As James
continued to share with the people within the “twelve tribes
scattered abroad”, he addressed those who were “sick”
among them. “Sick” people were to “call for the
elders of the church”, and the “elders” were to
“pray over” them and “anoint” them “with
oil in the name of the Lord”. In chapter five and verse fifteen
of his letter, James continued his instructions to the “elders”
as he shared the result for “praying for the sick” where
we read:
And the
prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;
and if he
have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
The
verse begins, “And the prayer of faith shall save the
sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;” James
began with the words, “And the prayer”
or “vow, votive and obligation” “of faith”
which means “the conviction that God exists and is the
creator and ruler of all things and is the provider and bestower of
eternal salvation through Christ ”
“shall save” or
“keep safe and sound, rescue from danger or destruction” “the
sick” which refers to “the
wearied and faint”, “and the Lord” who
is “he to whom a person or thing belongs about which he has power
of deciding; master and the title given to God the Messiah”
“shall raise” which means
“arouse, cause to rise from sleep and awake” “him up”
which refers to “the sick person”. The promise given by James was
when the “elders”
prayed in “faith”,
not only would the “sick”
person be “saved”,
but also that “the Lord shall cause the sick person to rise from
sleep and awake”.
The
verse goes on to say, “and if he have committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him.” James
continued, “and if he”
which refers to the one who is “sick”
“have committed sins”
or “has made ready, produced, bore, shot forth and acquired an
offense, an err, mistaken and wandering from the path of uprightness
and honor; to do or go wrong”, “they shall be\forgiven
him” or “sent away, expired,
disregarded and departed” from the one who is “sick”.
Not only would the “sick”
person be “saved”
and “raised up”,
but they would also be “forgiven”
for any “sins” they
“did, made and produced”.
When
we think through these words of James, we realize the benefit of
obeying God's instructions when we are “sick”. Those who
are “sick” are to “call for the elders”, and
the “elders” are to “pray in faith” and
“anoint” them “with oil in the name of the Lord”.
The result would be for the “sick” to be “saved”
and “raised up”, and if their “sickness”
was a result of “sins committed”, those “sins”
were promised to be “forgiven”.Let us realize the
importance of knowing God's ways, and may we always obey His words
when we encounter “sickness”.
Next
time James tells his readers to “confess”
their “faults
one to another”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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