When we read our text for this week our minds immediately focus on verse 15, “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.” We read that text and go marching to the throne of grace demanding that God heal us, our sick relative, friend or co-worker. When we do not receive the answer we want we often are angry at God for breaking a promise that seems very clear. But before you do all that can I encourage you to pause a moment and check your spirit.
First, check to see if your motives are right. Scripture also says that you do not receive when you ask God because “you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3). So ask yourself how are your motives in your prayers of intercession for others? Are you asking for healing so that God’s name will be glorified or are you seeking to make your life easier, your burden lighter?
Second, realize that you were made for God’s glory not for your physical comfort. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Paul pleads with God to remove what he calls a “thorn in the flesh”. We don’t know what this “thorn” is but we do know that it is debilitating (Paul calls it a “messenger from Satan”) and it is painful (It “torments” him). His request is denied by God who says to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul rejoices in the answer he receives saying that he will boast of his weaknesses so that Christ’s power can be demonstrated. (2 Corinthians 12:10) Are you able to respond in the same way when healing doesn’t come? Are you so dedicated to Christ that you are willing to suffer so that his power may be demonstrated in you?
Third, realize that God does indeed heal, but not always in ways that we think he should heal. When we think of healing we often only think of the physical. But we are complex beings and there is so much more to us than the physical. And sometimes, there are other areas of life that need healing before our physical bodies.
I once read of how Tony Campolo was in Oregon and was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. So Campolo prayed for the man to be healed. The next week he got a phone call from the wife of the man for whom he prayed.
“Hello Tony, last week you prayed for my husband who had cancer.” The woman used the past tense so in the split second Tony thought she was going to tell him that her husband had been healed.
But she continued, “I wanted you to know that he died.” Tony felt terrible.
“Don’t feel bad,” the woman said, “when he came to see you last week he was angry. He was 58 years old and knew he was going to die. He was angry at God because he had cancer and he wanted to see his grandchildren grow up. When he was bed ridden he would lie in bed and curse God. The more angry he got the more miserable he was to everyone who was around. No one wanted to be near him.”
“But Tony,” the woman continued, “after you prayed for him, a peace came over him. He had a joy that he had never experienced before. And I’ve got to tell you that the last three days have been the best that we have ever had together. We sang, we laughed, we read Scripture, and we prayed. Thank you for laying hands on him and praying for healing.”
Tony was dumbfounded by what the woman was saying, and then she said something very profound, “Tony, my husband wasn’t cured but he was healed.”
That’s what our passage in James is saying. Our God is able to heal. And sometimes there is a need for healing that is beyond the physical that we may not be aware of, but God in his power is able to touch and “raise a person up.”
Giving thanks for the power of God, Pastor Tom.
Shared with Alan Yu: [email protected].