May, 2007
"When You Need Healing"
James 5:13-20
vs 14 "Is any sick among you..."
INTRODUCTION: The problem of sickness and disease was evident in Old and New Testament times just as it is today. There are examples of many kinds of treatment and resulting healings. Jesus devoted a great part of his ministry to healing people, and He used a variety of methods. Sometimes He just spoke a word, sometimes He laid hands on them. There was not a set pattern because He was dealing with many different types of personalities and needs that they brought to Him. Some people received from Him through the spoken words and others more readily through His touch. Some received when they were asked to DO something--to rise and pick up their beds and walk. One man had mud put on his blinded eyes, one woman touched the hem of his garment. James speaks of anointing the sick person with oil and praying over the person. Different things helped people to focus more clearly on the ONE who brought the healing. There was no magic in the mud or in the oil, but it helped people to grasp healing and make it a reality. In scripture oil was often used as a medicine--the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30 used oil when he bandaged up the wounds of the man lying along the roadside. It is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit--used to anoint kings. (I Samuel 16:1-13).
In the New Testament scripture, James asks a question, "Is any sick among you?" He followed up his question with some instructions to the sick person. He didn’t simply say, "I’m sorry. Nothing can be done about yur sickness. I’m afraid it’s terminal." No, he followed his question with some things that are still applicable for 21st century Christians. That means US.
The study of healing is such an extensive study, and it is something we need to be more knowledgable about. We need to read and make a study of it not only for ourselves but in order to help others who are experiencing illness. Today I want to focus on what we find in this particular scripture. How did James answer people who were sick and who needed to get well? There are three main things in this short scripture that I would like to point out.
1. ASK--First of all the sick person needed to ASK for prayer. Many people ASSUME that their pastor KNOWS that they are sick and in need of prayer, but this is not always the case. More than to make someone aware of the fact that someone is in the hospital, or is in need in some way, by asking for prayer a person takes the first step to acknowledgie his/her need for help. A person may ask his/her pastor or the leaders in the church or others for prayer. This is important. Scripture shows that when people SOUGHT OUT Jesus for a need that He listened to them and worked in the situation.
Many people do not bother to ask or take any kind of initiative. If someone else will do it for them, then itat;s another story. Have the church to pray. Ring up the preacher. I don’t go to church, but you can pray if you want to. Or some people feel like if God wants to heal me, He can do it. I’m not going to pray about it. Whatever will be will be. Sometimes in His mercy to people, He does exactly that, but usually the sick person has an active part in the process. Sometimes if a person has been in an accident or is in a coma and is unable to pray for himself/herself, others can carry that person in prayer, and it will move the hand of God in his/her behalf.
STORY: Accident victim lying in the middle of the highway. Nurse who stayed with him and prayed until the emergency van came.
Sometimes people who have not come to the Lord yet will depend upon others to carry them in prayer. This goes for little children also. If we have knowledge about God and healing, we are instructed to ASK for prayer. I often think we want to help people so much that we say, "Oh, I’ll pray for you" and the person is not always ready for it. Everybody who is sick does not WANT to be healed. Why?
1. Some people who are sick now would have to take on new RESPONSIBILITIES if they were well.
2. Some people who are sick now get ATTENTION. If they were well, they might not get the same attention.
STORY: A preacher’s wife--always sick. Her husband would give her lots of attention and cook and take care of the house and children. When the crisis was over, he was not giving her much attention and was spending more time with his parishioners. Then she would have another crisis and she would bring him back to her side. This was a way she was getting the attention she wanted. This went on for years and became their lifestyle.
Jesus would often ask a person, "Do you WANT to be healed?" "Wilt thou be made whole?" Are you really serious about this? When we first read this, we think this is an unusual question. But not really.
STORY: One person who had been sick was losing weight--which made her happy. But she didn’t want prayer to get well until she lost a few more lbs. So I didn’t pray right then. I don’t think it would have done any good. She hadn’t ASKED for prayer yet. She didn’t want it. She was afraid if she were prayed for she would quit losing weight and regain it back.
There are several scriptures that speak of ASKING in addition to this verse in James.
Here are a few of them:
Matthew 7:7 Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you; for every one that asketh receiveth, he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.(a more intense progression--ask, seek, knock. Do you mean business? Do you really want it to happen?)
Matthew 21:22 "...and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive. (faith is shown here--believing along with the asking)
Mark 11:24 "what things soever ye desire, when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them." (when do you start believing?)
Luke 18:1 gives the story about the persistent widow who kept on asking.
John 14:13 "and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father be glorified in the Son." (how do you ask-in My name--will this prayer bring glory to God???)
John 15:7 "If ye abide in Me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." (are you abiding in Christ?)
John 16:23, 24 "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, he will give it you." (are you praying to the Father in the Name of Jesus?)
I John 3:22 "and whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight." (are you keeping his commandments?)
I John 5:14, 15 "and this is the confidence we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions we desired of him."
Proverbs 8:17 "I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me." (is it a priority on your things to do list?)
Jeremiah 29:12, 13 "Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you."
This is just a sampling of verses. In the ASKING there are CONDITIONS to be met. Do we want the healing bad enough that we are willing to Bring OURSELVES INTO ALIGNMENT with what God asks us to do. Some people in scripture did not ask; some who probably asked didn’t receive if they continued in unbelief or continued to sin, for example.
ASKING is probably the first step toward receiving from God. It shows God that we are serious, that it’s a priority, that we really mean business.
There is a saying, "Believe and receive
ASK
Doubt and do without."
