Healing Prayer

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A little later in the program we'll tell you how you can get a copy of Dr. Graham's brand new book, Reignite. But first, here's his message, Healing Prayer. I do want to invite you to take the Bible, your Bible, and turn to James chapter 5, verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

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 one who's sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and heaven gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. You might suspect that James would be interested in prayer.

He was known, if you'll recall, his nickname was Camelnese, old Camelnese. He got that reputation because he was so often on his knees, praying not only for himself, but the people of God. James, therefore, talks in his letter about prayer often in the very first chapter when he tells us about those trials that come our way. Count it all joy when these trials come. And one of the reasons we can know joy in the midst of sadness and struggles and suffering is that we can ask of God to give us wisdom.

That's prayer. As you would expect, James, who was always sort of in our face, just straight up with James. Not a lot of nonsense with James. In chapter four when he was talking about prayer, he said, listen to me, you ask, you have not because you ask not.

Boom! That's James. You have not because you do not ask. And then in chapter five, seven times in the verses that are before us, he references prayer or pray. And there's no way that James or I could exaggerate the importance or the significance of prayer in the life of the believer. In fact, prayer is the mark of genuine faith in the life of the believer. All of us can get a lot better at praying. The church can get a lot better at praying. And it is the call of Christ to pray always and never to give up.

But James recognizes that there are times that require extraordinary prayer. When we need God to touch us and even to heal us. Now, I believe God heals. You ask, Jack, do you believe in divine healing? There's no other kind but divine healing. Whether it is by medicine or by miracle. Whether it is natural healing as the body heals itself or if it is supernatural healing when God moves in and performs a miracle. It doesn't matter the means whether it is medicine or miracle. We know that God heals. That God alone and God can do things that medicine cannot do. And if you have a diagnosis, some of you have a diagnosis that is very serious and very critical or maybe it's cancer or maybe it's some dread disease and the doctors have said there's just not a lot we can do. When the doctors say there's not a lot we can do, there's still a God who can do a lot.

God almighty. Jesus is the great physician. The Lord our God that we sang about.

The great I am. One of his names is Jehovah Rapha which means the God who heals you. So yes, absolutely, God heals. So today's message is about healing prayer and I want to remind you that not all healing is in regard to physical healing. The healing of the body is important but we are made up of mind, body and spirit. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5 13 that we are body, we are soul, we are spirit. With the body, we have physical life. With the soul, the sukkah, the mind, we have emotional, mental life, intellectual life. With the spirit, we have the potential if our spirit is reborn in Christ to have spiritual life. So the soul can get diseased.

The spirit can get sick as well as the body. And what James is showing us here, ever practical, teaching us here is what to do when we suffer, when we get sick and even when we stray away from the Lord. So first of all, what do you do when you suffer? You pray for those who suffer. Look at verse 13 again. Verse 13, is anyone among you suffering? Now it's not a question as to whether or not you will suffer. Fact of life. No one, Christian or non-Christian is immune, gets a pass on suffering.

None of God's boys or girls are in a bubble. We are prone to illness and sickness because we live in a decaying, dying world. And we do get sick and yes, we suffer. The word here is actually the word afflicted or stressed or distressed. It's a word which means when it says suffering there, suffering of all kind, whether it is emotional pain, psychological pain, physical pain, family issues, financial problems. You're just overwhelmed.

This word here, if anyone is suffering, it means you show up for the day and it happens. It's bad. Bad. You look at this thing in your life and you say that's bad.

That's really, really bad. Whatever it is that causes us to suffer, Jesus said in this world, in this world, as long as you live, there will be tribulation. James, as I said earlier in chapter 1 said, when you fall into various trials and tests in your life, not if, and, or but, you will.

You will. You know, you are either going into a trial right now or you're in the middle of a trial right now or you're coming out of a trial. But all of us face trials in our lives. Psalm 34 verse 19, the Psalmist admitted this, many, many are the afflictions of the righteous and the Lord delivers them out of them all.

Now the Lord delivers, but he doesn't deliver us from affliction and problems and pressures of all kinds. Yes, there are physical problems. There are also psychological problems that we face and you're not exempt. You may find yourself under emotional pressure or pain. There's also spiritual struggles and suffering, fear, anxiety, depression. And there are toxic emotions that can attack the mind and the body like jealousy and envy and bitterness, which is an acid that destroys its own container. You know, the body, the mind, the soul, the spirit are so interrelated and interconnected that someone said that they catch each other's diseases.

There's a powerful connect, God created us, a powerful connect between the mind and the body, the spirit and the soul. So suffering can come as a result of spiritual struggles. Some are suffering because of direct assault and attack from Satan himself. But what some call mental illness can be spiritual bondage.

