Will God Help Me?
If I ask God to help me with my cancer journey, how can I be confident he will?
By Chris Lawrence
When we face hard times, it can be natural to wonder, will God help me if I pray to him?
Sooner or later it seems inevitable that we will face a difficult experience, whether cancer or the like—and if not us, then perhaps someone we love.
In times of desperation, it’s often natural to seek help outside of ourselves. And what better source than our Creator.
However, this brings up the question that many people wonder: How can I be confident that God will actually help me?
People want to pray
If you are asking questions about prayer, know that you are not alone. Thousands of people are searching such topics on the internet every single day.
One of the most popular articles on Hope Has Arrived is, Asking God For Help, which explains how people can pray and find help and peace.
Often, people simply don’t know how to pray. They lack confidence in how and what to pray, but even when they do pray, they doubt God will answer.
The purpose of this article is to help you gain confidence to pray—and to believe that God will answer you.
Variety of spiritual backgrounds
These days, not everyone comes from a spiritual or religious background. While the idea of praying and asking God for help in hard times might seem appealing, for many it’s unfamiliar or perhaps even mysterious.
After all, faith is believing in the unseen—which does not come naturally to most of us.
And so we often wonder, how can I be sure that God will help me? If he is real, why would he even want to?
Here are some reasons why God will help you if you ask. I have taken them directly from the Bible, a historical and reliable book about God and his ways.
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God loves you.
John 3:16, a popular verse in the Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God loves the world, and even more so, he loves you specifically. This is why he will answer. When you read that sentence, put your name where it says “the world”…do you believe this is true? This simple message best sums up the message of the Bible: God loves you—deeply. He wants to have a relationship with you (for more on this topic, see Knowing God Personally at the end of this article).
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God has a plan for your life.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” Indeed, God has good plans for you. Part of that plan is for you to find joy in praying and having a relationship with him. It could also include how he intends to help you get through the current difficulty. Going through hard times doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have good in mind for us. As the late pastor Tim Keller once said, “God never promised us that we wouldn’t suffer. He just promised us that he would be with us in it.”
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God longs to show you good.
Psalm 103:8 says, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” God is good, and he longs to show his goodness to you. He doesn’t always do this in a way we would expect, or the timing we want, but he desires to bless you when you seek him.
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God longs to show you mercy.
Psalm 145:8 “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” God is not here to judge you for what you are or what you are not, but he is here to show you mercy. He offers this to all who will receive him. For more about how you can begin a relationship with God, see Knowing God Personally at the end of this article.
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God invites you to ask him for help.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me (Revelation 3:20).” Like a friend tapping on your door, waiting for you to answer, God is there, waiting for you to open the door and talk to him. We talk to him when we open the door of our heart and pray. And that’s all prayer is really…talking to God. Why not talk to him today and ask for help?
Conclusion
The answer to the question, “will God help me if I ask?” The answer is yes! Absolutely.
So go ahead…ask him for help.
You could pray something like this: “Dear God, please come and help me in my time of need. I believe that you love me and have a plan for my life…or at least, I want to believe this is true! Please reveal yourself to me…show me your love and give me confidence that you will help me. Amen.”
God will answer your prayer in faith. While he may not always answer us in the timing we want or the way we expect, God will work on our behalf. He longs to show good to those who call on him.
As Psalm 27:13 says, “Yet I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living.”
Know that indeed, God will help you when you ask. Pray with confidence, be patient and then watch him work on your behalf.
To learn more about how to begin a relationship with God, read Knowing God Personally.
If you would like to someone from Hope Has Arrived to pray for you, submit your prayer request here.
For more help with prayer, see Asking God for Help.
I have a question or comment
How to know God’s hope, strength and peace
Note: We are not doctors and we cannot answer your medical questions. However, we welcome your questions about finding hope and knowing God.
Footnotes: (1) James 4:14 NIV (2) 1 Corinthians 13:13, NLT. (3) 1 Peter 1:3 NIV (4) Jeremiah 29:11 NIV