Charles Stanley - Help For Our Healing (03/14/2017)
Dr. Stanley teaches that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit per 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, so we must glorify God in them and avoid abuse or neglect. In James 5 he outlines calling church elders for prayer and anointing when sick, highlighting faith-filled righteous prayer that brings healing and forgiveness of sins. He urges believers to be active agents of healing in the church family through obedient, prayerful, supportive lives.
Your Body: A Temple of the Holy Spirit
Well, we are the richest nation in the world. We'll probably be about one of the sickest. And if you'll think about it, we spend billions of dollars every year on medical research and all kinds of medicines and pharmaceutical this and that. And why is it we're still so sick? What is it that's going on inside of us that we can't get healthy?
And so, when I think about what the Bible says about the human body and its place in the eyes of God, and think about the fact that we could put a man on the moon and in space and somehow we can't even stay healthy. It's like there's something not right about all that. What does the Bible say about the human body? What does it say about our health?
And usually we look everywhere else. Look in the magazines, we watch the TV, all the ads about this will cure that, this will cure this, this will cure this. But there are fifteen other things that may happen as a result of you taking this. And so, we end up in confusion. We're not too sure what we believe about it.
So, I always want to go back and say, "Well, God, what did you say about it?" And in First Corinthians chapter six, listen to what Paul said. He said, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you're not your own? For you've been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body."
Is God Really Everywhere? Understanding His Presence
Now, when he says that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in us, somebody says, "Well, God's everywhere." Well, let's ask ourselves a question. When people say, "Well, God's in trees, God's in the ocean, God's in mountains, God's in the moon, God's in the stars." No, He's not. He's not in it. He is above it. He is beyond it. He is the Creator of it. But He is not contained in it. And people who believe that have a very unbiblical, non-biblical view of who God is. He's not in all that. He's the Creator of all of it.
But now, when it comes to the human body, it's a different story. And the story is simply this. He created you and me for the purpose of indwelling us. And so, when a person is filled with the Spirit of God, you'll find the character of God in that life. That person's conduct, their conversation, their character is going to represent. It's going to symbolize. It's going to be something about that person that's more like God, that's more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, He is in us. He dwells in us. He doesn't dwell in anything else. He dwells in us. And so, He says this. Because He does, these bodies of ours, from God's perspective, is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And He says, "Who dwells within us." These bodies are not our own. They have been, we have been purchased for the price. That is the blood of Jesus Christ purchased you and me so that we could represent, we could exhibit the life of Christ here on earth.
That makes the human body very important in the eyes of God. Because it's the housing of the soul. The housing of the spirit. The housing of the very life of God within us. That makes this body very important.
How Should We Treat Our Bodies?
So, that being the case, you and I should ask ourselves the question, "How should we treat it?" For a lot of people, they treat it with abuse. They treat it with neglect. They get sick as a result of their ignorance or their abuse. They get sick carelessly, the way they live out their lives.
And so, when God says this human body is the housing of the Holy Spirit of God here on earth. And so, we all get sick at times for different reasons, whatever it might be. A lot of times something that we have nothing to do with and a person can be sick a long time before they even discover it.
But the question is this: What does God say about the human body and about healing? And so often people don't want to put those two together. They say, "Well, that healing ministry," we're not talking about a healing ministry. We're talking about being a child of God and having something happen in the human body that causes us to be sick. Or some emotional issue that goes on that causes us to be thrown off course a little bit.
So, what I want us to do is I want us to look at the Scripture to see what God says. And to see what He says when you and I need healing in our life.
Our First Response to Sickness: Man-Made or God-Centered?
Now, first response is, "Call the doctor." First response, "Go to the pharmacy." Let's get, if I can get enough pills of this, enough of that, enough of the other, then I don't need anything else. Do you realize what that means? That means my first choice is what man made instead of what God made.
And so, I want us to be open and honest and look at this according to what God says in His Word. So, I want you to look, if you will, in James. This fifth chapter, the last chapter of James. And He tells us how we are to respond when there is illness, when there is sickness in our life.
And this is not a command that we have to, but it is the way God intended for the church to operate. Now, think about this, in the New Testament church, there were no pharmacists like we have, and they had very little knowledge when it comes to the human body compared to today.
