September 4: Is anyone sick?

Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they should pray over him after anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will restore him to health; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.  (James 5:14-16 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Healing is the right of every believer in the Lord Jesus. When we believe in a God that heals we are not latching on to some extreme or radical doctrine. It’s something the entire Bible — Old and New Testaments — teaches. We cannot read the Bible and not come away with a sense that God heals and performs miracles, and what could be more reasonable and natural than this? If God is our Father, and cares about us, it would only be natural for Him to heal us. When God sent His Son Jesus into the world an explosion of miracles and healings took place — doesn't that clearly demonstrate God’s will on the subject? 

In the Bible, anointing oil was used to bless kings, prophets, priests, and the temple… and that anointing was to be a sign that they were set apart for God. The oil served as a sign of God’s power, and that they belonged to Him. Though anointing is not a common practice of our society today, as this verse states, it has the power to attract God’s attention and power to bring healing to the sick. That does not mean that we stop believing in doctors and hospitals, it does mean that we do not believe in them exclusively. Crying out to God when we are sick, and anointing our bodies, is a sign that we trust in God and His Word — and whenever we manifest trust, God’s hands are moved in our direction.

Don’t accept sickness in your body, insist on the healing that God promised.