PSALM 103 VERSE 3 - "TO HEAL AND FORGIVE"

"Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases" (Psalm 103:3)
Iniquities are basically the worst type of offense against the Lord our God. It goes like this: Sin -> Transgressions -> Iniquities. Let us examine the man whom God used to write this Psalm himself – King David. When he first saw Uriah the Hittite’s wife, it was not while he was absent-mindedly walking on the roof.  Uriah was one of the elite 37, called “David’s Mighty Men”.  His beautiful wife, Bathsheba had to have been known by everyone in the palace and societal circles. 

Later on, when the Bible says that “in the Spring when Kings went off to war”…David stayed behind, sin had already formed in his mind. He had allowed the lustful thoughts about Bathsheba to form a nest in his hair and instead of taking it captive, rebuking the temptation and turning from it, he doubled down on his “missing the mark” (the definition of sin).

Then David took his sin a little further into an action plan. He did the recon on the rooftop, saw what he saw and sent for her. He was the king and she obviously has some culpability in this. This is transgression. He had not done anything yet, and could still back out of complete rebellion against God. If anyone of us ever gets that far into sin, to the second tier of rebellion – turning around and fleeing immorality is still the best option. However, David went over the cliff. On purpose, he willingly disregarded God, Whose Holy Spirit lived in David so he could write Scripture and then not just committed adultery but murder to cover up what he did. This last stage of sin is iniquity. 

It is not just King David who has gone as far in open rebellion against God to commit iniquity. All manner of Christians has done either one of these three levels of sin or all three at once. God has, is now and will continue to forgive even the worst violation of His Law and Commandments.  Everyone from pastor to well-known TV evangelists to politicians and regular folk has done it. Most of us never go as far as King David or some three-times divorced fancy pants preacher…. or you name them. Most people just do the everyday sins of losing tempers, swearing or not following through on promises to the Lord.  Sins can also include things like not making proper uses of time, resources and spiritual gifts.  We are all guilty in some way of one or the other of these. The amazing thing is God still loves us, even if the conduct of the sinner stinks to the high heavens! 

This is the kind of sin which God forgives – the foulest and worse. Even the little sins we commit, after being saved, are not kosher with the Lord. He forgives….but there is a caveat here.  We must first stop sinning. Then we must turn away from all the stumbling blocks which have temporarily broken our wonderful fellowship with God. Then, we must repent. Seriously repent and ask forgiveness. Now, we cannot keep committing the same sin and doing what Paul said “should we keep sinning that Grace may abound? May it never be” (Romans 6:1-2)

Here are the kinds of prayers of repentance, as a guide. We must add our own specific circumstance, or where we are in at the time, for which we need forgiveness. From Psalm 51:
9   Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners will be converted to You.

God not only forgives the vilest of sins, but He heals diseases. Even diseases caused by sin – from alcoholism to sexual – can be healed by the Almighty.  Not all disease is caused by sin or circumstances of birth. Remember the incident in the Bible here: "And His (Jesus) disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" John 9:2.

The human body is exceedingly frail in the grand scheme of things, due to the Fall of Man in Genesis chapter 3, but it is also created with certain immune mechanisms to fight off all kinds of plagues and diseases.  Christians were the first to bring hygiene, healthful living and hospitals to the world…and especially the uncivilized world, hundreds of years ago. Conditions for life – air/water and other essential entities- have improved from the Dark  Ages where plaques and other widespread diseases killed millions and millions. But in spite of the best medical technology and advances in medicine in the 21st century, a vast amount of sicknesses still cannot be defeated.

There is still no cure for the common cold or cancer. But there is God. He Who made us and knows every hair on our heads, and every cell He created. He knows how everything works better than 100 teams of doctors at John Hopkins.  He can heal. He heals when He wishes and He does from time to time when we pray and ask.  

Sometimes, He does not heal because there is a lesson to be learned from the ensuing trial and test of our perseverance. Sometimes He does not heal because it is time for the person to leave this earth. But He heals and He touches so many in a miraculous way.  I have seen people healed from lumps in the chest. I have a friend who was healed from Stage 3 colon cancer because the man of God praying about it. I was there when that happened to listen to him pray…and on and on. Our God reigns and our God heals! Bless His Holy Name! 
Amen.

