Our Lifeline of Prayer
“Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry: let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” James 5:13-15
Our first line of defense, our first channel through which help comes, and our lifeline is prayer to the Lord. In the overall scheme of things, God is the only One who can provide exactly what we need when we are afflicted with illness, depression, or trouble of any kind. God made us, and He knows us better than we know ourselves. When we pray to Him, we are communicating with our Creator. If we buy a product, and it doesn’t work properly, it has to go back to the manufacturer who made it because they know the product inside and out. God knows us inside and out. He wants to hear from us. He wants us to totally depend on Him. We show our dependence upon Him through prayer.
James also had a word for those who are experiencing blessings from the Lord. It could be a healthy check-up with the doctor, a new baby in the family, a job promotion, or just having a pleasant, uneventful day where everything is working out for us (and those days are fairly rare). God deserves our praise all the time, no matter our circumstances, but it is good to give extra praise, sing and make a joyful noise (Psalm 100:1) unto Him for those extra special blessings that we receive. We live in an imperfect world with imperfect people; thus, bad things are bound to happen to us even if we are trying to live circumspectly in all arenas of life. However, those of us who follow Christ know that He always has our back, thus, He deserves our praise whether we feel like praising or not. Feelings can be deceiving. Rather than depending on feelings, we should depend on what we know to be true: that God loves us and cares deeply for us. God is good, all the time.
James gave us instructions as to the method used to bring healing for those that are sick. The person who is suffering from illness is to call for the elders (leaders) of the church to pray over him as they anoint him with oil. If the prayer is one of faith, then the sick person would be made well and be able to return to his duties as a healthy individual. If it was some sin that he committed for which his body was suffering, his sin would be forgiven by the Lord. It was fairly common during Jesus’ time on earth for people to be healed. Before Jesus was crucified and resurrected, He gave His disciples “power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils” (Mark 3:15). There was an instance in which the disciples could not cast a demon out of a boy, but Jesus did. They asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast it out, and He said because their faith was weak, and they had not prepared ahead of time by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:14-21).
We don’t experience very many miraculous types of healing in our day. Yes, it is true that some are healed completely, but, for the most part, many who are seriously ill with cancer, or some other terminal illnesses are not healed except by death regardless of how many prayers are prayed for the suffering one. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, wrote that the gift of healing ceased at some point, I suppose, after the death of all the apostles. Apparently, they didn’t have the right or the power to pass the gift of healing to the next generation of believers. That is not to say that no one can be miraculously healed in our day and age, because, as previously stated, there are some who do experience a complete and instantaneous healing for a specific purpose of God, but those cases are few and far between indicating that perhaps what James wrote was directed at the time in which he lived. There have been several folks that I have known who were seriously ill as many people prayed for their healing, but they were not healed except by death.
When Jesus walked the earth, His healings were one way to show the people that God had sent Him, a proof that He was the Son of God, God incarnate. However, because we have the New Testament which proves who Jesus is by the eyewitness accounts of the gospel writers, miracles are no longer needed to assert Jesus’ identity. We rely on faith in Him and the written word of all He did and said during His three plus years of ministry.
James also wrote that if an ill person had committed sins, he would be forgiven through prayer and the anointing of oil. This statement indicates that sometimes an illness or affliction is brought on by sin in one’s life. Certain afflictions caused by sin are obvious: a drunk wrecks his car and has a broken leg; sex outside of marriage can bring disease; or one addicted to drugs suffers poor health. However, there are multitudes of illnesses and afflictions experienced by folks of which their own sins played no part, but instead they were the results of living in a sin-curse world–collateral damage. Drunk drivers hurt innocent people. Sexual sin can lead to an abortion, the taking of an innocent life.
The good news is that God will forgive a repentant sinner, but the bad news is that he or she will still likely suffer the consequences of his or her sin. Regarding those who are ill, we are to pray for them for they could be one whom God will heal. Even if He doesn’t, it gives the ill person peace and hope when he or she knows that folks are bringing him or her before the throne of God in heaven. Most folks, healthy or ill, appreciate others praying for them.