Is it God's will for me to be healed?
Part eight.
Hey, welcome to today's little lesson.
It's a joy to be with you here once again in the DR Congo.
Actually today, this afternoon is my first flight home.
People think it's so glamorous to travel around the world and certainly, I'm honored and privileged
to get a chance to do quite a bit of that over the years, but it's not glamorous, let
me tell you.
I'm flying from here, Lubumbashi to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
I think that's about a four hour flight.
Then, I sit there for a few hours and then my next flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
to Chicago via a refueling stop in Dublin, Ireland is 17 hours and 40 minutes.
If you think that's glamorous, to sit on an airplane in the same seat for 17 hours and
40 minutes, it's not so glamorous.
Okay.
All right.
Is it God's will to heal me?
We're looking at scripture which reveals from cover to cover, God is the healer.
He's in the healing business and it's normal to be healed and to be healthy if you're God's
children.
If you meet the conditions, and of course, we've seen some scriptures and we're going
to see one today.
Obedience is part of the healthy package here.
That's right.
That's right, and so is faith and not just hope, strong hope, but faith, believing you
receive when you pray.
Anyway, here's a verse today, James 5 and verse number 14.
This was written by the apostle James.
It's in your Bible, in the new Testament.
James asks a question in James 5:14, is any, did you hear that word?
Any among you sick?
Well, what should he do?
James tells him what to do.
Then, he must call for the elders of the church because the elders are the leaders strongest,
spiritually supposed to be, many times they're not.
I'd advise you not to be calling the elders if they're going to pray a prayer, Lord, if
it's your will, please heal this dear Saint.
Because they don't know what God's will is.
They can't pray of faith.
Sure, it's okay to pray if it be thy will if you don't know his will, like Lord, if
it's your will, I'll go to the DR Congo to be a missionary.
Well, that's a legitimate prayer, but it's not a legitimate prayer to pray Lord, if it
be your will, please, forgive me of my sins because we know God's will is revealed.
Well, cover to cover, we figure out God's will about healing.
He's a healing God.
He loves everybody.
Is any among you sick?
Let him call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord.
Now James, stop right there.
We might be scratching our hands a little bit, but he goes on, give us a little more
revelation here, and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick.
Notice, it's a restore, not necessarily an instant miracle.
Restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up.
James, don't you know that it's not God's will for everyone to be healed and who are
we to ever presume on this thing?
What's wrong with you, James?
Well, James would say, hmm, what's wrong with you, modern day professing Christian?
This is what we believed in the early church and we didn't believe that the secret ingredient
was the elders or the oil.
No, no, we listened to Jesus who said everything you ask in prayer, believing you shall receive
and whatever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive and you will have it.
We listened to Jesus and we believed Jesus and so, this is a no brainer.
Any among you sick?
You need the prayer faith and of course, there's some faith here on the part of the sick person
too, isn't there?
Yeah.
Because the sick person is responsible to call for the elders of the church to pray
over them.
Now, I remember listening to a guy who was used by the Lord.
I'd tell you his name, but I'll just spare you that for right now, used by the Lord to
heal tens of thousands of people, documented miracles regularly happening throughout the
decades of his ministry and he said his practice quite often, when he had the time, if someone
asked him to pray for their healing, he would always ask them before he prayed, will you
be healed when I pray?
Then, he'd listen for their response.
He's checking out their faith and if they'd say, well, I don't know.
I don't know if it's the Lord's will or not.
He'd say, well, you won't be healed then when I pray, because you have to have faith.
Jesus said to people, "Your faith has healed you."
One time a guy did come to Jesus, said, "Lord, if you're willing, you can heal me."
Jesus said, "I'm willing," and then he healed and it was just that fast and simple.
I'm willing.
Let me fix that in your mind real quick.
I'm willing.
I love people.
Or he would say, "Will you be healed when I pray for you?"
And if they'd say, "Well, I sure hope I will."
He'd say, "Well, you won't."
Try to shock them a little bit to get him to wake up.
What do you mean I won't?
Because you don't meet the conditions.
Jesus said, "It's the prayer of faith and we're agreeing in prayer here.
You're asking me to pray with you."
If two of you agree about anything, if I have faith, but you don't have faith, we're not
in agreement.
You're in doubt, you're in hope.
You're not in belief, and so there's no agreement.
You're not going to be healed.
And he said, but when I ask them, "Will you be healed?"
They say, "Yes, I will.
Just lay hands upon me or just anoint with oil.
I'm getting out of this wheelchair, whatever.
I'm getting off of this sick bed.
I'm getting rid of this sickness and this disease.
Lay your hand on me.
Hurry.
I'm going to be healed because that's what the Bible says."
He said, "Oh, it was fun to pray for those people," because they would be healed.
That's the problem so often, even if you call your elders of your church today, they'll
be praying, Lord, if it's your will.
A lot of them won't even come.
They're so afraid to be exposed.
Elders have a responsibility to teach.
That's one of their primary responsibilities, teaching people what Jesus said.
We'll look at this in our next little lesson in detail, but Paul was one time preaching
the gospel in Galicia and he looked out on the crowd and it says he saw a man who had
faith to be healed.
I don't know how he knew the guy had faith, but you can tell when people have faith because
they're generally happy people, and they're smiling, and they have expectation.
If you're crippled and you think, I'm not going to be crippled much longer because I'm
about to be healed, you'll be smiling ear-to-ear.
You might be praising God.
And he looked out in the crowd and he saw a man who had faith to be healed, and he said,
"Stand up right," and the guy leaped up and walked.
I think that was the guy who hadn't walked for like 30 some years.
Faith, once again, mentioned as the key ingredient, okay?
All right.
Well, we're out of time for today's little lesson.
We'll pick up right here on the next one.
Hope to see you then.
Thanks for joining me, and God bless you.