And so, it's interesting that God gives us a very set pattern. That is, He says this is the way we should at least consider dealing with sickness in the human body.
The Clear Pattern in James 5
And in this fifth chapter, He's been talking about lots of things we are familiar with, about trials and so forth. Then He comes to the thirteenth verse. And He asks this question: Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He used to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church. And they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins they will be forgiven him. Therefore, on the basis of all that, confess your sins to one another. Pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
And then He gives us this illustration. He says, for example, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. I'm glad He put that in there. He was a man, and he was not this spiritual giant. He was a man with a nature like ours. And he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced fruit. My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. Hallelujah. Amen?
Basic Biblical Truths About Healing
So, when we witness to people, God begins to work in their life. Now, a help for our healing begins with understanding a few basic things of what the Bible teaches about healing. So, I want you to listen carefully. I won't go into detail, but just mention them because we've already taken care of this in the message before.
And the question is: Is sickness a result of sin? Sometime it is. Sometime it is not. Is it the will of God to heal everyone of their sickness and disease? Sometime it is. Sometime it is not.
Where do physicians fit in God's healing plans? Well, Paul had a friend in Luke. He called him Luke, the beloved physician who probably was with him oftentimes. And the Bible speaks of physicians. They're called of God.
And then, what should be our response when God does not heal us? Romans 8:28 says, "Listen, I am to look at all things as coming from God and trusting Him to work out His good will and purpose and plan, whatever may be His purpose and plan for my life."
Well, can a lost person expect God to heal their prayers for healing? Absolutely not. You say, "Well, why can't I?" Because you don't have a relationship with God. Sin separates you from God. You have no relationship to Him. You have no right to call for Him for anything until you trust Him as your Savior.
Now, does God in His mercy and grace and love do things that none of us deserve? And even for people who are lost, yes, He does. But it isn't an answer to your prayer. It's a result of His grace. And His goal is to bring you to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Can Sickness Be Spiritually Profitable?
Then, of course, can sickness in the life of the believer be profitable? So, I want you to turn to a particular passage. I think this is a very important passage. In the 119th Psalm, written by David, look at this. He asked the question. And so, the 119th Psalm and the 67th verse, 67th verse, look at this.
Here's his testimony. David said, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray." That is, he got out of God's will. But now, I keep your word. You are good and do good. Then in the 71st verse, he says, "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn your statutes."
Can you say that? Can you look back in your life and say, you know, before I really got right with God, I was afflicted and I hated it and I despised it and I accused God. Now, that God has worked in my life and changed me, it's good for me that I was afflicted.
I do believe that a person who is honest with God about their life and you want to live a godly life, that when God comes into your life with something that is difficult, something that is hard to explain, hard for you to handle, and He begins to change your life, when your attitude is right, you will thank Him.
You will thank Him for the pain, you will thank Him for the suffering, you'll thank Him for the hurt, you'll thank Him for the loss. How many of us, for example, would be where we are in our life were it not for pain, suffering, hurt, loss, misunderstanding, rejection, disease, you name it. He uses all of that in our behalf.
God's Ultimate Goal in Our Suffering
Therefore, because He uses that in our behalf, God isn't always quick to heal us. Sometimes He allows something to go on in their life for years and years and years. Sometimes He takes a person home at the end of a long period of time of suffering and sickness.
But God always has a goal in mind. His ultimate goal, listen, His ultimate goal, He says, is this. Romans 8:29, He has predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. So you know what He's up to? Whatever it takes to make us like His Son, He's working at it.
Sometimes that's difficult. Sometimes it's hard to understand. Sometimes we don't like it. Sometimes it causes us to doubt God, to question God's ways of His love. But He knows exactly what He's doing.
So when you look at all the questions that people have about why God does this and why He does that and so forth, the question is, how should we respond? And for example, how should the body of Christ respond?
So what I want us to look at for a few moments here is the help for our healing. Whoever we are can involve other people. Now think about this. We talk about the church being the body of Christ. Talk about the church being an organization. The church is also a family.
And every single local church is a family of the people of God. And family members relate to each other. Family members should care for each other. Family members should love each other. Family members should be available to each other. And accept each other.
There are many characteristics we could say of a good family. And so, that's what our church is like. And if you'll think about the church in the earlier days, when they didn't have buildings like we have, for example, one thing. They didn't have doctors as we have them today, of course.
