It is wonderfully encouraging to know that God hears our prayers. Psalm 56:2 addresses God as, “you who hear prayer.” Not only does he hear our prayers, he encourages us to pray all kinds of prayers about every situation we will ever face. Paul describes the scope of our praying in Ephesians 6:18, where he urges us to take up the sword of the Spirit “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” Many sermons have been preached on the “four alls” of this verse.
Nevertheless, in the light of Paul’s encouragement to cast wide the net of our prayers, it is surprising how limited the scope of our prayers can be. One of the most common requests pastors receive when we ask people how we can pray for them, is a request for prayers related to sickness and health. In some of our gatherings for prayer requests relating to sickness and surgery predominate. At times we need to encourage Christians to broaden the scope of their personal and corporate praying.
Yet that is not the thrust of this article. It is, rather, to consider how we might pray well for those who are sick. How might we pray for them in a biblically balanced way. We will take James 5:14-15 as an entry point into this discussion. Here James urges the sick to call the elders to pray for them, and he urges elders to pray for the sick person. “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.”
The anointing with oil mentioned in this verse puzzles many modern readers, so a word of explanation is in order. Some view the oil as purely medicinal (Luke 10:43), while others view it as an apostolic practice associated with miraculous healing (Mark 6:13). More probably the oil is symbolic and is to be administered by the elders as a visible sign of what they have come to pray for – healing. However we are to understand the anointing with oil, it is subordinate to prayer. The elders have come to pray with and for the sick person.
The context suggests that this person is seriously ill, possibly suffering from a life-threatening illness. Unable to go to seek help, the sick person calls the elders to come and pray over him or her. The elders do not simply kneel and pray for the sick person; they go and pray with them. They do something that the sick person may be unable to do because of weakness of body and mind. Early in my ministry I was called to visit an elderly saint who was in hospital recovering from a heart attack. For the first time in as long as he could remember he could not gather his thoughts to pray. It was a deeply unsettling experience, and he asked me to do what he could not at that time do for himself – ask God for healing.
James gives us some insight into the spiritual and theological richness of the prayer which the elders are to pray for the sick. This is not a trite request to make the sick person better. It is a prayer offered “in the name of the Lord.” The name of the Lord is more than simply an identity tag; it is a summary of everything God has revealed himself. Jehovah is the eternal, uncreated God. Jesus is his majestic Son who came to save his people from their sins. He has promised to hear those who call upon him, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
That is why the elders’ prayer is called “the prayer of faith.” The faith which characterises this prayer is not a “name-it-and-claim-it” kind of faith, which believes we get to set God’s agenda. No, it is the faith which believes that God really is who he says he is. He is the God who is good, mighty, and wise. He knows what we need. His answer may not be what we want or expect, but it is always what is best for us. So, when we pray in faith, we pray that the Lord’s will would be done, and we submit to his will.
The context also suggests that this prayer ranges over needs which include, but are not limited to, physical healing. It is significant that James refers not only to the promise of healing in v.15a, but also to the promise of sins forgiven in v.15b. “And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” Why does James add this note? Is he suggesting that physical illness is the result of specific sins that needs to be confessed before they can be healed?
Jesus rejects that idea in John 9:2-3, when he challenged the assumptions which his disciples made about a man born blind. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Neither, Jesus replied, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Nevertheless, James recognises that serious illness can stir up all kinds of fears within us. Sub-conscious fears may rise to the forefront of our consciousness and trouble us. Is God angry with me? Is he punishing me for something I did – years go? Am I right with God? Physical weakness can be a time of spiritual vulnerability. That is why, sometimes, elders have to help people wrestle with the questions Job asked in his time of calamity. It is possible that there may be sins to confess. But there are also promises to be claimed, and assurances to be enjoyed. An elder may also need to pray for peace of mind and calmness of soul in the midst of physical pain and weakness. It may be necessary to remind the sick that the gospel promises peace with God as well as pardon of sin. Thus, the prayer of faith claims all of God’s gospel blessings for the person who is sick.
Note that this prayer of faith leaves the sick person with hope. James does not leave us with an earnest request dangling in the air, but with a well-grounded hope that God hears prayer. James assures the elders who go to pray with and for the sick person that “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” How can we pray with such confidence?
We know that God hears our prayers for the sick, but we do not know in advance how God will answer our prayers. Not every person we pray for will be healed. Some may not get better, but God will raise him up. God will raise some from their sick bed immediately and physically. Others he will raise up from death unto eternal life. Whatever the outcome we can be assured that God hears and helps his people. That is why Paul concluded his prayer for the Ephesians, in Ephesians 3:20 with the confidence that God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us.”
When we pray the prayer of faith for those who are sick, we take all our needs to God and we leave them with God. All too often we take our problems to God – and then cling on to them. An elderly saint in my congregation had many health problems – but always managed to get a good night’s sleep. “How so?” I asked. He responded, “When I take my problems to God last thing at night, I put my head on the pillow and fall asleep. There is no point both of us worrying about them.” When we pray for the sick, we help them to know how to pray like that.
