The human body is a marvelous creation designed to house the Spirit of God. But how should believers respond when their bodies fail to work properly? All too often, Christians react by immediately turning to modern medicine for answers. While there is nothing wrong with using the resources available to us, our trust and hope needs to be firmly placed in the Lord, not doctors or medical treatment.
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male announcer: “In Touch”
with Dr. Charles Stanley,
celebrating 45 years
of God’s faithfulness.
Next on “In Touch,”
“Help for Our Healing.”
Dr. Charles Stanley: Well, we’re
the richest nation in the world
but we’re probably about
one of the sickest.
And if you’ll think about it, we
spend billions of dollars every
year on medical research
and all kind 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.
In fact, there’s something
not right about all that.
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.
Now, our first response
is call the doctor.
First response, go
to the pharmacy.
Let’s get, if I can get
enough pills of that,
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 in this fifth chapter
he’s been talking about lots of
things we’re familiar with
about trials and so forth.
Then he comes to that thirteenth
verse and he asks this question,
“Is anyone among you suffering?
Then he must pray.
Is anyone cheerful?
He is 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, and pray for
one another so that you
may be healed.
The effective prayer of
a righteous man
can accomplish much.”
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
a church is like.
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,
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?
He is 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 forgiveness
and all the rest.
And people suffering loss, loss
of their home and loss of their
children, loss of their family,
all kind of things going on.
And 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 what 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 asks the
question, if they 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 they say, 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.”
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.
And so I want us to look at this
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 are to pray over him.”
Now, watch this.
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 and 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,
that 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.
There’s nothing
magical about that.
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 is sick,
and the Lord will raise him up,
and if he’s he
has committed sins,
they will be forgiven him.”
Now, 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.
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 believed that God
heard and answered prayer.
And so, you’d probably
have some characteristics.
You’d think, well, I
want people I know.
I want people that, that I know,
know the Word of God.
I want people live a
good life and so forth.
Well, he doesn’t
leave it for our,
he doesn’t leave
it for us to guess.
Listen, he says there are three
things here that very important.
This prayer, the 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 says,
offered 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
first chapter of James.
And he asked the question and
speaks 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
will be given to him.
But he must ask in faith
without any doubting.”
No wavering back and forth.
Maybe he will; maybe 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, and
it will be given to him.
But 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 that
man ought not to expect that he
will receive
anything from the Lord.”
So he says, the prayer of faith,
that is of–watch this–a prayer
of faith is a prayer
based on the Word of God,
based on our experience
with God in answered prayer.
The prayer of faith.
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–
we need to be in the
Word of God continually.
Reading the
Word of God–listen–
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’re
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, less faith you have
to genuinely trust Him in
those serious times.
So He says, first of all, that
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 has committed sins,
they will 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 the 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 onto 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 sometime,
and they pray and say 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 the sin issue.
Sin is a barrier to the
blessings of God and the ways
in 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.
And so, this prayer,
to be effective,
has got to come out
of a clean heart.
Out of it flows out
of a heart and a mind,
a faith that’s clean.
And, the person for whom you’re
praying has to deal with it.
If I come to you and 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.
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 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 it, 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.
Secondly, 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 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,
there’re ineffective prayers.
There’re prayers
that are just words.
Then there’re effective prayers.
He says, the prayers
of a righteous person.
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,
has a righteous life,
a testimony of godliness
in their life.
Now I want you
to think about this.
Are you listening?
Say 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.
But for that to work there are
three things that are necessary.
You’ve got to trust Him.
It’s faith.
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 expressed
confidence in you.
They just expressed confidence
in your–watch this–in your
relationship to God.
They just expressed confidence
in your walk with Him.
They just expressed 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 Holy God.
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 enough of these reasons
because I think I’m
going to put them on the mag
screen so you can jot them down.
Number one.
Lot of folks say, well,
that was just for
the First Century church.
That doesn’t, that
doesn’t work today.
That’s First Century living.
And when the Bible, for
end of the First Century,
they didn’t do that anymore.
Secondly, they don’t
believe it works today,
regardless of its 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
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.
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.
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 asked 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’re 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.
Then, of course, we’re so
consumed with our own needs,
we don’t have time.
We’re so busy
with own things,
we don’t have time to
feel for somebody else.
If you can’t feel
for somebody else,
you’re not going 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 a disease,
for example, let’s say
somebody’s lost their house.
They’re going through a
difficult time emotionally.
They it’s just like they wanted,
they worked hard at it,
they, 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
heard 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 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.
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 God will
answer their prayer.
Every believer needs somebody
and somebodies in their life
that match that requirement.
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’re about
eleven or twelve each other’s,
in Paul mentions in the–
in his epistles.
That what 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 of 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’d
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.
Surrender your life to Him in
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.
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’s name, amen.
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