Healing prayer James 5:13-18 WBC 23/11/03am
Chance to come & bring your testimony in a minute.
- plus PLEASE interrupt me (and say something. Agree. Disagree)
Not presenting a formula
- all bear hurts/scars of
o reality
o lost ones
o false promise… hopes
- all look with caution on a lot of the ‘dubious’ stuff around. Gurus promises
But Jesus I trust
No formula as- when try and nail this down- fails
- Illustr: Dorothy Kerin’s healing from ‘The Living Touch’ p7 & 10 onwards
o Given a healing ministry. Founded burrswood
o 1in 1956 C of E spent 2 years debating the issue of healing
o at end of it all, Dorothy asked her opinion. Expressed in letter to the Times:
MT 11:25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
- Illustr: Everyman on healing prayer. Investigation undertaken because whereas 30 expected to die with Angioplasty- only 3 did. Observed they were Christians being prayed for
o But when tried to nail it down. ‘statistice it’, reproduce it ‘in controlled environment’ > statistically insignificant
o (prayer is not a power- it is petition to a person with THE power)
- When you try and nail this down- it evades you
- Like Moses trying to Nail the Lord down:
o “who are you” “Give me your name, a handle”
o “I AM!.... that I AM’
But He is also Yahweh Rophe (Ex 15:26) “I AM the Lord who heals”
Healing IS part of the gospel. Good news
- in the name of God
- in Jesus’ ministry (big time!)
- in Is 53 – long before Jesus, but looking forward to Him
ISA 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
- Yes- talking of peace brought with God, but also healing in the cross
- In church history (past & present)
- In Bible- in all contexts: evangelistic & congregational (here)
In fact- there are countless testimonies
- bring one?
- Jean Gamgee
REALITY
There’s no lack of reality, here:
- happy? In trouble?
o The whole spectrum’s covered. Every eventuality
o Weeping with those who weep, rejoicing with those who rejoice
Don’t squash anyone’s expression of grief or faith
o … and praying for those unwell
Is healing promised?
- let’s not ‘cop out’ from what this passage says:
o ‘the prayer offered in faith will make him well’
interpret that as you may but it certainly shows SOMETHING will happen and God is ABLE
COMPLEXITY
But need to realise – it may not be
- what you expect
- where you expect
o may be in a more important area first
o what YOU want prayer for may just be a symptom
A good/broad (rather than selective) reading of the Bible produces this- balance… this understanding that this not a simple slot machine
May need to deal with
- sin
- unforgiveness, FIRST
As it states here- to confess your anger/bitterness/unforgiveness
- to confess that you forgive- speak it out!
- MT 6:14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
- Forgiveness is a process- but WORDS can help you
o Process it
o Forgive
Mt 12:37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Anyone testify to this?
Let the LORD put His finger on what – issue is… root is
- because;
- JER 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
JER 17:10 "I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
Paul – 1 Cor 4: 3 ‘ I do not even judge myself- I leave that to God’
1 Jn 3:20 . For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
HUMILITY
In all of this- there is the recurring (recent!) theme of James:
- humility
o that He knows best
o even in accepting the end result
there’s peace in that
• even death = peace & healing?
Dorothy kerin taught you have to be humble and flexible in accepting the way God might want to work in your life. It may not be healing as YOU expected
- Humbling yourself before the Lord
o 4:10 ‘humbling yourselves before the Lord (that he may lift you up in due time)
I wonder if we’re not humble enough. Desperate enough. On our knees enough
- to travel 3 days queue all night
- we’re full of prescriptions as to why, how exactly God should do it
- we tell God!
- when God tells us- we react (like AJ!)
- ‘but it’s not my fault!’
- don’t kick against the surgeon’s advice!
For example: God might say ‘lose some weight.
Stop being twitter and bisted!’
- if He does- do it! ‘Do you want to get well?’ (Jn 5)
Anyone testify to this?
COMMUNITY
Another thing that contributes to our dis-ease, today, is the fragmentation of community
- may are ‘ill’, ‘dis-eased’ because they are isolated
- lonely, actually
- comes out in our bodies … minds
-sometimes makes us want to be less integrated
- don’t want the one thing that will heal us
THIS is what we… folks… need
- a loving, healing, accepting community
We don’t just need the giants (with healing ministries)
- (who are they, today?)
- this Is the role of the big(ger-wigs)..> Elders
o at some crisis event, here
- but is also the role of us all- to heal one another
o love, accept, encourage….
o PRAY FOR… “Pray for each other that you may be healed”
Even the Elders defer to the HS (oil)
• We ALL do
o You say ‘I can’t do that!”
Yes you can! God is God and ‘Elijah was a man just like us’
Illustr: New Wine/ men’s event – praying for each other
- Jennifer R-L- was a knew Christian who prayed for her!
Anyone testify to this?
Apply: pray for, support, love… EACH OTHER
- do it in HG!
- Join a HG
o Join the community (loving community- that was is the testimony of many at Burrswood)
- Prayer triplets
o Get serious. Get into community. Get healed
SIMPLICITY
I can’t offer you a guaranteed result, this morning
- but I can offer you Jesus. His involvement. No prayer goes unheard, unanswered
- simple prayer
- maybe His spontaneous intervention (have seen lots of that!)
- maybe guided intervention- by WOK
There’s a real sense of simplicity, here. No theological treatise…explanation
“Elijah was a man just like us. He ‘prayed with prayer’… and God acted
These things are not seen by the complicated, educated
- “you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children!”
God does not reward intellectual perfection
- but faith. Simple faith
- you must welcome the KOG like a little child to enter it… see it
Let’s DO it