And so, church was different. And they didn't have all the assets that we have. And there was that interdependence. And you remember, in Acts, when all those folks got saved, the Bible says they were doing this for each other, and they were selling everything and making sure everybody had their needs met.
It's a different day. It seems today we are much more concerned about our needs than we are the needs of other people.
The James 5 Pattern for the Church Family
And so, in this chapter of James, he gives us a pattern. Now, I want you to listen carefully. Because this pattern affects everything. Not just sickness, not just emotional things, not just physical things, but notice what he says, and I want us to look at it again and read it just for a moment.
And I want us to look at what's involved here. And so, he is asking this question: Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? Then he used to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick?
So, what I want you to notice first of all here, he separates sickness from suffering. Because we need each other not only when a person is physically sick, because there are many, many emotional, distraught people who are suffering far more intensely than people who may be physically sick.
There is emotional hurt and pain and suffering. There is rejection and hatred and bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness and all the rest. And people suffering loss, loss of their home, loss of their children, loss of their family, all kind of things going on.
So, when he says, "Is anyone suffering?" And if we were to ask this morning, "Is anyone suffering?" Raise your hand. Most people would probably raise their hand about something.
So, well, I'm saying all that to say this. And that is, we're not just limiting what he's saying here to somebody who has some physical ailment. Physical sickness, yes. Emotional sickness, yes indeed. And I think oftentimes it could be even worse on the emotional side.
So, he asked the question, "If there are." So, the condition we're talking about here is a physical condition, or it can be an emotional condition. And he says, "In light of that, this is the way we're to operate."
And he says, "We're to call for help." And so, what does he mean by that? And notice what he says. He says, "If anyone among you is sick, then he must call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."
Who Are the Elders and Their Role?
Now, somebody says, "What's an elder?" Well, in the New Testament days, the Apostle Paul, for example, when he would establish churches, what he would do he would go back through that fellowship, and he would call out and choose people that he felt would be good leaders for the church.
And as a result, that's the way they had the, they became elders, as they would call them. And it's interesting, when he left from Miletus to Ephesus and called this group of men, here's what the Scripture says.
It says, "After he had spoken to them, he said to them, 'Be on guard for yourselves, and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.'"
Now, the average group of deacons in any average Baptist church or elders or whatever the denomination would be, I don't think most of them, by far, ever even thought about operating like this. In those days, Paul knew that was very important.
And so he said, "Be on guard for yourselves, and for all the flock." That is, they were to watch out and listen, for their own spiritual walk. Watch this. You listen and say, "Amen." Amen.
The more you give yourself away, the more of yourself you spend and invest. And oftentimes, that demands the more you and I spend time with Him, having our own heart and soul and spirit replenished in our relationship and our intimacy with Him.
Because you can give and give and give and give until after a while you don't have anything to give, and you don't even realize you don't have anything to give. So that's dangerous.
So he said, "Be on guard for yourselves, and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His blood."
So when he said, "Shepherd the church of God," he talks about what our responsibility is. And in light of doing that, he comes to this whole issue of how we're to deal with people who are going through troubles and trials and heartaches.
And he says, "Here's what you're to do." So he doesn't leave it for us to guess what to do. He makes it very clear.
The Person Must Call – Not Wait to Be Called
And so I want us to look at this, a couple of verses here, because he makes it so very clear. He says, "Here's the course of action." He said, "Then he must call for the elders of the church, and they're to pray over him."
Now watch this. He says, "The elder doesn't call the person. The person calls the elder of the church." For example, if you become ill, and you want somebody to pray for you, don't wait for somebody to guess that you're sick.
He says, "You call for the elders of the church, they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."
Now what's this oil business got to do with it? Well, somebody says, "Does the oil heal?" No. The oil and the prayer, it's the prayer that's important here, not the oil. Though, the oil, for example, is a symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit in some places.
And then you'll recall also with the Good Samaritan, when he found this man lying on the side of the road, he poured oil in his wounds and wine, and so that helped him. And so they didn't have many things that would help, but those two would.
And so he says, "We're to anoint them with oil." That's nothing magical about that. And there's no evidence in the Scripture that Jesus was anointing people with oil. And when Jesus sent the disciples out preaching and teaching, sometimes they did. In other passages, there's no mention of oil.
