James Expounds on Faith Volume 58

Praying in Faith Part 3

James 5:15 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. KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version

The Apostle James continues his exhortation to all those scattered Jewish believers in our Lord Jesus Christ at the time of his writing this letter (and it is to and for each one of we true believers today and of every era and generation that has come after James' penning of this letter) that their/our faithful prayers reach the Throne Room of God our Father, as it is written, "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." (James 5:15) (KJV). According to His Sovereign will some sick brothers and sisters in Christ will be healed by Him and some will not, for many of us have known of very faithful sons and daughters of God being sick unto death and their healing did not come, but that which is far better than a temporary physical healing from 🤮 sickness down here came and that was their being present with our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the brothers and sisters in Corinth with these words, "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee/down payment/earnest. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:1-8)(NKJV). This is a promise from our Father in Heaven to each of us His sons and daughters that according to His will (not ours), He 'shall raise him up' and this little English phrase translated by the Greek word egeirō meaning to rouse or raise up from disease, that is, to be healed completely from the physical or mental or spiritual disease. This is done by our Father in Heaven because He loves us His sons and daughters, but also because He stills has a purpose for us down here on the earth 🌎. Remember King Hezekiah, as it is written, "In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the Prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, 'Thus says the LORD: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.' Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, 'Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the Word of the LORD came to him, saying, 'Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the House of the LORD. And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.'" (2 Kings 20:1-6) (NKJV). The Lord God of Israel not only delivered King Hezekiah from his sickness unto death, but He used King Hezekiah and the army of Israel to defend against, and destroy, and defeat the king of Assyria and protect the great 🏙 city of Jerusalem from destruction for the sake of His own sake and for the sake of the covenant with King David, as it is written, "Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, And said: 'I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand shall be established; Also My arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, And plague those who hate him.'" (Psalms 89:19-23) (NKJV). Note: 'You who think 🤔 that Israel is wrong in what they are doing to completely destroy 'Hamas', read Psalms 89 and then read it again and again. Also, you who think that any Nation or Nations will (as the Iranians say, 'wipe Israel off the map 🗺') read Psalms 89 again and again. I love you Israel and more importantly Elohim/Adonai loves you immensely."

Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of James 5:15, "The prayer offered in faith, or in the exercise of confidence in God. It is not said that the particular form of the faith exercised shall be that the sick man will certainly recover; but there is to be unwavering confidence in God, a belief that He will do what is best, and a cheerful committing of the cause into His hands. We express our earnest wish, and leave the case with Him. The prayer of faith is to accompany the use of means, for all means would be ineffectual without the blessing of God. This must be understood, as such promises are everywhere, with this restriction, that they will be restored to health if it shall be the will of God; if He shall deem it for the best. It cannot be taken in the absolute and unconditional sense, for then, if these means were used, the sick person would always recover, no matter how often he might be sick, and he need never die. The design is to encourage them to the use of these means with a strong hope that it would be effectual. It may fairly be inferred from this statement: (1) That there would be cases in large numbers where these means would be attended with this happy result; and, (2) That there was so much encouragement to do it that it would be proper in any case of sickness so make use of these means. It may be added, that no one can demonstrate that this promise has not been in numerous instances fulfilled. There are instances, not a few, where recovery from sickness seems to be in direct answer to prayer, and no one can prove that it is not so. Compare the case of Hezekiah, in Isaiah 38:1-5. Perhaps there may be a particular allusion here to sins which may have brought on the sickness as a punishment. In that case the removal of the disease in answer to prayer would be an evidence that the sin was pardoned. Compare Matthew 9:2. But the promise may be understood in a more general sense as denoting that such sickness would be the means of bringing the sins of the past life to remembrance, especially if the one who was sick had been unfaithful to his Christian vows; and that the sickness in connection with the prayers offered would bring him to true repentance, and would recover him from his wanderings. On backsliding and erring Christians sickness often has this effect; and the subsequent life is so devoted and consistent as to show that the past unfaithfulness of him who has been afflicted is forgiven." Here also is what Matthew Henry had to say of James 5:15, "Prayer over the sick must proceed and be accompanied with, a lively faith. There must be faith both in the person praying and in the person prayed for. In a time of sickness, it is not the cold and formal prayer that is effectual, but the prayer of faith. We should observe the success of prayer. The Lord shall raise up; that is, if he be a person capable and fit for deliverance, and if God have any thing further for such a person to do in the world. And, if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him; that is, where sickness is sent as a punishment for some particular sin, that sin shall be pardoned, and in token thereof the sickness shall be removed. As when Christ said to the impotent man, Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee, it is intimated that some particular sin was the cause of his sickness. The great thing therefore we should beg of God for ourselves and others in the time of sickness is the pardon of sin. Sin is both the root of sickness and the sting of it. If sin be pardoned, either affliction shall be removed in mercy or we shall see there is mercy in the continuance of it. When healing is founded upon pardon, we may say as Hezekiah did: Thou hast, in love to my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption, Isaiah 38:17. When you are sick and in pain, it is most common to pray and cry, O give me ease! O restore me to health! But your prayer should rather and chiefly be, O that God would pardon my sins!"

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…