A
long time ago, a priest once told me that when I died, God would ask me, “What
have you done with what I’ve given you?”
I’ve spent nearly 30 years thinking about that question.
I
began my study of James 5 a few weeks ago, knowing I would be having surgery
this past Friday. I was led to focus on
verses 13-16. I wish I could count the
number of commentaries I read before writing this, but I will say it has
been a lot. One I really enjoyed was
this from John Piper. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-elders-the-people-and-the-prayer-of-faith
God always leads us to certain passages to make a point and I want to share
where I was led.
Luke
8:40-56. This is where a woman with a
bleeding disorder for a long time, reached out and touched Jesus. She didn’t touch Jesus accidentally or was
jostled by the crowd, but she purposely, reaching out in faith that He held the
power to make her well. This faith
produced a remarkably different reaction – power went out from Him (v.
46). Other people in the crowd did not
receive this healing.
We may suffer or see suffering for so long that we are tempted to lose sight
of God’s power and love.
Then
I read Matthew 8:1-13. Here Jesus
reaches out and touches a man with leprosy (v. 3). This man, who most likely was
shunned by the rest of the world, asks the King of Kings to make him
clean. And what follows? A centurion – a Roman commanding soldier in
charge of upwards of 5,000 men, came up to Jesus and asks Him to heal a
paralyzed servant. This man in charge of
over 5,000 people, acknowledged that he wasn’t worthy to have Jesus enter his
home, but to just have Jesus speak and his slave would be healed.
Philippians
2 reminds us to have the same mindset of Christ. Which then led me to Luke 6:27-35,
22:39-53. As followers of Christ we are
to extend mercy.
As
we end our study of James, I can’t help but have the words “miraculous” and “revolutionary”
and “the greatest ever” and "powerful", come to mind.
James is that “how-to” book on Christian living. And we end it with yet another reminder to
BE Jesus, not just admire or adore Him.
When we pray the “prayer of faith”, we are not referring to the sick
person’s faith, but the person who is praying.
God heals, faith doesn’t, and all prayers are subject to God’s
will. But our prayers are part of God’s
healing process. That is why God often
waits for our prayers of faith before intervening to heal a person.
