How are you? (3)
James third “how are you,” question is directed towards these who’re not well, (for the first two follow links below). It’s something we ask people all the time isn’t it? …“Are you sick?” Here’s how James asked it:
James 5:14 NIV [14] Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.
As in the first two scenarios James asks the question and then provides the response. His response here is to call for the church elders and have them pray with the sick person and anoint with oil.
As a church minister this is a practice I’ve been involved in a number of times. It happens at our Presbytery Divine Healing Service, held at 3:15pm on the 4th Sunday in the month in Ballydown Presbyterian Church. And in a more local setting I and another elder have went to a church member’s home to pray with them. In both places, (at the sick person’s request), the sick person is anointed with oil and prayed for - we ask God for healing. And we’ve found that God does heal. I’ve been amazed at how our Lord has worked in lives, bringing physical, emotional and mental healing. In some cases it’s instantaneous, in some it’s a slow process, and in some, (it has to be said), there appears to be no change whatsoever. …Healing doesn’t always happen.
Joni Eareckson Tada struggled with this issue for a long time. As she recounts in her book “Joni,” she sought physical healing of her quadriplegia. She prayed and fully believed that God would heal her. In her words, “I certainly believed. I was calling up my girlfriends saying, ‘Next time you see me I’m going to be running up your sidewalk. God’s going to heal me.’” Yet Joni is still in a wheelchair today. Forty-five years after the accident that left her paralysed, God has still not healed her. …Her perspective has become one of great faith: “God may remove your suffering, and that will be great cause for praise. But if not, He will use it, He will use anything and everything that stands in the way of His fellowship with you. So let God mould you and make you, transform you from glory to glory. That’s the deeper healing.”
And that’s the frame of mind we’re to have when calling for the elders of our church to pray for healing. God may graciously heal, or He may choose to use our sickness to shape us, and glorify Him.
There’s more to consider in this subject as the subsequent verses show, but for now it’s clear. James urges those who are sick to make that call. It’s their initiative to take - not the elders. …Perhaps in response to this you might consider making your way to the Divine Healing Service at Ballydown. I know from experience you’ll be treated with the utmost sensitivity. Your conversation with them will be confidential and you’ll be graciously prayed with. Or, (as your minister), give me a call and at your request we’ll arrange a visit. Let’s pray.
Gracious Heavenly Father I thank you that you care for us - more than we realise. You know our weakness, our ailments, our sickness. And you are able to heal us and raise us up to health and strength once more. We thank you too for the greater work that you do in us by refining our character through allowing sickness to remain. Help us to trust you when that happens. And Lord we long for the day when sickness will be no more - in our new home, with our new incorruptible body. “Come Lord Jesus.” Amen.