There is another scripture in James that says, "Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts." (James 4:3)
We need to ask and at the same time refine our asking, bringing it into alighment with God’s conditions.
If we are asking for something that would not glorify God or something that would be detrimental to us, then our request is not in line with God and it probably won’t be answered.
2. ANOINT--Prayer for the sick may be done with or without anointing the person with oil. James speaks of the anointing process which was often customary in those days as a medicinal remedy. Oral Roberts used to call the process of anointing with oil the point of contact by which the person SETS THE TIME TO RELEASE HIS/HER FAITH FOR THE HEALING. I like this concept because it parallels the scripture in Mark 11:24.
that says, "What things soever ye desire, WHEN ye PRAY BELIEVE that ye RECEIVE.
When do you start to believe? When you’re well and strong? NO, you don’t need it then. You’ve already got the answer then. You believe right at the time you pray. Right at the time you are anointed with oil. Believe what??
You believe, "God is working in this sickness right now. You release your faith NOW. God is hearing now. God is healing me now."
The anointing oil helps us to focus on the SOURCE of your healing--God--not that the oil has some magical properties in it. It is a tangible thing for us to DO something. We seem to need this. So what is happening here?
The sick person + the person or persons praying are in agreement that God is HEARING the Prayer and BEGINNING to work on the problem. We release our faith as this is taking place. Another place where Oil was used to anoint people for healing is in Mark 6:13. "...and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them." The anointing oil can be used within a church setting or elsewhere along with prayer.
The laying of hands upon the sick with love, faith, and prayer is an age old practice and it can be documented. Dr. Morris Fishbein of the American Medical Association wrote of the value of the practice in the process of helping people back to health.
Mayo Clinic Health Letter says, "a small but growing group of researchers is finding that TOUCH has the subtle powers to calm, nurture, and help heal. Touch is the first of our senses to develop and usually the last to diminish."
In an account in Mark 8:15 Jesus simply "touched the hand of Peter’s mother-in-law and the fever left her and she arose and ministered unto them."
Mark 16:18 in Jesus’ commission to go into the world and preach the gospel said, "and...they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."
Can we be the bridge to hurting people to TOUCH and PRAY and RESTORE people? It would seem that the value here of anointing and laying hands on a person would set the stage for the next thing that is to happen. It lifts a person faith. It helps that person to focus on the One who does the healing. It sets the time to release faith.
3. PRAYER--Along with anointing the sick person, prayer for healing is offered in the Name of the Lord. As this is taking place, what is happening to the sick person? verse 16 says, AND the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the LORD shall raise him up and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven." Our salvation includes WHOLENESS--forgiveness of sins and healing of diseases. So often Jesus would say his same thing--"Son, your sins are forgiven. Be healed." It didn’t take any more effort for Jesus to pronounce a person healed of physical ailments as to pronounce him forgiven.
A lot of people say, "Yes, but I was prayed for, and I didn’t get healed or I knew someone who was prayed for and they died. What about that?"
At the time we are prayed for we may not see anything change right away. That’s where our faith comes in, whether the pain stops immediately or whether it continues. We have asked God into our situation, we have prayed, we must believe that He is at work.
Along with this, there are hindrances to healing, and sometimes we contribute to our own health problems by not taking care of ourselves, not eating right, not getting enough rest, driving ourselves, letting stress get to us. Sometimes we have sin in our lives and self destructive habits and we need to change our lifestyle. Sometimes it is just a person’s time to die. Scripture tells us that "it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgement." There are many reasons why a person doesn’t get healed. Some say, "if you didn’t have a lack of faith, you would be healed." There are other reasons besides this. But this should not stop us from seeking to be in health while we are on this earth.
III John in the well known scripture tells us, "Beloved, I wish above all things that
1. thou mayest prosper (financial & materially)
2. and be in health (physical)
3. even as thy soul prospers (spiritually)
CONCLUSION: We need to know and settle it in our own hearts that God heals today. He uses medicine and prayer, often a combination of the two. We need to know that this is for US PERSONALLY. We need to know what the scriptures are that pertain to physical and emotional healing. Do we have specific scriptures to stand on for our own healing. If not, we will operate in doubt and always wonder, "Is it God’s will to heal me?"
Isaiah 53:5 "but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes WE ARE HEALED.
Exodus 15:26 says, "I am the Lord that healeth THEE.
Mark 3:15 power to heal SICKNESSES.
Matthew 4:23 Healing all manner of Sicknesses
The verse in James does not say if the MANIFESTATION of the healing takes place immeditely or if it is a gradual process over time. If the pain and symptoms leave immediately we might call it a miracle. Sometimes it happens that way. But the healing is just as valid if it unfolds over a period of time. Sometimes people think that nothing happend when they were prayed for and the symptoms are still there.
This is where the prayer of FAITH comes in. Harry Greenwood used to say, "Believe you’ve GOT IT before you GET IT."
Abraham was like this in the Old Testament. He called "those things which BE NOT as though they were." (Romans 4:17). He didn’t SEE the things God has promised with his NATURAL eyes yet--but he saw them through eyes of FAITH.
How do you do this when you pray for healing and you still hurt? The devil launches a counter attack agains you and all physical evidence says, "You didn’t get a thing when you were prayed for." Remember you are walking by FAITH and not by SIGHT."
The scripture in James 5:15 says, "AND the prayer of faith shall save the sick AND the Lord shall raise him up."
SONG:
Walking by faith and not by sight
I won’t allow the circumstance to turn me left or right.
Trusting in the Lord and in the power of His might.
I’m gonna walk by faith and not by sight.
Let us Pray:
