THE PRAYER OF FAITH

Religion

This sermon was preached at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cherry Log, Georgia on March 2, 2014 by Pastor Paul Mims. You can hear this sermon at www.csbccl.org.

James 5: 13-18We are a praying people. In our Sunday School classes we list prayer requests for those we know are suffering. On Wednesday nights before our Bible Study, we ask for prayer request and pray for them. Our telephone prayer line alerts us several times each week to pray for specific individuals. All of this constitutes the prayer life of a praying congregation. We have rejoiced in the answers to prayer, the victories over suffering and sickness, and the support and encouragement that the prayer life of the church has experienced. But we have not activated prayer for the sick in manner that is taught in the book of James.

For some time, I have sensed the urging of the Holy Spirit to offer to our congregation a more personal and biblically founded ministry of prayer. This is known in the teaching of the Book of James as THE PRAYER OF FAITH. It is important that we understand that this is not what is commonly known today as “faith healing.” The aberrant theology and shameless practice of some of the “faith healers” that we see on television is not what we embrace.

There is a valid spiritual gift of “healing” that we read about in the scriptures that was active in the ministry of the early church and is still active today. There are servants of our Lord who have this gift today and use it for His glory and not for self- aggrandizement. I would love to have this gift as your pastor, but I do not. My gift is in preaching, teaching, and pastoring the congregation. Moreover, I do not need this gift for what I am proposing to you.

I am convinced that God wants to do more in our congregation than we are allowing him to do. As I have read the miracles in Holy Scripture and in contemporary Christian literature, I have felt the urging of the Holy Spirit to put into practice the procedure for praying for the sick as taught in the Book of James. Several weeks ago, I presented this to the deacons and they readily agreed that this should be a focused ministry to our congregation. I mentioned it to you in a sermon and promised that when we finished with the series on the twenty-third Psalm that I would devote a sermon of explanation to THE PRAYER OF FAITH.

For several months we have been engaged in a study of the Book of James on Wednesday evenings. The last study allowed us to see the treasures in this passage.

I. THE REQUEST OF THE SICK PERSON “Is any one of you sick? He should call for the elders of the church to pray over him…”

James, the half-brother of our Lord and Pastor of the church in Jerusalem, dealt with the sufferings of his people. He taught them that Christians are as subject to suffering as anyone else and that there is help within the local body of believers.

It is interesting that the sick person is instructed to call for the elders of the church to pray over him or her. This is not a call for the “faith healer.” It is a call for the “elders of the church” who are spiritually mature, grounded in the faith, pure in motive, devoted to servant-hood, compassionate in spirit, and in touch with God. For us, this would be our deacons.

At the conclusion of our morning worship service we invite anyone who is sick and desires prayer to come and sit on the front row during the invitation. After the service, the pastor and deacons will go with those persons to the prayer room for to pray for their need. For those who are homebound or in the hospital the request can be made by telephone.

II. THE MINISTRY OF THE ELDERS “…to pray over him (her) and anoint him (her) with oil in the name of the Lord.”

Three things are specified.

First, the elders are to PRAY OVER THE SICK PERSON. This is different from all of our other prayer ministries. The sick person is present and is the focus of the prayers of the elders. They claim the prayer promises in scripture for that person. Look at some of the meaningful scriptures.

3 John 2 “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth”.

Isa 53:4-5 “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”

When Hezekiah was sick and at the point of death, the Lord told Isaiah to tell him: 2 Kings 20: 5 “Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life.”

When Jeremiah was so burdened over the backsliding of the nation of Israel he prayed for himself: Jer 17:14 “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are the one I praise. They keep saying to me, ‘Where is the word of the Lord? Let it now be fulfilled.’”

Jeremiah gave this loving response of God to sinful Israel: Jer 30:17 “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord.”

Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

John 4:49-51 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” NKJV

Matt 8:5-13. 7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” NKJV

Second, they are to ANOINT THE SICK PERSON WITH OIL.

Anointing with oil was a sacred act of faith. Oil is an emblem of the Holy Spirit. We will simply make a cross on the forward of the sick person with oil.

Mark 6: 12-13 “They (the twelve disciples) went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” NIV Why did they do that? Evidently, Jesus had instructed them to do so. James is now instructing the elders to anoint with oil as the disciples did.