Now there's such a thing as mental illness and should be treated as a mental illness. Satan attacks and it can be spiritual bondage. Like the apostle Paul mentioned, he suffered for the sake of the gospel because he was committed to carrying the cross, wearing and bearing the cross. And Jesus said, if you're going to follow me, take up my cross and follow after me. And if we bear the cross, if we carry the cross, how would we not expect to face opposition? In a world that doesn't love Christ, don't be surprised if you determine to carry the cross and sell out to follow Jesus Christ that you will face some heat, the flag, you will face persecution. In fact, Paul said in 1 Timothy, all who live godly in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution. Most of us know nothing about physical persecution. But when you live for Jesus in your school, for some even in your family and among your friends, if you stand for Christ and bear and wear the cross of Christ, you will face opposition and some resistance. Don't be surprised at that. In fact, Jesus told us in the Beatitudes, if you're persecuted for righteousness sake, then rejoice and be exceedingly glad because great is your reward in heaven.

But you may be suffering, you could suffer in some way because of your faith. So what do you do? What does James say to do?

Very simple answer. He says pray. Bam!

That's it. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, Healing Prayer. Bring fresh passion and joy to your faith with Dr. Graham's newest book, Reignite, an intimate account of how God led Dr. Graham through one of the darkest seasons of his life.

Whether you're facing disappointment, doubt, depression or heartache, Reignite offers biblical insights to encourage you in your pain and help fan the flames of faith in your life. And it's our way to thank you for your gift to PowerPoint. So call today to get your copy of Reignite as thanks for your support. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627.

You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional. Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Now let's get back to today's message, Healing Prayer. When you suffer and you pray, it doesn't mean that in the next 15 minutes you're going to no longer suffer. Say, well, I prayed, I was hurting, I was suffering and I pray that didn't do any good. I was suffering when it was done. You are thinking, OK, I pray, magic potion, I'm out.

Well, it doesn't work that way. God uses pain as a process in our life to teach us and train us in godliness. Adversity advances us in our faith. But in His own way and in His own time, God will bring about healing, genuine faith, praise, even when you don't feel like it. Prayer is the first choice, not the last chance for the believer.

We do what is not natural. We call upon the name of the Lord. James says, look again in verse 13, let him pray. And if anyone is cheerful, let him sing praise. Let him sing praise. Shout unto the Lord with a voice of triumph. The Psalmist said, Psalm 30 verse 5, weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing songs. Life is a series of wins and losses, ups and downs, sunshine and rain, good days and bad days. But the fact is, most of us, though not all of us, but most of us have a whole lot more good days than bad days. And the problem for some of us is on those good days, we forget to give credit to God and to glorify God by singing and praising our God.

James is telling us here, when you suffer, when there's adversity, pray. When there's prosperity and pleasure, sing to the Lord. Literally sing songs of praise. Well, I don't always feel like singing.

The Bible says he gives songs in the night. And when the wind blows, that's the time to sing. We have some little chimes on our back porch, wind chimes. And typically, of course, when the wind isn't blowing, you hear nothing. But if the wind stirs up and starts blowing about us, then they start to make music.

They just tingle all over the place. Now, when the wind blows into our lives, there should be music coming out if we're believers. And when the wind isn't blowing, there still should be songs of praise. I'll tell you this. Suffering is inevitable, but misery is optional.

Did you know that? Suffering is inevitable, but misery is optional. Paul said, who knew a lot about suffering, he said in 2 Corinthians 6, 10, that he was in sorrow yet rejoicing. God has given us such great happiness and joy and gladness. And when you survey your Bible, you see words like happy or glad or cheerful or celebrate or festival through and through. The Bible is chock full of this incredible, happy experience of knowing our God. Unfortunately, a lot of churches and a lot of Christians are poor advertisements for Christianity because they're negative, they're down constantly, they're morose, they're somber, they can't get up, they're down, down, doobie doo, down, down all the time.

No! God has given us joy. Worship God with all your heart. Every day there are thousands of reasons to praise God, right?

Sing songs of praise. This is not just any old kind of song that we sing. The world can sing zippity-doo-dah songs. Zippity-doo-dah, zippity-ay, my oh my, what a wonderful day. Anybody can sing that. If you want to sing that, I actually like the song.

But that's not what he's saying. He's saying sing songs of praise to God. Worship God. It's a mark of the Spirit-filled life. Ephesians 5, 19, after we're commanded to be filled with the Spirit, he says, Singing to one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs. There's joy in knowing Jesus. A day should never go by that you don't praise Jesus. A day should never go by that you don't praise Jesus, what he's done in your life. So we pray for those who are suffering, and then we pray for those who are sick.

That's what James is talking about, ever again practical and personal. He says, Is anyone among you sick? Verse 14. Who's sick? He says.

Anybody? Sick. He says, all right, here's what you do. You call for the elders of the church and let the elders come and anoint with oil and pray the prayer of faith in the name of Jesus, and God will raise the sick. So James focuses on praying for sickness. This is a unique prayer for someone suffering physically. Again, it's an extraordinary prayer. It's not just when you've got a sinus headache or a gimpy knee. You should pray for those things too.

We're going to pray about everything, but this is more serious than that. This is when you're really sick. This is when the diagnosis is cancer or some disease and the doctors say you may or you may not survive. It's sickness, agonizing sickness afflicts millions and millions of people. We live in a broken, fallen world.

