I believe that Jesus Christ paid the price for our healing. Yet we don’t see the full manifestation of it in the church right now. Why is that? James gives us some clear keys about how this grace operates.

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
James 5:13-15

James is very bold in his declaration of the place of healing in the church. He asks, “Is any one of you sick?” This is not only for those who are strong in faith. It’s not limited to those who have been “confessing their healing” for months. This is clearly written to anyone who’s sick.

James leaves no wiggle room for doubt in God’s purpose. There’s no mention of God wanting to heal some and leaving others sick in order to teach them something. He states this in no uncertain terms. Not “maybe, sometimes, or in most cases”. He says, The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. He even repeats himself for emphasis, The Lord will raise him up.

More than that, he goes on to use the exact same wording for the forgiveness of God. Would anyone ever doubt the Lord’s forgiveness? Would you ever add “if it’s God’s will” to a prayer for forgiveness? You’d never entertain the thought that if someone confessed their sin to God, they may or might not be forgiven, depending on God’s will for their life.

Yet, in context, these two prayers are portrayed in the same light. The answer to a prayer for healing is exactly the same as an answer to a prayer for forgiveness.

It sounds to me, from his writings, that James had a 100% success rate in the area of divine healing. Without a doubt the early church had a higher walk than we do. The miraculous was an everyday occurrence.

But, if you think about it, that’s to be expected. If we look at the life of Jesus, we see the exact same thing. He had a 100% healing rate as well. There’s no hint, in the Gospel record, of anyone coming to Him for healing and leaving disappointed. We’re the ones who make excuses for not being healed.

“Maybe this is the only way God could teach me a lesson.”

There’s no record of Jesus ever refusing to heal someone because He wanted them to “learn something” they couldn’t get any other way. Praise God that you got closer to the Lord during your illness. We can learn many things during times of affliction. But to think that the reason you’re not healed was for the purpose of teaching you something goes against the clear Word of God.

From the Scripture we know that the disciples had a front row seat in observing the life of Christ. It’s not surprising, then, that the apostles of Christ also had a 100% healing rate in the Scriptures.

The power of the Lord manifesting through His people didn’t even end there. The next generation of believers – those first saved under the apostles – had the same success. Men like Paul, Philip, James and Jude walked in the power of the Spirit to a degree we can’t even imagine. Were they any different from us? Was their God different from our God? No way!

It wasn’t until the next generation of believers that we start to see a change taking place. In talking to the Corinthian church, Paul makes note of the fact that they were acting in carnality – like a bunch of spiritual babies. He then makes the following indictment.

That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 11:30

In my next post, James will show us what was lost and how to correct it.

Question: How have you experienced God’s divine healing in your life?

© Nick Zaccardi 2017