06/11/2017 - FAITH PRAYER FORMULA

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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.  And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. James 5: 14, 15

By way of this text from James, we can understand that there should be nobody ill in our midst, but this has not been the case.  Ever since Jesus suffered our infirmities and by His wounds we were healed, there is no reason for a Christian not to be healed; however, we have not been taught this way and this is the reason why we have in our communities of the saved many that are suffering various infirmities.

The instruction we have is to call the elders of the church and so the sick will be restored to health. It is not divine will that His sons or daughters suffer any evil.  However, since we are still crawling in our faith in Christ, we don’t know how to act.  It is easy to say anything from the pulpit, even point out the error of the brothers but to restore the sick to health we have to walk like the Master walked and do as He did.

Further on, still in verse 14 we read that the ministers or elders must pray concerning the ill and not only in his favor.  We must exercise authority over the evil that has entered that life, which is why the prayer has to be administered over the person who has not been successful in praying alone.  When someone in communion with God exercises authority over another person, the person will be cured through the faith of the other.  This is one of the greatest challenges of the church.

According to James, the one who is ill must be anointed with oil in the Name of Jesus. This practice is symbolic, related to the spiritual act that was practiced over someone who is overtaken by some evil force.  When the anointment comes over the sick person, it breaks the oppressive yolk that was binding and afflicting the person.  Our prayers can and must be improved, to the extent of acting like a strong medication, destroying the evil at once.

One cannot take lightly a prayer in faith which according to the Lord saves the sick.  It doesn’t matter what problem has overtaken one of God’s own; if  the elders pray as instructions from the Bible, said person will be saved.  However, the one who intercedes for somebody must be in the presence of the Lord, because if he should fail in this endeavor, he can be held responsible for this. Undoubtedly Jesus does not want to be saddened by one more generation of perverse unbelievers (Luke 9:41).

By following the correct procedure which is something easy to do, the Lord will lift up whoever is fallen. The causes for this fall can be various, anything from careless wavering in faith and in sin or a greater persistence from the devil who is attacking to destroy this life.  However, if the work and praying follows the Word, then the power of God will certainly come into action. There is no way to leave any brother downfallen, but whoever decides to pray for him has to firmly be in communion with the Lord.  

Often the oppression occurs due to sins not confessed; but when the prayer in faith is truly said, even unconfessed sins are forgiven.  Amen?