Wednesday May 11, 2022

Scripture James 5: ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 

Life Lesson:  In order for our prayers to be effective they must be offered in faith.  Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see, Heb. 11:1. 

– James has already identified faith that is pleasing to God in his illustrations of Abraham and Rahab.  Both of these individuals went way beyond “faith speak” demonstrating their faith by what they did!  Many claim to have faith yet their actions testify against their profession of faith. 

– True faith is submissive to God, not demanding of God. True faith resists the devil’s schemes and take a stand against the enemy’s temptations. True faith desperately seeks after the Lord and His empowering.  True faith confesses sins committed, turns from acts that lead to death, and is single-minded in the belief that God will provide!  Those who live by faith do not grieve over worldly gains that are lost but over anything and everything that separates us from walking daily with God. And finally true faith is characterized by humility, never pride!  James 4: 7-10

– Such qualities as these characterize the person of faith.  So then when we who talk of faith but who indulge the sinful nature, pray we do not pray in faith but as those who do know the Lord.  God does answer the prayers of the wayward sinner who cries out for deliverance and salvation, however can such who live in this way declare, Acts 3: “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk”?

– Jesus Himself said, Matt. 6: ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  James told us regarding the prayer of faith, James 1: ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” 

– I have heard people wrongly assert regarding zeal for the Lord, “They are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good”. The truth is most people are so earthly minded that they are of no heavenly good!   What that means is they cannot effect the power and authority of heaven here on earth because they are so carnal.

– God does hear and answer prayers!  God does heal the sick and raises them up!  These tenants are reliable and true. However, what we must always bear in mind when it comes to praying for healing over the infirmed is the will and the timing of God.  Like Paul recounts, God may refuse to heal an infirmity, even one that is so evil as to be referred to as a messenger from Satan because God is humbling us through it and also revealing His power to us in it!  And like so many others healed in the New Testament accounts, God has His own timing that can and will at times confound us, yet God’s timing is always perfect and His ways are unsearchable!