So it's not something that's magic. It is a symbol. It is an indication. It's a reminder. "Anoint them with oil," he says. And he says, "Do it in the name of the Lord." That is, I'm doing this in obedience to the will of God, the Word of God, indicating that we're trusting the Holy Spirit to work in your physical body or in your emotions, whatever happens to be going on in your life.
And then he says, "And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who's sick, the Lord will raise him up. If he's committed sins, they'll be forgiven him."
And the most important part of all of this is right here. Because we're talking about what makes the difference. It isn't the oil, it's the praying.
Three Essential Characteristics for Effective Prayer
Now, I want you to think about this. Let's say, for example, that you were sick and you wanted some elders to come and pray at your house for you. What kind of people do you want? Well, you'd want people who certainly believe that God heard and answered prayer.
And so, you probably have some characteristics. You'd think, "Well, I want people I know. I want people that I know know the Word of God. I want people to live a good life," and so forth.
Well, he doesn't leave it for us to guess. Listen, he says there are three things here that are very important. This prayer, prayer that's prayed over a person who is ill, this prayer should flow out of a person with three characteristics.
First of all, he said often in faith. And if you'll go back to the first chapter of James for a moment and listen, and all of us probably know this passage pretty well, but I want you to look in the first chapter of James.
And he asked a question and speaks here of wisdom in the fifth verse when he says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it'll be given to him. But he must ask in faith without doubting."
No wavering back and forth. Maybe he will, maybe he won't, yes he can, no he can't. He says, "No wavering back and forth." He says, "Let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, it'll be given to him. He must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind."
That is, he says, "For the man ought not to expect that he'll receive anything from the Lord." So, when we're praying for God to heal somebody, whether it's emotional, let's put it, let's put it down a little bit lower level. I'm just praying for God to help somebody.
Let's just say we haven't even gotten up to the healing yet. I'm praying for God to help somebody, whatever it might be. He says, "That prayer needs to flow out of a life of faith, somebody who believes the Word of God."
If God says this is what He'll do, then I must believe that's what He's going to do. If I come to your house, for example, to pray for you, and I don't believe that God answers prayer, wasting time.
If you pray for somebody, for somebody who says, "Well, I want you to pray for me." And I think about this so often, and I try to be careful not to say it. If somebody says, "I need you to pray for me." You say, "I'll be praying for you." And most of the time, that means so long, because that's probably the last time they're going to think about it.
And so he says, the prayer of faith, that is a, watch this, a prayer of faith is a prayer based on the Word of God. A prayer of faith is a faith prayer that is based on our experience with God. In answered prayer, the prayer of faith.
So ask yourself the question, do you believe that God still answers prayer? Oh, yes. Do you believe that God still answers prayer for healing? Well, sometimes.
And so, we don't even realize, we all have stages of our growth in our faith. And so the question is, as a follower of Jesus, as a member of the body of Christ, as a family member, in your own family, among your friends, do you have the faith to believe that God will heal somebody because you prayed for them?
I knew it would get quiet. Because you see, the truth is, most people don't. Now, they'll give you some reasons, and I'm going to give you ten reasons at the end why. But, it happens. And people don't really and truly take seriously. You have a need, and I'm going to pray for God to meet this need in your life and believe that He will do it.
So, if there's going to be healing, there must be a prayer that flows out of a life of faith. Which means, watch this. You can't go seven days a week, pick up the Bible on Sunday morning, come to church, and read the Scripture with us, and go home, lay it on the desk, on the table. It gets all dusted up before the next week, and bring it back, and have a life of faith.
You know why? You can't. Because our life is so invaded by so many things, and things we hear, and incidents, you name it. We need to be in the Word of God, continually. Reading the Word of God, listening to Him, being reminded by Him, challenged by Him, directed by Him.
We need the Word every single day of our life. And if you like, listen, the truth is, your effectiveness as a follower of Jesus is absolutely related to your relationship to His Word.
So, if I'm going to be praying a prayer of faith, it's going to be based on the Word of God. And if I haven't read the Bible for about a week or two weeks or whatever it might be, I guarantee you, if you'll just stop and think about it in your own life, you don't read the Scripture, your faith level starts down.
