Does it happen today?
James 5:13-14 NIV
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 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.
The necessary requirement for healing is that first we need to desire to be healed and we need to seek God's face pursuing Him to heal us. We also need to confess our sins and faults not only to God but also to at least one or two others from whom we can trust and to those whom we have sinned against.
I think what most of us are lacking today is the public confession of our sins.
Although not all illness is caused by unconfessed sin many of our illnesses are or they are intensified by them. Guilt, resentment, envy, jealousy, hatred and bottled-up negative emotions will create destruction in us both physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually. We need to resolve and clear them away for the healing to begin.
Daddy got my attention when I came down with Rheumatoid Arthritis. When I went to Bethel Church in Redding CA, the first thing they had me do was go through repentance, rebuking and asking Father to forgive me for the sins of my past. I was handed 2 sheets of paper full of prayers and Bible verses and told to go over it in private and then repent to those whom I have sinned against and ask their forgiveness. I was then prayed over and told that if God brought to my mind any sins from my past that I had not repented of then to just go through the process of repenting, rebuking and seeking forgiveness.
While searching through Scripture, Father really pressed it on me to live a life separate from the world. To put my eyes on Jesus and my heavenly reward, to clean up my thoughts by removing things that cause me to sin and to think on, 'would I listen, watch or read this if Jesus was in the room with me listening, watching and reading it too.' When I put it in that perspective, I made a complete 180 turn and RAN from those things that are not pleasing to my precious Jesus. A lot of people are not healed because they hold on to their sins or they repent but continue to live in a sinful life. We MUST change our lives around if we want to be healed.
Today, the media is full of things that are not pleasing to God, yet Christians still figure they are 'free' to take part of it. Books and movies like 'The Hunger Games' or 'The Twilight Saga' are full of things that are unpleasing to Father and fill our mind with not only worldly thoughts but demonic thoughts as well. Through mediums such as these, we open doors and cracks for Satan to come in and then we wonder why we are sick and ill or we are not being healed from ailments that afflict us.
I am convinced that if we would follow the instruction laid out by James then we would see a lot more healing take place.
James 5:15-20 NIV
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Healing does happen today. I am proof of it and I have witnessed it. My husband who is a physician sees his prayers answered on a daily basis. He has seen dead men and babies come to life again because of God answering prayer.
Blessings,
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