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PRAY FOR.....HEALING

Heal me and  I shall be healed. Save me and I shall be saved. For You are my praise (Jeremiah 17:14)

Psalm 103:1 exhorts us to “bless the Lord, oh my soul” (and yours) and the Word of God then proceeds to tell us why – “Who heals all our diseases” and a long list of other blessings. In another place, the Word tell us that “many are the afflictions of the righteous (we who are being saved), but the Lord delivers from them all”.

So we see our Heavenly Father Who heals. He is the Great Physician Who has our next breath in the Palm of His Hands. Therefore it is incumbent upon  us to pray to Him for our health and healing when we hurt and are in distress. Not just that, there is no greater honor than to be called upon and more importantly, to be relied on as a true prayer warrior who would intercede for another in distress.

Now, should we pray for ourselves when we are not feeling well or there is a question  mark on our weight; our blood pressure or even a pain in our hands and feet?  Do not be like King Asa, of whom the Bible made a point of showing as a man of so much false pride about himself and the secular people around him, that he would rather die than ask the Lord for help! Here is the account from 2 Chronicles 16:12 “

This is serious and stunning example for us who call ourselves Christians. King Asa is credited with not just allowing worship of the One True God of Heaven to return to the Kingdom of Judah, but he even got rid of his own grandmother who bowed down to the perverted Asherah poles – a foul practice before our Holy God.  (See 2 Chronicles 15). Verse 17b of that chapter tells us that “Asa’s heart remained completely faithful throughout his entire life”…..that is….until the end when he not only made a treaty with a pagan king to defend Jerusalem and its surroundings, instead of praying for God’s protection as he always did, but he went further. When (as we see in 2 Chronicles 16:12),  he developed a serious foot disease, Asa sought not the Lord, as his predecessor Hezekiah did for healing, but his own doctors.  This led to his death.

Lessons to be learned from Asa’s Folly:

-          God is always there and He is a good, good God.

-          We are frail, weak and completely dependent on Him for our very breath.

-          Past successes do not guarantee present victories. Asa was 100% faithful to God not just that – he acted powerfully on reform his country. But in his later prideful state, he turned and looked inward not upward to the God Who saves and wins every battle He steps into.

-          We have access to the One Who heals, let nothing keep us from Him, from asking Him, from laying our case for healing

Dear Most Holy and Heavenly Father, thank You for caring for weak sinners such as we are. We are nothing without You. We have nothing  without You. We have no breath, life, health or semblance of a life without You and in no way, can we survive without You! Who among us can repay anything You do for us, Lord? You are the God Who heals us when we hurt; cures our colds; comforts us in our pain and restores, redeems and regenerates our tired souls when we are in despair.  Lord help us in our despair. Release us in our pain.  

We pray against the spirit of affliction and any infection which inhabit the body to bring us low. We pray that though we may suffer for a season and that weeping may endure for a night, that Your joy, Your peace, Your release cometh in the morning. Help us to persevere in sickness and to travail and triumph in prayer through it all, oh God. Thank You dear kind, gracious and most merciful Father, in Jesus’ Strong and Mighty Name, the Name of Yahweh Rophe, amen .

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MOVING BEYOND "THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS".....

"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:18)

We have all heard it and some of us have even said it "so and so are in our thoughts and prayers". Even people whom we know could not say a prayer to save their lives, or say they are atheists or not Christians will repeat this cliche.

But even worse than this, Christians are using the same phrase when wrapped up in the moment. Beyond all of the bluster about "being in our thoughts and prayers", do any of these folks actually pray for those to whom they say these things. From personal experience, before I realized I used to do the same thing, I can tell you that it is very easy to tell someone you will pray for them, then walk away and completely fail to do. Such a move is not right, even if we remember to pray three of four days later. After realizing my shortcoming, in this area of Faith, corrective action needed to be taken so this aspect of ministry could function with an unction.

Basically, when a person says to another that "you are in my thoughts and prayers" and then does not do so, it is deception. There are ways to avoid that and do the right thing...and that is, to really pray for there person right then and there. Sometimes, circumstances and potential discomfort of the recipient of those prayers, WILL prevent us from praying then and there with the person. In this case it is really beneficial to such a person, and then pertinent to our spiritual growth, if we take a note of the situation and immediately begin to pray in silence. Then, after getting to a place we can pray intensely, for real, we must bear down and contend for the recipient of our intercession.