And the longer you stay away from the Word of God, the less faith you have to genuinely trust Him in those serious times.
Sin as a Barrier to Answered Prayer
So, He says, first of all, that prayer must flow out of a life of faith. And then watch this part. He says not only that, but He says, The Lord will raise him up, and if He's committed sins, they'll be forgiven Him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.
Now, for example, if you're going to pray for somebody, you have to deal with a sin problem because there is a direct relationship between sin, sickness, healing. There is a direct relationship. That doesn't mean that everybody who's sick is living in sin.
But when a person is living in sin, here's what God said. He said, If you regard, which means if you hold on to it, you know it's there and you keep it there. If you regard iniquity in your heart, He says, I'll not hear you.
Now, people don't believe that. People live like the devil sometimes. They pray and say, Well, I've been talking to God and I know God's going to answer my prayer. No, He's not. He says, If you regard iniquity in your heart, I'll not hear you.
Now, I want you to think about this. Those elders, whoever they may be, when they meet with somebody to pray for them, for example, they have to deal with sin in their own life, if it's there, and the person who is sick or distraught or whatever the issue may be, they have to deal with a sin issue.
Sin is a barrier to the blessings of God and the ways and the work of God. And let's say, for example, if I were to come to your house and pray for you or wherever we're praying, you come to church, whatever, and we're praying for you and I'm living in sin, God's not going to hear that.
Now, let me, watch this. When He said to those elders, Be on guard, He knew how absolutely important it was that they'd be righteous, godly men if God were going to answer prayer.
The person who is praying for someone else to be healed, your heart's got to be right. You can, listen, you can lay hands on, anoint them with oil, a poor whole quart of oil of them, it's not going to make any difference. If you've got sin in your life, here's what happens. God's not going to hear it.
Secondly, look at the result in the life of the person you prayed for. You come to them, praying for them with sin in your life, and that sin may be unforgiveness, it may be resentment toward somebody, it may be somebody that you're bitter toward, somebody you don't like and it's in you and you don't like it, and yet you just think, well, that's perfectly all right, nobody's perfect.
We're talking about serious praying. We're talking about praying about which He says has powerful effect in somebody's life. And for prayer to have a powerful effect, it's got to flow out of a clean heart.
He says confessing your sins to one another. Let me ask you a question. Is there anybody, don't, when I ask this, don't ever answer my questions. Is there anybody that you can genuinely confess your sins to? I mean, I mean, honestly do it, openly do it, freely do it.
Somebody you can say, I blew it bad. Here's what I did, here's what I shouldn't have done. I'm ashamed of myself, I've asked God to forgive me. Is there anybody in your relationship, that circle of relationships, that you can honestly confess your, you're not confessing, listen, you're not asking them to forgive you.
You're confessing your sins to them before Almighty God because you want to get it out and be honest about it. If you don't have anybody like that, you're missing something. There must be somebody.
And I have found a long time ago in my life, I always need somebody I can say, well, I thought, you know, I'm not perfect. Here's what I found out. When I started that way, I'm not perfect, I knew that was a cop-out.
So, I have to say, here's what happened in my life, I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have acted that way, I've had to ask God to forgive me and I just need to get out and say it.
And let me tell you why that's so important, because sin doesn't fit who we are, then the truth is, if you're a godly person, you can't be comfortable with it.
Now, watch this. As long as known sin is dwelling within you, it is affecting you physically, spiritually, mentally, and morally, because it doesn't fit who we are. It's against the will of God.
That's why we have to keep our sins up to date. And I remember we had a lady, she was a missionary in China for forty years, and she taught me that phrase. She said, "Now, Pastor, you have to keep your sins up to date."
And the first time she said that, she talked real fast. "She has to keep your sins up to date." I said, "Keep them where?" She said, "Up to date." I said, "Well, like, what do you mean?"
She says, "I mean, don't let any time go by from the time you think you've sinned against God till you deal with it." And so, this prayer, to be effective, has got to come out of a clean heart.
And it flows out of a heart and a mind of faith that's clean. And the person for whom you're praying has to deal with it. I come to you and I ask you to pray for me, and I've got sin in my life, and I'm holding on to sin and praying for God to heal me, I'm wasting my time.
