James 5:13-15 (ESV Strong's)
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 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 of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
The Prayer of Faith
This is such and encouraging text to meditate upon and to dwell over. The fact that God gave us a powerful tool in prayer is a blessing and something to rejoice over. One of the pieces of the armor of God, listed in Ephesians, is “prayer.” It is the last piece listed:
Ephesians 6:18 (ESV Strong's)
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Jesus often went alone to be with His Father in prayer:
Matthew 14:23 (ESV Strong's)
23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
In the passage from James we are told specifically the power of prayer. We are told that the “prayer of faith” will save the one that is sick. There is NO ambiguity in this text. There is of course, other passages about prayer in the New Testament that clarify and quantify these words. James is NOT telling us that God will guarantee that everyone who is sick will be heal. We only have to look at Paul and Timothy’s struggle with sickness to know this. What James is telling us is that praying in faith has power. It has the power to release God’s sovereign will into the lives of those who are sick and have sinned. We are not to be discouraged by God’s timing or His answer to our prayer. We are only commanded to pray in faith and ask God for these things. God will, based upon His divine plan, heal whom He will heal. Our responsibility is to pray in faith, asking God for healing (both physically and spiritually).
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