I see it all the time, of course, and so do you. People get sick. Cancer in particular is everywhere. There's a war on cancer in our country, and I'm grateful for that. People are fighting, and medical science is doing everything they can to discover cures for cancer.

I hate cancer. See what it does to people. But beyond medicine, what are we to do? James says for the Christian, call for the elders of the church. Ask for the elders of the church. Now, the elder, basically these are the pastors of the church. These are the spiritual leaders of the church.

Notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say call for the healers or call for the miracle workers or go get in a healing line on television. No, he says right there in your own church, in your own spiritual family, among the people that you know and love and trust, the leaders in your Bible fellowship class or the pastors of your student ministry or the pastors of the church, you get them together and bring them in and pray over you.

Notice their presence is needed. Now, you can pray for people at a distance. Distance makes no difference with God. I mean, your prayers can circle the globe for people. But in this case, where there is this kind of sickness, this is the ministry within of the body of Christ. It's the beautiful ministry of the body of Christ. One of the big time reasons you need to be connected with a local church, a local congregation.

Everyone needs connectedness. You need a family of faith. And especially when you have needs or you want to meet needs, do it through the church. And so call for the elders of the church, the spiritual leaders of the church. There is particular power in presence in the laying on of hands, in the touch that transforms in the name and the power of God. Hands of faith, not only to pray for you, but he says to pray over you, to pray over you. So there's the asking.

Ask for the elders of the church to come. But then there's the anointing. He says, anoint with oil.

Now, there's debate as to exactly what the oil is. Could be medicinal purposes used for medicinal. The oil was used for medicinal purposes in the New Testament era. When the man was broken on the road, the story of the good Samaritan. Remember, he was beaten and bruised and the man came along, the Samaritan, and he poured in oil and wine. This was medicinal purposes.

And it's true. I mean, they rubbed oil on everything. If you were sick, go get the oil. Not only the medicinal purposes, but probably not. Look, it's not the oil that heals. It's not the elders who heal. It's not even the prayer that heals, per se. It's God who heals.

The big old huge question mark that may be in your mind right now is what about the cure? Does God always promise? Is that what God is saying here? That God promises that when we pray like this, a prayer of faith, anoint with oil, that if you have enough faith, you will always be healed. God may choose to heal. God may choose not to heal. The key thing here is acceptance. Pray in the name of the Lord.

I'll end with this. You know what it is to pray in the name of the Lord? It means to pray in with the approval and the authority of God's name. It's not just something we do, a little incantation at the end of a prayer.

In Jesus' name we pray. When you pray in Jesus' name, you're praying in His authority, the right that you have to pray because He gives you the authority to come boldly before God's throne. It also means approval. So if you sign your name to something, that's your approval. You sign a check, that's approval to take it out of your bank account. If you sign a paper, a legal document, that's your approval.

That's authority, that's approval. And so, not just when we pray, men and women, but the way we live, in all that we do, whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You ought to be able to sign the name of Jesus to everything you do in your life as a Christian. So when you sign on the name of Jesus, it's tantamount to praying this.

Lord, not my will, but your will be done. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, Healing Prayer. Chances are you've faced your share of crisis.

Maybe you're even in the fight of your life right now. Or maybe you're simply feeling exhausted by the busyness of life and sapped of spiritual strength. Whatever you're facing, we want to help fan the flame of faith in your life by sending you Dr. Graham's newest book, Reignite.

This personal account of how God led Dr. Graham through his own crisis will help you focus on God during difficult seasons so you can experience fresh passion and joy in Jesus. And we'll send you a copy as thanks for your gift today. So call now to request your copy of Reignite. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627.

You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit JackGraham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online, or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional. Our website again is JackGraham.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? I don't think I could possibly exaggerate the importance, the significance of prayer in the life of the believer. In fact, prayer is a mark of genuine faith.

If you believe, you will be praying. We're told in James to pray when we suffer, pray when we're blessed, pray when we're sick, pray when we're defeated in sin. We're told time and again in the Bible to pray, pray, and then pray some more. Prayer should be as normal as breathing for the believer.

We are to pray according to the Bible always. But there are also times when we need divine healing, whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual. And these are moments of extraordinary prayer. Extraordinary prayer, prayer in times of great necessity and need. I believe all true healing comes from Jesus.

Whether it comes through medicine or counseling or a supernatural miraculous event, all restoration, all healing is divine. It all comes from God. And always remember this about prayer. It's about acceptance and trust, trusting God to know and to do what is right, accepting that God and God alone will give us good things and the right things in our lives. Prayer is not a fantasy.

It's not a formula. It's fellowship with God. It is connecting with God and communing with Him. It is in prayer that we link our nothingness, our neediness, to His almightiness.

And no matter what God chooses to do, we will experience healing when we pray like that. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift to PowerPoint today, we'll send you Dr. Graham's brand-new book, Reignite, as our thanks. Call 1-800-795-4627.

That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. Text PowerPoint to 313131. On the next PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how there's no expiration date on God's grace. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.