And not being fair to the person who's praying for me. Now, think about this. When somebody asks you to pray for them, that is a very holy thing. I want you to talk to God in my behalf because I have a need.
Something has happened in my life, or there's sin, or whatever it might be, sickness. And I'm asking you to talk to God in my behalf, and I'm going to trust that because you do that, He's going to heal me.
Knowing in my heart that I'm living in disobedience, that's hypocrisy. It's not going to work. And so, that's why He said to these elders, He said, "Be on guard. Be on guard."
That is, when we pray for people, we have to be careful. That is, that our heart is right. Because if you ask somebody to pray for you and you really mean that, and they are going through a very difficult time, for example, let's say it's your son or your daughter, or someone you love very much, and they're hurting deeply.
They're hurting so deeply, you can hardly handle it. What do you want? If you're in that position, you'd want somebody to pray for you that really and truly meant what they said.
And they were willing to do whatever's necessary to get their life right so their prayer will work. Has to come out of a heart that's clean.
The Righteous Life That Makes Prayer Effective
And so, He said to them, He said, "Be on guard." And I think about how many people every night, probably, I'd like to think of these every night. They get down to pray. And Lord, I want to thank You for today, for providing this. And Lord, You know that she hurt me, and He hurt me.
And Lord, I'm sick, and I'm this, and I'm that. And Lord, Your will be done in Jesus' name, Amen. I'm not even sure God even pays any attention to that.
Because oftentimes, you know what? For example, we can, most of us can quote First John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
And so, you get down by the bed. I don't know why I say that. It's because I always think kneeling is important. But anyway, however you say it. And you confess it, get up, move on.
I wonder how far deep down in your soul that went. If you said, "Lord, You said, 'If we confess our sins, I'm confessing in Jesus' name, Amen.'"
There's something so shallow about that. Sin, sin is an enemy of God. It's an enemy of your life. It's an enemy of your relationships. And we have to deal with it. So that we can be fit to pray for other people.
And we, and God, listen, God desires to answer our prayer. He desires to heal. He desires to help people through difficult, trying times, whether it's emotional or physical.
But He wants, listen, He wants those prayers to be out of hearts that are pure. So first of all, it's got to flow out of a heart of faith. Second, it's got to flow out of a heart that's pure.
And thirdly, notice what He says in this passage. "Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."
Now, what's a righteous man or a woman? A righteous man or woman is a person who's been saved, who's committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. And listen, whose lifestyle, whose lifestyle is obedience. Not perfect.
Whose lifestyle is obedience. Whose desire is to walk obediently before God. Whose desire is to walk in the will of God. And who, listen, and whose desire to walk in the will of God is a part of their everyday thinking. It's their attitude. It's their spirit about things.
And so, when he talks about effective prayers, they're ineffective prayers. They're prayers that are just words. Then they're effective prayers. He says the prayers of a righteous person.
And then it's interesting what he does when he says, he suddenly says, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. And so, he prayed earnestly and he said God answered his prayer.
And why did he say, why did he say he's a man like us? Here's why, because James didn't want us to think, well, you've got to be a great prophet for God to hear your answer and answer your prayer. But a normal human being.
And once in a while somebody will tell me, well, I'm just a sinner saved by grace. And I'll say, no. You're a Saint saved by the grace of God who falters at times in sins against God.
If I wake up every morning saying I'm a sinner saved by grace, here's what I'm going to do. I am going to sin because I just programmed myself to do it. I'm just a sinner saved by grace. That's a cop-out.
I'm just a sinner saved by grace. No, you're not. You are a Saint. You may not look like one, you may not feel like one, you may not act like one, but according to the Scripture, to the saints at Ephesus, to the saints at Corinth, to the saints at Colossae, to the saints at Philippi.
Why did he call them saints? Because they had been saved by the grace of God and dwelt by the Holy Spirit and separated, listen, for all eternity as children of God. We are His precious children. We are a family. And that's what a church is. It's not just an organization, it's also a family.
Becoming Walking Agents of Healing
And so, he says in this passage that this prayer must flow out of a person who is a person of faith with a pure heart as a righteous life. A testimony of godliness in their life.
Now, I want you to think about this. Are you listening? Say amen. Amen. Because when you and I live out our lives trusting God and walking in obedience to His will, watch this, that means that every single one of us are walking, healing agents of the living God.
