm the Lord. I'm with you and I'm comforting you through this difficult time where you have to say your last goodbyes and that we could trust in the Lord together. And that was amazing. I was moved, I was in tears. I did not care because when I pray for people, sometimes I get moved to tears and I am not feeling bad about that anymore like I used to. It's different story, but so these are the four ways. Pray on your own. Pray over your patient quietly. Without them really knowing that you're doing that. And I think that's okay. Pray over them. Pray with your patient. Tell'em that you're praying but not in front of them, and then pray together with them. These are the four ways, so what you might say, I. I feel a little uneasy about praying. So what I want you to do is think about next episode. We were gonna talk about some ways you can increase your prayer practice, because guess what? It's good to practice and how you gain confidence through those practices. So that is what we will tackle in the next episode. Now again, remember to follow us on YouTube, on Facebook, on your favorite podcast platform, and share. This show with other people. It would help us a lot to spread the message and bring faith and medicine back together and integrate that. The last thing I wanted to let you know is that. In a few weeks, I am actually starting a mentorship program for Christian physicians. It's called the Heal the Healers Mentorship Program. And it starts enrollment will start on January 22nd, and. It will go until January 26th. There is a wait list. What I want you to do is scan this QR code here on the screen and then get on the wait list in order to participate in this mentorship program. This is very specifically designed to mentor, disciple, equip, and train you as a Christian physician so we can all work more boldly in our faith. Integrate our faith into medicine and be the hands and feet of Jesus that we are called to be. It will be mentoring, it will be also coaching. This is a program like no other, and I think you're really gonna like it. So I would love to see you there. I'm kind of propping myself up to look over the key code panel. But again, thank you for listening in there today. I so appreciate you. I cannot wait to catch up with you next week and hopefully see you in the mentorship program. And with that, I say goodbye and talk to you next week. My prayer is that you were encouraged, strengthened, and perhaps even convicted with this episode today. If this podcast has blessed you, would you help share it with your friends and colleagues and even share it on social media? Also, leave us a review on the podcast platform where you are listening to this content. It would help us a lot. Together we can share the good news of Jesus and transform medicine one physician. And one patient at the time. Have a great day. God bless.