Prayer For Healing
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“Anointing him with oil.” When the elders have prayed that God’s will be done, and the sick has fully agreed, he is ready for the anointing. The oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, and the anointing constitutes a sealing of the heart to God, a dedication, a consecration. Exodus 28:41; Acts 10:38. The elders pray to the Father in the name of the Son, and the Holy Spirit seals the compact. The Three Powers of heaven are present.

 

“The prayer of faith shall save the sick.” This is a definite promise. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. When the conditions are fulfilled, the prayer of faith shall save the sick. He has given himself into the hands of God, the elders have anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord, and now God fulfills His part. “The prayer of faith shall save the sick.” This is the first of the three results of prayer here named. The others are: “The Lord shall raise him up,” and “If we have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

 

The first promise that the prayer of faith shall save the sick is the most precious and important of the three. Whether the sick is healed or not is of less importance than the saving of the soul. This is the first promise. Even before healing is mentioned, comes this comforting message to the sick that he shall be saved.

 

This salvation is not brought about by prayers of the elders apart from the co-operation of the sick. No man or group of men can save anyone else, however much they may pray, unless the sinner himself turns to God and fulfills the condition of forgiveness. God says, “though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.” Ezekiel 14:14. In forgiveness of sin, in salvation, the man himself must co-operate; and as he does so, the promise is sure: the prayer of faith shall save the sick. We need not emphasize that the faith here spoken of is not faith in the prayer they are uttering, but faith in God.  Faith in one’s own prayer is only faith in one’s self. It is faith in God that counts.

 

“The Lord shall raise him up.” Some have taken this to mean that if the sick is not healed, but dies, the promise will yet be fulfilled; for the Lord will raise him up from the dead in the resurrection of the great day. While this is true, the evident meaning of the text is that God will heal him and raise him up from the sickbed. This promise is as sure as the one that the Lord will save the sick; but like every other promise, it is conditioned upon compliance with God’s will and limited by God’s appointments. We can appreciate God’s power and willingness to raise a man from his sickbed and restore him to health and strength. However, we cannot believe that God will do this repeatedly so the man will never die. God does not do this because in His wisdom, He has appointed unto men once to die, and men must keep that appointment. Hebrews 9:27. So, however much a man may pray, and however much others may pray for him, unless God does a special miracle and translates him to heaven without seeing death, the time will come when prayer for healing and health and life will avail no more.

Thus, we can understand that good men may pray for the healing of a good man and not be heard. Yet in the larger sense their prayer is heard, for, being dedicated to God, they have added to their prayer, “Thy will be done.” That is how Paul could say of Christ, “When He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared;… yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” Hebrews 5: 7,8.

 

Christ was not exempt from drinking the cup though He prayed three times to be delivered; yet we are told that His prayer was heard. He added, “Thy will be done,” and having added this, His will was the same as God’s.

 

We need not lose faith because prayers does not bring life and health to someone we love. God knows best, and we must leave the matter with Him. However, we are persuaded that we are not taking advantage of God’s promises, as we should and that because of our lack of faith “many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” 1 Corinthians 11:30.

 

A Sobering Thought

It is a sobering thought that there may be those among us today who are sick for no other reason than that “the works of God should be made manifest,” as was the case of the young man who had been blind from birth. They are waiting for someone to come with enough faith in God so that His works may be made manifest. John 9:3.

 

It is a disturbing fact that some are sick and weakly among us because we have not fully appropriated the power and blessing there are in the ordinances of the Lord’s house. 1 Corinthians 11:23-30. It is time that god’s people claim all the gifts that God has set in the church, and not only one or two. 1 Corinthians 12:28. We are counseled to “come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 1:7. Is it not time for the church to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty?  Judges 5:23. However, let all beware of fanaticism.

 

“Sins … shall be forgiven him.” This promise is as sure as the others and is based on the same conditions: repentance and confession. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. That is the condition. John is not here propounding a new doctrine. Men may set up their confessionals and promise forgiveness to such as come to them. However, God does not recognize or authorize such man-made arrangements. His invitation is, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.

 

Christ has not abdicated and turned His work over to fallible men. No man has the right to invite men to come to him and receive absolution. Yet, while Christ is performing His office in the sanctuary in heaven, an opposing power has set up its sanctuary on earth and is inviting men to come to it. In addition, they come. Paul speaks of this when he says that before the Lord comes, there shall come “a falling away first,” so that the man of sin may be revealed, “the son of perdition; who opposeth ands exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4.

 

“Confess your faults one to another.” We are to confess our sins to God, our faults one to another. In neither case are we commanded to confess to a priest. We are, indeed, to confess to man, but the man to whom we are to confess is the man we have wronged. If I have sinned against Brother Jones, I am not to confess to Brother Smith. This is self-evident.

 

We are to confess our faults one to another.  If I am to confess my sins to a priest, then he is to confess his sins to me. If he gives me absolution, then I am to give him the same. Such is the absurdity of man-made ordinances.

 

“Pray for one another.” Prayer is a mutual privilege and responsibility. I am to pray for my brother, and he is to pray for me. We are on equal footing in prayer. Pray for one another ‘that ye may be healed.” It is not that “he may be healed, but “ye.” God recognizes, and so are we also to recognize, that though we may pray for another, we ourselves need healing. This should make us humble as we pray.

 

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” This is an interesting and important statement. The two words “effectual” and “fervent” are translated from one Greek word, energo, from which our word “energy” is derived. What does James mean when he says this kind of prayer by a righteous man availeth much? He does not explain this, but cites the case of Elijah to illustrate it.

 

For many years, this illustration worried me. Elijah was a mighty man of God, and how could the fact that God heard him be any encouragement to me? I was neither righteous nor great.

 

I noted that God said Elijah was a man of like passions as we. But that I could not understand. There must be some mistake in using Elijah as a type.

 

Then I discovered that Elijah also had weak points. After the wonderful day on the mount where he stood alone against all the priest of Baal and Astarte, he basely ran away because Jezebel threatened him. He could stand against all the prophets of Baal, but he could not stand against one woman. In addition, his running away would likely have serious consequences for Israel. For Israel had turned to God, and a wonderful revival took place after Elijah had been answered with fire from heaven. It had been amply demonstrated that Elijah’s God was stronger that Jezebel’s prophets and their gods. Now that Elijah had fled from Jezebel, the people could draw no other conclusion than that, after all, Jezebel’s gods were the greater and more powerful, and Israel might now all apostatize and turn from God to serve Baal.

 

It was a most serious mistake for Elijah to run away. However, God did not cast him aside. As he and Elisha were walking together, “there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” 2 Kings 2:11.

 

It is to be noted that God mercifully hid from the people the fact that Elijah ran away, so the feared apostasy did not take place.

 

This makes clear why God uses Elijah as a type. We may have made serious mistakes, as did Elijah. Despite this, God may bless us as we pray. He heard Elijah; He will hear us.

 

Memory Verse:

 

“As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his clothes and tore them apart.  2 Kings 2: 11,12.

Questions:

1.   Can we come to God with what may seem as trivial matter? Explain.

 

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2.   Have you ever had an experience where the Holy Spirit took full control and hearts were melted? Explain. 

 

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