Think about it. When you pray for someone else, and we know it's God in us, when you pray for someone else who's gone through difficulty and hardship, think about this.
And this passage, we got a couple of instances, people call them in, going through difficulty and hardship and pain and weeping and so forth, and I'm always willing to listen.
And oftentimes, this is what you do as a healer. You just make sure they know you heard them. They just want to be heard. Not just want to be heard, need to be heard.
And sometimes a lot of healing takes place when a person just feels they need to be heard. And probably a lot of women would say, "I just want my husband to hear me." I know he says, "I just want to be heard."
The truth is, everybody wants to be heard. And if you're hurting, you need to be heard. And so, think about it. You have Jesus living on the inside of you and the Holy Spirit.
And so, you come across people who are going through all kind of difficulty, hardship, and pain. And so, you don't have to act like something you're not. All you have to do is to allow the Spirit of God to work in your heart, to give you the sensitivity to listen to what's going on inside of them.
They're hurt and they're pain. What they're going through. And oftentimes, they don't want you to say a thing. And I think of how many times I have talked with people, and I just let them begin, and they talked the whole time, and I just sat there and listened.
And when we finished, they just got up and hugged my neck and told me they'd just been helped so much, I didn't say a word. You know what? Because I didn't need to. They didn't need to be preached to or taught.
At that moment, they just need to be heard. And they just need to be able to say, "I know that somebody's hurt me." Every single one of us fall in that category. We want to be heard, and the more we hurt, the more we want to be heard.
So, you're a walking, healing agent of God. But for that to work, the three things that are necessary. You've got to trust Him is faith. Your heart's got to be pure. Your lifestyle's got to be righteous.
And that's what transforms somebody's life. And when somebody says, "I, watch this, I need you to pray for me." They just express confidence in you. They just express confidence in you, watch this, in your relationship to God.
They just express confidence in your walk with Him. They just express confidence in your ability to communicate to Him their need that they just communicated to you.
That makes you a very special person. Every single one of us are walking, healing agents of the living God. That means all of us have a big responsibility to keep our life right before a holy God.
Why Don't We Pray for Each Other More?
Now, what would happen in churches if people live like this? Well, do you know why we don't? I'm going to give you ten reasons. And then maybe we all need to repent. Let's think about why. Why is it when we have this awesome potential, we don't?
Well, I just want to give you a number of these reasons because I think, I'm going to put them on the Mac screen so you can jot them down.
Number one, a lot of folks say, "Well, that was just for the first century church, that doesn't work today. That's first century living." And when the Bible, for the end of the first century, they didn't do that anymore.
Secondly, they don't believe it works today, regardless of first century. They just think, "Well, you know, that used to work then, doesn't work today. And besides that, we have doctors," and so forth.
The third is that so many people are too embarrassed to admit, admit that they have needs to other people. Let me just say this: I heard somebody on the phone yesterday weep and weep and weep and weep, and I just had to listen.
Because for the first time, this person said, "I felt like I could say exactly what I felt, and I wouldn't be rejected. And I wouldn't have to be embarrassed that I told somebody my faults and my failures, and how I'd messed up my life in their terms."
And so, I just, I just, I can't tell you, just listening was all they needed.
Then, of course, we're too prideful to call on others to help us. When you get too big, too important, too smart, too rich to ask for help, you are in dead serious trouble.
All of us need help at times. And you look around at somebody and you say, "Well, they don't need anything." You don't know that. You know what, you can't look at somebody's outside and tell what's on the inside.
And so, therefore, we all, we all have needy times and moments in life, and some people have serious needs in life.
Then, of course, one of the reasons we don't pray for people like we ought is because we're afraid we may fail, and then what will they think of us? Well, I ask them to pray for me, and it didn't work, and now what?
You see, a lot of pride gets mixed up in all this, and then we are too embarrassed to confess our sins before other people.
And this doesn't mean we have to get up and just say, "Well, I've done this, and I've done that," but there ought to be somebody, some person that you can trust.
And let me put it this way. When somebody pours their heart out to you, and you go telling somebody else, I guarantee you God's going to be on your trail.