The anointing with oil is an outward sign of the inward anointing of the Holy Spirit just as water baptism is an outward sign of an inner death and burial of the old life and being raised in newness of life in Christ.
These scriptures point to the anointing of believers in the Holy Spirit.

I John 2:20, 27-28 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you did not need anyone to teach you. But his anointing teaches you all things and that anointing is real and not counterfeit – just as he has taught you, remain in him.

“Anointing” is used in over 150 verses in the Bible – 22 of which are in the New Testament.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
The significance of the oil as an emblem of our anointing comes from the fact that the olive has to be crushed in order to get the oil. Christ was crushed or pressed for us so that we could receive his anointing. The sign of the cross made on the forehead in oil speaks of how deeply personal this is for us.
The Third requirement is for the prayer to be made in the NAME OF JESUS.

John 14:13-14 – And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

John 16:24 – Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

John 15:7 – If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Matthew 21:22 – And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Jeremiah 33:3 – Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

The only way to the Father is through Jesus. He has qualified us to pray to the Father in the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The Name of Jesus is the authority with which we can reach the throne of grace in heaven.

III. THE ANSWER TO THE PRAYER “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.”

How are we to interpret this? Is it just that straight forward? We pray and the person gets well immediately? No. There is nothing magic about this. But it is Super-natural.

There are several factors that must be considered for God to answer: those who pray must be in touch with God; the sick person must confess any sin that could block God’s working in his or her life; the will of God must be considered and submitted to; and understanding the ways in which God may answer.
The Elders, Pastor and Deacons, must be in harmony with each other and in a spiritual frame of mind on the Lord’s Day. We must come to the Lord’s house prepared for worship and service. I use Saturday to prepare my mind, body and spirit to be in the Lord’s presence on his day.

The sick person must want more than just to get well although that is the pressing need of the moment. The sick person must desperately want God to work in his or her life which includes spiritual cleansing of sin and a desire to honor and serve the Lord in wellness. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”

The will of God must be considered. We must always pray according to his will. That is what Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane. God may have a purpose for this illness. When his will is submitted to that places our will under his domain.

We must understand the ways in which God may answer. He may act immediately. We saw this recently when one of ladies had been in severe pain for days and was being treated by her doctor for pancreatitis with prescriptions. In the worship service that day she was in such pain she could hardly walk. The elders prayed for her and as she walked out of the building she was free of pain and told us about it the following Sunday.

Another way that God may answer is through a process of time with medical treatment. That same day, we prayed for another of our ladies who had been in a car wreck. She had been in severe pain for weeks and was discouraged in heart. But the Lord cheered her spirit through prayer and her physicians gave her hope that she would have no permanent damage.

Also God may through prayer give the grace of acceptance of one’s physical condition which will be a breakthrough for some people.

But we must remember that we are praying to the one who made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the dead to rise. And he can do the same today if his conditions are met. Look at this report from WEB MD:

“Research focusing on the power of prayer in healing has nearly doubled in the past 10 years, says David Larson, MD, MSPH, president of the National Institute for Healthcare Research, a private nonprofit agency.
Even the NIH — which “refused to even review a study with the word prayer in it four years ago” — is now funding one prayer study through its Frontier Medicine Initiative. Although it’s not his study, Krucoff says it’s nevertheless evidence that “things are changing.”

Krucoff has been studying prayer and spirituality since 1996 — and practicing it much longer in his patient care. Earlier studies of the subject were small and often flawed, he says. Some were in the form of anecdotal reports: “descriptions of miracles … in patients with cancer, pain syndromes, heart disease,” he says.

“[Today,] we’re seeing systematic investigations — clinical research — as well as position statements from professional societies supporting this research, federal subsidies from the NIH, funding from Congress,” he tells WebMD. “All of these studies, all the reports, are remarkably consistent in suggesting the potential measurable health benefit associated with prayer or spiritual interventions.”

The hymn, “I must tell Jesus” expresses the prayer of a sick person.
“I must tell Jesus all of my trials; I cannot bear these burdens alone.
In my distress He kindly will help me, He ever loves and cares for His own” (Elisha Hoffman)

PRAISE BE TO HIS NAME!

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