SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11-18-03
My Worship Time Focus:
Prayer for the
Sick
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: James 5:14-16
Message of the verses: “14 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; 15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore
the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed
sins, they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one
another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective
prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. (NASB)
Prayer for the Sick
Dr. Wiersbe gives a
different view on this passage than I have ever read about it before, but I do
believe that his view does make sense when you look at it. I believe that there have been many times
that this portion of Scripture has been taken out of the context in which James
intended it to be. It is good to
remember that we cannot and must not demand things of God when we do not know
what His will for us is. A friend of
mine told me very early in my Christian life that God heals you every time
except the last time, and when you think about that it has a lot of truth in
it.
What
are the special characteristics of this case that James is describing?
- The person is sick because of
sin (15b-16). “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 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.”
(NIV) Dr. Wiersbe
tells us that the Greek reads as follows “if he has been constantly
sinning.” This is the reason that
he believes that the person is sick, because of sinning constantly and
cites 1Corthian 11:30 as a parallel passage. “For this cause
many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” Now as we continue to follow how Dr.
Wiersbe explains this passage we see that this person was sick because of
sin and is being disciplined by the Church, and now he has realized his
error and is calling upon the elders of the Church so he can confess his
sin.
- The person confesses his sins
(5:16). “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.” In
the NIV and the NASB translations the word “therefore” is used, but not in
the AV. Also the NIV uses the word
sin instead of fault, which is used in the AV. Dr. Wiersbe says that the same Greek
word is used in verse 16 for sin as in James 1:15; however when I looked
it up on my Online Bible these were two different words so I do not
understand how he came up with that.
- The person is healed by the
prayer of faith (5:15). “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.” It is the Lord who heals the person
through prayer and not the anointing.
I have read several commentaries on this verse and they say that
the oil was used as a medicine. “This may be an indication
that James suggests using available means for healing along with asking
the Lord for His divine touch. God can heal with or without means; in each
case, it is God who does the healing.”
The
question is asked what is the prayer of faith that will heal the sick? Someone read 1John 5:14,15. “The “prayer of faith” is a prayer offered when you know
the will of God. The elders would seek the mind of God in the matter, and then
pray according to His will.”
As we look at the verse from 1 John we can see that if we pray for
something that is in the Lord’s will He will hear us. But is it always God’s will that someone
should be healed? Of course the answer
to that question is no, it is not always the Lord’s will for someone to be
healed. I will ask you to answer why it
is not always the Lord’s will for us to be healed? Dr. Wiersbe goes on to say this, “But where we have the inner
conviction from the Word and the Spirit that it is God’s will to heal, then we
can pray “the prayer of faith” and expect God to work.”
Dr.
Wiersbe lists some practical lessons we can learn from this section. 1. By
disobeying God it can lead to sin. 2. Sin has an affect on the entire church. 3.
There is both physical and spiritual healing when sin is dealt with. Keep a short list with God.
Another practical application that can be learned from this lesson is: “We confess our sins first of all
to the Lord (1 John 1:9), but we must also confess them to those who have been
affected by them. We must never confess sin beyond the circle of that sin’s
influence. Private sin requires private confession; public sin requires public
confession. It is wrong for Christians to “hang dirty wash in public,” for such
“confessing” might do more harm than the original sin.”
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