Healing School Lesson 3: Healing the sick among us, confession is good for the soul. (James 5:14-18)
When a Christian is reportedly sick, it is a very big deal! The entire congregation of the Church should come to attention and pray that the sick person may be healed. Please remember that our attitude toward sickness and disease is one of hatred, as it is from the devil, and we do not tolerate its existence in the human body, and certainly not in the bodies of our fellow Christians.
Remember our theme for Healing School. Our confession is that, “Jesus Christ has healed us from all sickness and disease, and uses our bodies to heal sick people wherever we go.” Indeed, we are assured that Jesus bore all of our sins in His own body on His cross, and with His stripes we were healed. (I Peter 2:24) Moreover, the promise we have from God is that we live in divine health, and never accept sickness and disease in our physical bodies as a resting place. (Ephesians 1:3; III John 2; Psalm 91:10 & 16; and II Peter 1:3)
When a fellow believer is stricken with illness, it concerns all of us, and we are touched with the feeling of their pain and suffering because we are all membered one to another in God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 12:5 and Ephesians 1:4-6). Furthermore, we are commanded to love one another as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. (John 13:34) We rejoice together when something good happens to one of us, and weep and mourn together when something bad happens to one of us. (Romans 12:15) Therefore, when a Christian has sickness and disease in their bodies, the sickness and disease is an attack on all of us and demands immediate action!
In our lesson today, the writer James (the brother of Jesus, who served as a leader of the church in Jerusalem) provides the church of Jesus Christ with instructions for healing the sick in our congregations. I touched on some of the things we will learn today in my prior sermon, but I want to go into further detail now. As noted in James 5: 14-15: First, church leaders should inquire of the congregation whether there are any sick persons present, including members of the church who may be convalescing at home, in hospitals or nursing homes. Second, the Christian who is sick should call for the elders of the church to come and minister to them. In other words, the Christian should let the church know they are sick and desire to be healed.
Third, the elders of the church should promptly go forth and pray over the Christian, and anoint them with oil in the name of Jesus Christ. The oil (pure olive oil) used in prayer is typically applied to the forehead of the sick person, with the sign of the cross made. The oil serves two symbolic purposes—it represents healing for the physical body and the Spirit of God, which releases the Anointing by faith in the name of Jesus Christ. The “Anointing” removes the weight of heavy burdens and cares on the soul and destroys the yoke of sin. (Isiah 10:27) In other words, anointing the person with oil, recognizes that Jesus is both Lord of the body and spirit.
Fourth, when prayer is made by the church leaders in faith, the sick person shall be saved (healed), and the Lord will raise them up (bring the spirit and soul into harmony with the Lord) The healing of the sick takes place when the church leaders pray in faith by making a diligent and decisive demand for healing to manifest in the name of Jesus Christ, and they depend solely on Jesus Christ to do the work!
Fifth, the sickness and disease that has come on the Christian may be (and often is) the result of sinful behavior. In such cases, the Christian should confess the sin before the church assembly or in the presence of the church leaders, and the sin will be forgiven.
In James 5:16, James broadens the instruction to the entire church congregation to confess their faults (Amplified Bible—slips, false steps, offenses, and sins) one to another, and to pray for one another that they may be healed. In other words, it ought to be a common practice in our churches that public confession of sins be made. Wow, that almost never happens in our churches today! Many Christians hide the sins they commit and carry sickness and disease in their bodies because of it. Week after week, they sit in churches all over the world suffering silently with secret sins accompanied with pain and suffering in their bodies. The cover-up of sins prevents Christians from prospering in their souls, bodies, and in all walks of life. While, confessing and forsaking sin brings forth mercy and divine favor into lives of those who will do things God’s way. (Proverbs 28:13)
Christians must understand how the spiritual forces of sin work in the human body to make them sick. When sin is committed, it acts as a seed of evil that seeks to attack and attach itself to the outer part of the inner-man, which contains the spirit and soul (including the mind). In the born again believer, sin cannot penetrate the inner-man because the inner-man is sealed by the Holy Ghost until the day of redemption. (Ephesian 4:30) However, if the Christian chooses to regard sin by keeping it secret and continues to practice it, the sin will grow into iniquity—the practice of sin.
This is extremely problematic because the Holy Ghost, which resides in the inner-man (spirit) of the Christian always shines a light on sinful behavior, and prompts the Christian to obey the truth of God’s Word, and do that which is right. (John 14:26, 16:8-13). Thus, the Christian who hides sinful behavior has a constant struggle and battle within themselves over doing that which is right, versus doing that which is wrong. This causes great stress and anxiety within the Christian. The human body and soul are not designed to carry the heavy weight of burdens and cares that result from sin. Stress releases toxins and chemicals from the brain into the body that can cause the formation of disease, which can lead to sickness, diminished quality of life, and even premature death.
We know well that Christians can and should when needed privately turn to God and confess their sins and receive forgiveness. (Isaiah 1:18 and I John 1:9) Moreover, Christians well acquainted with their New Covenant with God, understand, if they commit sin, they have the power to forgive themselves of sin through Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:7) However, it is far more advantageous for Christians to come together publicly and confess their sins one to another. Heartfelt confession of sins among the people of God unburdens the souls of the people, and opens the door wide for the healing power of God to flow through the church—releasing the glory of God, which manifests in great miracles and deliverance, throughout the entire congregation. God wants us to worship Him, free of the guilt of sin. True worshippers of God understand this. (John 4:23-24) Remember we are all One in God!
Psalm 51:6 is instructive on the importance of revealing and telling the truth about sinful behavior. In the Amplified Bible it reads:
“Behold, You desire truth in the inner being: make me
therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart.”
When we openly confess the truth about the sin we have committed, God promises to make us aware of His wisdom related to the matter. Most Christians do not know how to confess sin before God and the church. Confession of sin is not true confession, until the whole truth is told about the sin. Confession of sin has three parts—a beginning, a middle, and an ending.
From the beginning of the confession, we must acknowledge that all have sinned and fallen short of the standards and expectations of God, and this is why we have a Savior in Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:23 and John 3:16-18). The middle part of the confession is the telling of the act of sin that was committed—no matter how bad the behavior—tell the whole truth about it! The third part of the confession is what Jesus Christ has done about that specific sin, and all sin! We confess that Jesus has washed us from all of our sins in His own blood, sanctified us, and made us righteous forever in God’s sight. (I Corinthians 6:11) God no longer has any memory of our sins and only sees us as having never sinned before. (Hebrews 10:16-17) Moreover, when Jesus washed us in His own blood, He made us kings and priests unto God! (Revelation 1:5-6) This is the wisdom of God that He shares with us when we freely tell the truth about our faults. Knowing the beginning and ending of the confession allows the Christian to close the book on the fault, and declare ourselves blameless and guiltless of the sin!
Now, the Christian who confessed the fault and has sickness in their body is ready to serve as a priest, and are also sitting in the congregation with other fellow priests. Everyone is free to confess their faults one to another—without fear of judgement and condemnation—and pray for one another and be healed. Everyone is righteous and when they pray in faith for each other will get miraculous results—just as Elijah diligently prayed and stopped the rain for several years, and prayed again and it rained on the land and brought forth abundant harvests. (James 5:17-18) When the souls of the saints are unburned and pray for one another, the limitless power of God is released to do dynamic and exotic miracles and deliver divine favor on all those who will trust in God and His way of doing things. (James 5:16)
I encourage you to unburden your souls openly with true confession of sin among the brethren, so that you through prayer may be healed, and that your prayers made in faith for others that are sick may result in them being healed.