The Prayer Of Healing

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:13-16b).

1. There is a difference between the gift of healing and the prayer for healing.

2. Jesus had both. Jesus healed by His touch, or by making mud of His spit to apply to eyes, or by the words He spoke. Jesus also prayed before miracles, i.e., John 6:11.

3. Some apostles had the gift of healing. “The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people” (Acts 5:12).

4. “Do all have gifts of healing” (I Cor. 12:30). Obviously Paul is answering, “No.”

5. Some say this gift of healing was evident only during the time of the apostles when the apostles passed off the scene, so did this gift of healing.

6. Saint Augustine in the 400s believed that the gift of healing had passed out of existence. However, when a person in his church was healed of epileptic fits, Augustine changed his opinion. He added a section on healing in his book The City of God suggesting the gift of healing has ceased, but at the same time, taught the prayer of healing was still valid.

7. Healing still has a natural place in Christianity.

8. Some churches have over magnified healing.

9. Some “faith healers” have mistakenly thought they had the power to heal, when their healings came in answer to prayer by them or others.

10. If you don’t believe in physical healing, you denigrate the physical body to a place of second importance.

11. God cares as much about your physical life as He does about your spiritual life.

A. HOW HELP COMES

1. God gives us medical doctors. The Bible teaches that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17).

2. God gives us psychologists, psychiatrists, pastors and those who are able to deal with mental pathology, whether it be neuroses, psychoses, or simply a mentally disturbing problem.

3. Other branches of medicine and specialists each deal with a very narrow part of the physical body.

4. To these we should add the power of prayer that heals.

B. HOW DO WE PRAY FOR HEALING?

1. We pray for God to give wisdom to the therapists to diagnose, prescribe and treat our ailments.

2. We pray for God to effectively use drugs, medicine for its intended cure.

3. We pray for God to “stop” anything that would be detrimental to our health.

4. We pray for unknown and unseen factors that bring about therapy.

5. You can go to two extremes praying for healing. Some rely only on prayer and refuse any medical diagnosis or any drugs. The other extreme is resting on the medical field exclusively.

C. SPIRITUAL BEGINNINGS

1. Most of Jesus’ recorded healing events eventually focused on the spiritual life of the sick.

2. Sometimes it is hard to have great faith in the face of severe physical problems.

3. When you pray for healing, you ought to begin with your own lack of faith. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

4. Sometimes we are surprised when God does the supernatural.

5. Not everyone for whom you pray will be healed.

6. On some occasions Jesus “cured all of them” (Matt. 12:15). When Jesus saw the multitude at the Pool of Bethesda, He healed only the man who had been lame for 38 years. And on others occasions Jesus healed only some. “When the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick . . . (and) He healed many who were sick with various diseases” (Mark 1:32, 34). Note carefully that all were brought, but only many were healed.

7. Why don’t we walk through the hospital ward to pray for all? Why are not all healed for whom we pray in faith? It is not always our lack of faith; it can be God’s will.

D. CONDITIONS FOR HEALING

We must categorically meet the conditions in the context of that promise. “The prayer of faith shall save.”

1. They must call for the elders of the church; the people who exercise the prayer of faith are the spiritual leaders of the sick person (Heb. 13:7, 37; I Tim. 5:17).

a. It looks as if God ties healing to the prayers of church leaders.

b. Maybe many who pray for healing don’t get answers because the local church is left out.