There is a really memorable passage in Scripture of a woman who was the beneficiary of more than just "thoughts and prayers". 1 Kings 17:21-22 tells us of the great prophet Elijah, who had been staying with a widow woman and her son. He had already blessed the widow and proven himself as a man of God by miraculously causing her food not to run out, so that the widow, her son, and Elijah could all eat during a time of famine and drought. But during his stay, the widow’s son became ill and died. When Elijah prayed for the child’s life to return to him, God answered right away. This is a dramatic, immediate instance of God answering prayer....and instant prayer!

The Bible said of Elijah in these two verses: "Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived". We may not be able to pray someone back from the dead, but we sure can lift high such a one to the One Who heals, reveals and blesses all things and all people - Yahweh Rophe - the God Who heals! He is Yahweh Shammah - the God Who is there for us if we cry out earnestly and pray for those ....truly pray for them, with all the Faith we can muster in our spirit, so that the Lord will hear from Heaven and answer our prayers. Why did God listen to Elijah? He listened because of the close relationship He had with this imperfect man who was serving a perfect God. God listen to Elijah's thoughts, prayers and then ACTIONS to put His prayer and Faith into action mightily!

Then God responded by restoring the child to his mother....all because Faith in the Lord changes everything and FAITH IN ACTION, brings results. Amen.

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PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES - THE BOOK OF JAMES, #9

METHODOLOGY CONCERNING:HEALING PRAYER

Is anyone among you sick? 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 will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. (James 5:14-15)

Many of us can testify to the Power of Prayer to heal. Healing is not just God's business but He is the Chief Specialist and the Head of Every Medical school in history. Due to this fact, He has called many into this ministry/movement of intercessory prayer. Those of us who are well known as prayer warriors are used to getting phone calls, emails, texts and Facebook posts regularly, where we pray for some really critical needs several times a day. Therefore, due to the fact that we live in a time where diseases are more intense, some incurable and even more very devastating, it is absolutely critical that we are familiar with the processes of prayer for the sick.

In studying the Methodology of Prayer as we have been, throughout the Book of James, the Word of God shows the casual church-goer the direction to look when there is a need for healing prayer. The verses above give us direction as to:
1. Who is Qualified to Pray:  We are ALL qualified to pray as the Redeemed of the Lord who are walking close to Him. 1 Peter 2:9 tells us we are a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation and God's special possession. But only a few of His "royal priests" have devoted themselves to Prayer. While, in the early church the Elders were the ones empowered by the Holy Spirit to pray for the Sick, in the this dispensation of the Age of Grace, there are not enough praying elders to go around. Therefore, the praying saint is very much in demand. 
ACTION POINT: Make yourself available as the go-to person for prayer from anyone, including absolute strangers.

2. What the Process of Healing Prayer is: While the Bible recommends anointing a sick person with oil, many in conservative churches consider this to be more in the charismatic stream of the Faith and would rather decline its use. The use of anointing oil is NOT mandatory when laying hands or praying over/with another person. But if you wish to use it, please ask permission first. Oil in the Bible signifies, primarily, the Holy Spirit. The act of anointing with oil, while praying for someone else, is an outward acknowledgment that the Holy Spirit is being officially invited to be present while we pray. 

It also does not matter where we begin to pray for a person and it is always better to pray with or for a person immediately if they are in your presence or quietly if you're in an office or grocery line.  NEVER tell someone that they are in your "thoughts and prayers" and then never pray for them! After anointing with oil (or not) proceed to prayer with humility, urgency, power, authority and clarity. Sometimes less is more, so keep your words few but aligned with Scripture and believe in the Promises of God to never leave, forsake or abandon. But accept, on behalf of the person prayed for, the comfort, healing and restoration of that person, believing that "by His stripes, he/she is healed".

3. Where Wild at Heart Faith Conquers: Wild at Heart was a popular book in a lot of men's movement ministries over a decade ago. There was a huge quote in this book which underlines why we must have the kind of Faith which is strong enough to reach the Throne on behalf of another person's illness or your own. Author John Eldredge says in his book that “You can't fight a battle you don't think exists.” Faith is something which no one can see, but they CAN see the RESULTS if we pursue His Healing hands on behalf of others". This is quite noteworthy,  We can see the results of prayer, if the Lord wishes healing on such a one. Even if the answer to our prayers include "no" or "not yet", pray with all the authentic faith, which a true believer possesses.

PREVIOUS POSTS ON THE METHODOLOGY OF PRAYER FROM THE BOOK OF JAMES:
PART 8
PART 7
PART 6

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