Prayer is the Rule
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray … Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective James 5:13-16
It’s one thing to say “God can meet my every need” but for many, quite another thing to confidently confess, “I’m trusting God to meet my every need.” God is our sufficiency.
Yes He is; but are you proving Him to be your sufficiency? Are you seeing Him move in your life? Is there evidence of God at work in you? Prayer bridges the gap. Prayer takes hold of God’s sufficiency for our situation. Are you facing trouble? James says ‘pray.’ To anyone sick James boldly commands, ‘He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.’
Notice: ‘the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.’ The oil doesn’t have healing powers. The elders don’t have healing powers. The prayer that touches God is prayed in faith, believing that ‘he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him’ (Hebrews 11:6). Faith moves mountains. Faith takes hold of God’s sufficiency. Faith believes God’s promises and holds Him to fulfil them. There are some scriptures that link sin and sickness (e.g. Mark 2:1-12) and other scriptures that warn against making that link in every situation (e.g. John 9).
We need to let Scripture balance us. James sees wisdom in confessing our own sins. He saw in his day something we are increasingly aware of today: healing is part of a holistic approach to life. You can’t be well in body while crippled in attitudes and outlook. What impacts one part of us ultimately impacts the whole of us. Confessing our own sins is part of spiritual wholeness. James has written much about humility in this letter and confessing our sins tests that humility. Prayer is the key. Pray in faith. Take hold of these promises.
They aren’t the exception to the rule. They are the rule.
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