WHAT ROLE DOES PRAYER HAVE IN HEALING?
QUESTIONS ABOUT PRAYER
NATURE OF PRAYER
James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
The most interesting aspect of today’s verse from James (which picks up where the previous question’s passage ended) is the connection between confession, prayer, and healing. Notice that the text doesn’t say to confess your sins to a priest, and it also doesn’t say that if you confess your sins you will be forgiven (though that is true). The text actually makes a statement that confession and prayer coupled with one another will lead to healing. This is a very interesting statement spoken by the Brother of Jesus and it bears a bit more digging.
A great way to shed light on what this verse refers to is a common movie scene we have all seen at least once in our lives. It’s the scene, usually in a Western or Civil War movie, where the doctor needs to remove the bullet from someone who has been shot. They may even say something like, “I need to get this bullet out or this young man is going to die!” But even when the bullet is removed, the wound is still there. So why was it so important to get the bullet out? The answer is that the bullet needs to be removed so that the process of cleaning the wound and healing it can begin. If the bullet is not removed, the process cannot commence. In a spiritual sense, sin is that bullet, and confession is the removal of that bullet. Confession doesn’t cause healing, but confession allows the cleaning and healing process to move forward. In this metaphor, prayer acts as the cleaning process where everything that has been confessed and brought into the light can be offered up to God. Full healing may not happen immediately, it may take time and there still may be scars, but it’s important to remember the awesome power of prayer when a righteous person prays.
These same principles are true in a community or church setting as well. Sometimes, confession within a community is needed before healing can take place, since sin may be the cause of suffering, illness, or division. What has been hidden or kept in darkness will lose its power and its hold when it is extracted and brought into the light. Think about this in your own situation. Is there anything you’re holding onto that still has power because it is hidden? What needs to be confessed and brought into the light? What needs to be cleaned, purified, and healed in your life? What about someone else? How would you react if another person began pouring out some of their hidden secret sins on you?
Prayer has a role in healing, but often prayer is just one component. Whether that healing is physical, mental, social, emotional, or spiritual, prayer is frequently coupled with something else to ensure complete healing can take place. For example, prayer is not a substitute for spiritual maturity. A new Christian is a spiritual infant who still has the same relational, emotional, or mental issues as they did before salvation. God has renewed their spirit, yet the renewing of the mind is something that can take many years or even decades for some. This is a God-designed process called sanctification. Simply put, we cannot pray people to spiritual maturity. People need to go through things, learn things, and experience pain in life which can lead to spiritual growth, refinement, and the healing of long-dormant wounds. Prayer is not a shortcut, for ourselves or for others to avoid or escape pain and life experiences, rather prayer is a companion on this journey to spiritual maturity as we walk faithfully through what has been laid out before us.
Much can be accomplished by the prayers of a righteous person in the realm of healing. This does not mean that only a righteous person can pray. It means that, most often, it is a righteous person who would think to pray and pray in a way that is in alignment with the will of God. Therefore the prayers of the righteous are more effective, not because of ranking or performance, but because of relationship.
A great way to shed light on what this verse refers to is a common movie scene we have all seen at least once in our lives. It’s the scene, usually in a Western or Civil War movie, where the doctor needs to remove the bullet from someone who has been shot. They may even say something like, “I need to get this bullet out or this young man is going to die!” But even when the bullet is removed, the wound is still there. So why was it so important to get the bullet out? The answer is that the bullet needs to be removed so that the process of cleaning the wound and healing it can begin. If the bullet is not removed, the process cannot commence. In a spiritual sense, sin is that bullet, and confession is the removal of that bullet. Confession doesn’t cause healing, but confession allows the cleaning and healing process to move forward. In this metaphor, prayer acts as the cleaning process where everything that has been confessed and brought into the light can be offered up to God. Full healing may not happen immediately, it may take time and there still may be scars, but it’s important to remember the awesome power of prayer when a righteous person prays.
These same principles are true in a community or church setting as well. Sometimes, confession within a community is needed before healing can take place, since sin may be the cause of suffering, illness, or division. What has been hidden or kept in darkness will lose its power and its hold when it is extracted and brought into the light. Think about this in your own situation. Is there anything you’re holding onto that still has power because it is hidden? What needs to be confessed and brought into the light? What needs to be cleaned, purified, and healed in your life? What about someone else? How would you react if another person began pouring out some of their hidden secret sins on you?
Prayer has a role in healing, but often prayer is just one component. Whether that healing is physical, mental, social, emotional, or spiritual, prayer is frequently coupled with something else to ensure complete healing can take place. For example, prayer is not a substitute for spiritual maturity. A new Christian is a spiritual infant who still has the same relational, emotional, or mental issues as they did before salvation. God has renewed their spirit, yet the renewing of the mind is something that can take many years or even decades for some. This is a God-designed process called sanctification. Simply put, we cannot pray people to spiritual maturity. People need to go through things, learn things, and experience pain in life which can lead to spiritual growth, refinement, and the healing of long-dormant wounds. Prayer is not a shortcut, for ourselves or for others to avoid or escape pain and life experiences, rather prayer is a companion on this journey to spiritual maturity as we walk faithfully through what has been laid out before us.
Much can be accomplished by the prayers of a righteous person in the realm of healing. This does not mean that only a righteous person can pray. It means that, most often, it is a righteous person who would think to pray and pray in a way that is in alignment with the will of God. Therefore the prayers of the righteous are more effective, not because of ranking or performance, but because of relationship.