Because that is a breach of a serious confidentiality, that somebody has emptied their heart, and you go tell somebody else. That's a sin against God, it's gossip, and that person could say, "Well, I don't mean to be gossiping, but I do want to share this with you."
When somebody wants to share something with me that somebody else told them, I already know that sharing word, that's a cover-up, that's a counterfeit word if I'm about to tell a tale on somebody and get them in trouble.
Then of course, we are so consumed with our own needs, we don't have time. For example, if I were to say, "I need about five people to go pray," and if I said, "Come pray for me," you might do that, but I said, "Five people to go pray for thus and so."
I wonder how many people I'd have to talk to before five people are setting it yet. Well, you know, I would love to, but I'll tell you, tomorrow, it's just like this, and on and on and on and on.
We're so busy with our own things, we don't have time to feel for somebody else. If you can't feel for somebody else, you're not going to pray for them, seriously.
Then of course, somebody says, "I don't know why, but I just can't." And the reason is because sin in their life, they know that they don't have the faith to believe that God could heal somebody, or that He could help them through something.
Now, let's move from the disease, for example. Let's say somebody's lost their house. They're going through a difficult time emotionally. It's just like they wanted, they worked hard at it, they raised their kids there, and here at this point in their life, they thought they'd be secure, and all of a sudden, it's gone, and they don't have anything.
That's a distressful, difficult time. And what they need is to be heard, loved, listened to, assured, and not offer a quick response. In other words, "Well, here's what I would do." You don't know what you'd do in some situations.
And so, instead of saying, "Here's what I would do," the right answer is, "Let's find out what God wants us to do," because He has the right answer.
And then, somebody says, "I just don't feel worthy." Let me ask you a question. How worthy do you feel about anything? That worthy business is a cop-out.
It's not a matter of worthy. We're children of God. And as He says, "We're all like Elijah, we're just normal people, but we're normal people in whom God is working His awesome work, and doing His work through all of us."
And so, we can't, we can't let that bother us.
And then I'll give you one last thing. The reason we don't do it? It's easy to send them a get-well card or flowers. Forget the praying. Send them a get-well card and the flowers.
Now, we may smile, but we all know that's the truth. It's easier to send flowers and send them a card, or even call them on the phone, than they really get on the stairs praying for them.
Do you get in real trouble in life? Do you have anybody in mind today that you would call, that you'd say, "I'm going to call her. I'm going to call him, because I know they'd pray a prayer of faith, their heart is clean, they're living a godly life, and I believe in God will answer their prayer."
Every believer needs somebody and some bodies in their life that match that requirement.
The Church as Family – Caring for Each Other
Now, think about it. A church is a family. In a family, you care for each other, love each other, support each other, help each other. It's all each other, each other, each other.
And I think there are about eleven or twelve, each other's, and Paul mentions in his epistles. That's what the church is about, it's about each other.
So, I just want to challenge you. Whatever church you belong in, wherever you go to church, ask yourself the question, "Are you allowing yourself to be a walking agent of healing in that family"?
That's who we are. That's our best testimony. Walking agents of healing. A hurt, pain, suffering, sorrow, loss, whatever it might be. Because we know the one who can change all that, and that's Jesus.
If you've never trusted Him as your personal Savior, you're missing out on life's best. If you've never trusted Him as your Savior, what kind of relationship do you have with God you don't have one?
Do you have any idea how God could possibly use you if you let Him straighten your life up? And that begins with asking Him to forgive you of your sins. And surrendering your life to Him, belongs to Him anyway, surrendering your life to Him and allowing Him to give guidance and direction for your life.
Your life will change. You'll be happier. You'll have a joy in your life. The more you give yourself away, the more God gives you in return.
Why just waste away your life on yourself when God can transform you, and in the process, He can change the lives of other people. That's my prayer for you.
Father, how grateful we are in your wonderful Patience, loving kindness, tender mercy. You accept us just the way we are. You saved us and set out to clean us up of habits and attitudes that you knew have been there a long time.
And we pray today that the Holy Spirit would impress upon each one of us that we have a responsibility to be one of those walking agents. through whom you can absolutely change someone's life, alter their whole future, improve their health, strengthen their relationship with you, and I pray that each one of us would purposely make ourselves available so that our prayers would be like the prayer that James speaks of: effective, fervent, strong, sincere, life-changing. In Jesus' name, amen.