Help for Our Healing - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, May twenty-fifth. The series on the promises of God closes with a reminder of the importance of purity in praying powerful prayers. Here's a lesson from James chapter five pointing to help for our healing. Now, think about this in the New Testament church.

There were no pharmacies like we have. 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.

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 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 had a prayer 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. 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 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, offered in faith.

And if you go back to the first chapter of James for a moment, 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 they'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 or 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. And so, He says the prayer of faith is a prayer based on the Word of God.

A prayer of faith is a prayer based on our experience with God in answered prayer, the prayer of faith. Then watch this part. Then here's what He says. He says not only that, the Lord will raise him up and if he's committed sins, they'll be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. Now, 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. 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.

Then 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. So then, 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, anon on them with oil, a poor old quart oil on 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. 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 that you can genuinely confess your sins to? 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. In other words, is there anybody in your relationship, that circle of relationships, that you can honestly confess your, 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 that I can say, well, 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 down and say it.

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. The first time she said that, she talked real fast. She had to keep her 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.

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 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. 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. 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.

It has to come out of a heart that's clean. And so, He said to them, He said, be on guard. And I think about how many people every night they get down to pray. And Lord, I want to thank You for today for providing this. And Lord, You know, 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's name, amen. I'm not even sure God even pays any attention to that. Because oftentimes, you know what?

For example, most of us can quote First John one-nine. 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, you confess it, get up and move on. I wonder how far deep down in your soul that went. If you say, well, Lord, you said, if we confess our sins, I'm confessing in Jesus's name, amen.

There's something so shallow about that. 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. 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 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 is obedience, not perfect. Whose lifestyle is obedience. Whose desire is to walk obedient before God. Whose desire is to walk in the will of God. 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 prayer. But a normal human being. But when a person says, well, I'm just a sinner saved by grace. 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 faultless at times and 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.

It'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've been saved by the grace of God and entwelt by the Holy Spirit. 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. 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. Because when you and I live out our lives trusting God and walking in obedience to His will, watch this, every single one of us are walking, healing agents of the living God.

Think about it. When you pray for someone else who's going through difficulty and hardship, 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. 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 in the Holy Spirit. And so, you come across people who are going through all kind of difficulty, hardship, 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, their hurt and their 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 just didn't help 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, there are three things that are necessary. You've got to trust Him, it's 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, 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 you.

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 Holy God.

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 are 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 had 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's name, amen. Thank you for listening to Help for Our Healing. We would also like to invite you to join us in celebrating 45 years of God's faithfulness. Stop by InTouch.org slash 45 years to learn more. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.