No. 98 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer
The Deliverer
When every exit seems sealed, the name The Deliverer turns our eyes toward the One whose power to free us has no ceiling.
I call on Thee O Unfastener, O Counselor, O Deliverer! Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One! Bahá'u'lláh, The Long Healing Prayer · read the full prayer
Plain meaning · Deliverer
1. One who delivers or rescues; a preserver. 2. One who relates or communicates.
Definition from Webster's Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain). When these Writings were translated into English, the translator relied on Webster's New International Dictionary, 1934 edition, of the same Webster's tradition. source
What “The Deliverer” means
The meaning above is the plain dictionary definition of the word. What follows reflects on it as a name of God, offered for your own contemplation, and not as an authoritative interpretation of the Bahá'í Writings, which rests with ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi alone.
To call God 'The Deliverer' is to name something we have all, at one point or another, desperately needed: a force capable of releasing us from whatever has us bound. The word points not merely to rescue from an immediate danger but to a thoroughgoing liberation, the kind that addresses the root of captivity, not just its symptoms. Whether the captivity in question is physical pain, a grief that will not lift, a habit that has overtaken us, or a spiritual darkness we cannot name, the name The Deliverer insists that no form of bondage is beyond God's reach.
There is something quietly radical in this name. It refuses to treat our condition as permanent. Suffering, limitation, and despair all have a way of presenting themselves as final, as simply the way things are now and will be. The Deliverer pushes back against that finality. Not by denying the reality of what we are going through, but by locating within God a capacity for release that is larger than any particular form of confinement we experience. The name is an affirmation that liberation exists, that it has a source, and that the source is personal and responsive.
Across many spiritual traditions, deliverance carries a double meaning: it can refer to being freed from something harmful and also to being brought safely toward something good. Both senses seem present when we invoke this name. The Deliverer is not simply a force that removes obstacles; it is a presence that guides us through the opened door and into a wider life. Sitting with this name in prayer can quietly reframe how we think about whatever we are facing, moving us from the question 'Will I ever be free?' toward the more open question 'What is God freeing me toward?'
Calling on The Deliverer for healing
When illness or suffering closes in, one of its crueler effects is the feeling of being trapped, inside a body that will not cooperate, inside a situation that seems to have no way forward, inside a fear that circles back on itself. Calling on The Deliverer in those moments is not a magic formula, and it carries no guarantee of a particular outcome. What it does offer is a genuine shift in orientation. Instead of addressing our condition as though we were alone in it, we turn toward a God who has been understood across generations as One who opens what has been shut, who loosens what has grown rigid, who sees the exit we cannot see. That is a real form of companionship, and companionship itself is a form of healing.
It is worth remembering, too, that deliverance takes many forms. Sometimes it arrives as the restoration of physical health, and when that happens it is a reason for deep gratitude. But it can also arrive as a shift in perspective, a release from bitterness, an unexpected peace within circumstances that have not changed, or the courage to take the next practical step, including seeking the care of a skilled and compassionate physician. Medical care and spiritual prayer are not competitors; both belong to the same landscape of healing that God has laid out for us. Invoking The Deliverer is an act of trust that however deliverance comes, and in whatever form is truly best, it comes from a source that genuinely knows us and genuinely desires our wholeness.
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Living the Word
Applying The Deliverer in your life
A name of God is a virtue to grow into. Where is The Deliverer being asked of you right now, and how will you practice it? Keep a short note each time you return, and watch your own path with this name take shape over time. It stays on this device.
In the Bahá'í Writings
“‘Say, all is from God’ is a sound and sufficient argument, and ‘if God toucheth thee with a hurt there is no dispeller thereof save Him’ is a healing medicine.””
Read in full at bahai.org →“15.3O handmaid of God! The prayers which were revealed to ask for healing apply both to physical and spiritual healing. Recite them, then, to heal both the soul and the body. If healing is right for the patient, it will certainly be granted; but for some ailing persons, healing would only be the cause of other ills, and therefore wisdom doth not permit an affirmative answer to the prayer. 15.4O handmaid of God! The power of the Holy Spirit healeth both physical and spiritual ailments. Acquiring Divine Virtues”
Read in full at bahai.org →“God Is the Great Compassionate Physician Who Alone Gives True Healing October 19th All true healing comes from God! There are two causes for sickness, one is material, the other spiritual. If the sickness is of the body, a material remedy is needed, if of the soul, a spiritual remedy. If the heavenly benediction be upon us while we are being healed then only can we be made whole, for medicine is but the outward and visible means through which we obtain the heavenly healing. Unless the spirit be healed, the cure of the body is worth nothing. All is in the hands of God, and without Him there can be no health in us! There have been many men who have died at last of the very disease of which they have made a special study. Aristotle, for instance, who made a special study of the digestion, died of a gastric malady. Avicenna was a specialist of the heart, but he died of heart disease. God is the great compassionate Physician who alone has the power to give true healing. All creatures are dependent upon God, however great may seem their knowledge, power and independence.”
Read in full at bahai.org →Questions about The Deliverer
- Does invoking The Deliverer in this prayer mean God will cure my illness?
- Calling on The Deliverer is an act of sincere trust in God, but it does not carry a promise of any specific physical outcome. The Bahá'í understanding of healing prayer holds that what is truly best for a soul may not always align with what we think we need in a given moment. We pray in hope and surrender, while also taking practical steps, including consulting qualified medical professionals, that are part of the same landscape of care.
- Why is The Deliverer grouped with names like The Sufficing and The Abiding in this line of the prayer?
- The clustering of divine names in the Long Healing Prayer creates a kind of cumulative portrait of God's character. The Deliverer speaks to active release, The Sufficing to completeness and adequacy, and The Abiding to permanence, together they suggest a God who is not only capable of freeing us but who remains present and fully sufficient through whatever the process of liberation looks like. Each name adds a dimension that the others complement.
- Can this name help with spiritual or emotional suffering, not just physical illness?
- Yes, and this is an important point. The Bahá'í understanding holds that healing prayer addresses both the body and the soul, and that spiritual and emotional ailments are genuine forms of suffering deserving genuine care. The Deliverer is a name that speaks directly to any experience of being bound or trapped, whether that bondage is physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual. Sitting with this name in quiet prayer can be a meaningful practice for anyone carrying any kind of burden.
Listen to, recite, and reflect on the whole prayer, its more than one hundred names of God.
Hear the Long Healing Prayer