Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16.
Christ is the same compassionate physician now that He was during His earthly ministry. In Him there is healing balm for every disease.
Why is it that men are so unwilling to trust Him who created man, and who can, by a touch, a word, a look, heal all manner of disease? Who is more worthy of our confidence than the One who has made so great a sacrifice for our redemption? Our Lord has given us definite instruction, through the apostle James, as to our duty in case of sickness. When human help fails, God will be the helper of His people. “Is any sick among you? 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: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” James 5:14, 15.
But the offering of such prayer is a most solemn act, and should not be entered upon without careful consideration….
To those who desire prayer for their restoration to health, it should be made plain that the violation of God’s law, either natural or spiritual, is sin, and that in order for them to receive His blessing, sin must be confessed and forsaken….
We know that God hears us if we ask according to His will. But to press our petitions without a submissive spirit is not right; our prayers must take the form, not of command, but of intercession.
There are cases where God works decidedly by His divine power in the restoration of health. But not all the sick are healed. Many are laid away to sleep in Jesus….
Our desires and interests should be lost in His will. These experiences that test faith are for our benefit…. Faith is strengthened by exercise. We must let patience have its perfect work, remembering that there are precious promises in the Scriptures for those who wait upon the Lord.
The Faith I Live By p. 315
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Prayer Requests
—-My dear friend has just found out that she has cancer under her arm. Please pray for her that the doctor will have wisdom in how to treat it. Rose
—-Please pray for my brother-in-law, Dave. His wife came home from work and found him on the floor because he had fallen again. He could not get up, even with her help, so he was taken by ambulance to the hospital. They suspect he may be reacting badly to some new medications. They are keeping him in the hospital and running tests. Please pray for answers and healing for Dave, and strength and comfort for my sister Jody. Thank you, Martha
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Dear Friends,
Selling religious books went well for awhile, but through a set of unfortunate circumstances, it soon became apparent that we needed a different occupation. Ron got a job selling office supplies. This job went well for awhile until another set of unfortunate circumstances caused him to lose his job. Finally, he decided that he needed to make some improvements in his education. Since he had always loved airplanes and wanted to work in that industry, when he heard of a school in southern Alabama where he could get training in avionics, he applied.
To Ron’s delight, he was accepted. Over the next few weeks we packed our belongings for the long journey from Pennsylvania to Alabama. Loading the Uhaul truck was no easy task. We lived about half way up a high hill. It was early February and we had about seven feet of snow on the level. There was so much snow, we could not even get our car up into our driveway. After quite a struggle with the elements, the u-haul was packed and loaded, our car fastened securely to the back, and our new adventure began.
And what an adventure it was! Neither of us had been to the states we would be driving through. The farther south we drove, the less snow we encountered. By the time we drove through Virginia, there was only a little skim of frost. Tennessee had no snow and moderate temperatures. It seemed so strange to us, who were used to the northern winters. When we crossed the border into Alabama and saw green grass, it seemed that we had traveled to a new world. As we drove along, we began crossing a long bridge. I looked down expecting to see a very large river, but there was none. We were travelling above swampy land, and it seemed as if the bridge was miles long. It probably was. Things were very different in that southern state during the 70’s. It took us many months to get used to the differences. No, we never did get fully comfortable with the differences. In fact, we felt very much out of place in some circumstances. We were there physically, but we just did not seem to belong.
So it should in our Christian journey. As we travel along life’s road, we encounter many amazing things, many differences, yet we should never get comfortable with these things. Above all, through this journey, we are to remember the great prayer that Jesus prayed, “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” John 17:13-20
Our Dear Saviour greatly desires that we should live above the evil of this world. He does not want us to shut ourselves away from it, but we must have a higher experience, a closer walk with Him, that we may not be affected by the swampiness of sin. His purpose for us is the same as was Paul’s experience, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Cor 3:18 By prayer, by meditating upon our Dear Saviour’s life, and by diligent study of His Holy Word, we will be changed into His likeness. All with whom we come in contact will take knowledge of us, that we have been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)
However, there is a price to “pay” for this vital experience on life’s journey. We must be as the man who “when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Matt 13:46 Paul explains, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Phil 3:8,9 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” Col 3:2-10
Just as we never got comfortable with the Alabama of the 1970’s, so we are not to get comfortable with this sinful, old planet. John admonishes, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 2:15-17 James adds, “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4
“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb 12:1,2 Let us daily keep our hand in the mighty hand of Dear Saviour as we travel through life is my prayer.”
Rose