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Show OVERCOMING SICKNESS "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 ifhe hath committed (James 5: There sins, they shall be forgiven him." 14-15) was an article in last weeks newspaper about the connections some scientific researchers found between healing and prayer. The scientist concluded that there no evidence that people heal was any faster when else prays for the sickness. Well, there is not any measurable evidence but someone maybe it is a real comfort to doctors do all praying for they me. knowing that while the somebody is also me can person of faith, that the God who made Because I am a I will go on believing us, know all about us and will heal the sick. In fact, if you look carefully in the Old Testament, 1 you will discover that one of the kings of Judah got ill, lingered for two years, and died because he relied "only" on the physicians and their medicine. Listen at what II Chronicles 16: 1213 says about the connection between doctors and prayer: "And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his sought not the Lord, but to the physicians, And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and forthieth year of his reign." disease he The Bible talks about all kinds of diseases. It talks about boils (Exodus 9: 9; Leviticus 13: 18; 2 Kings 20: 7; Job 2: 7; Isaiah 238: 21), epilepsy (Matthew 4: 24; 17: 14-15), fever (Leviticus 26: 16; Deuteronomy 28: 22; Job 30: 30; Mark 1: 30; John 4: 52; Acts 28:8), insanity (Daniels 4: 33; Matthew 4: 24; 17: 15), leprosy (Leviticus 13: 2; 14: 2, 34; Deuteronomy 24: 8; 2 Chronicles 26: 19), loss of appetite (I Samuels 1: 7; 28: 23; Psalm 102: 4; 107: 18), palsy (Matthew 4: 24; 8:6; 9:2; Acts 8: 7; 9: 2 33), ague, a cold fit or shakes (Leviticus 26: 16), dropsy, or swelling due to excess water (Luke 14: 2), emerods, piles better known as hemorrhoids (Deuteronomy 28: 27; I Samuels 5"6), issues of blood (Matthew 9: 20), itching (Deuteronomy 28: 27), sun-stroke (2 Kings 4: 18; Isaiah 49: 10), ulcers (Isaiah 1: 6; Luke 16: 20), canker or cancer or gangrene (2 Timothy 2: 17). In this text and its context, James writes to remind the brethren that God is in the healing business. The word "oil" used in this verse is James' recommendation of olive oil for medicinal purposes in treating the sick. Along with that oil, James expects us to pray, to rely on God, to confidently expect and anticipate our prayers to be answered. It is not take your medicine or pray. It is take your medicine along with prayer. So take your medicine and ask God to heal you. Combine your medical procedure and treatment with spiritual dependence on God. 3 That's one to pray at the of the altar, so why we invite you that those with sickness reasons and disease will share in seasons of prayer. They will have opportunity to seek healing of their own souls, forgiveness of one another and of God. For forgiveness is part of the healing process. The spiritual community has the responsibility to reclaim and redeem those who are faltering, failing, and falling. The prophet Jeremiah raised the question: "Is there _ no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" (8: 22) James answers the question with a question and a prescription for the body and the soul: "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; let then pray over him, anointing with oil in the of faith shall of the Lord: and the prayer the sick, and the Lord shall name save raise him up; and ifhe hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." 4 |
