another time james calls on us to pray is when we are hurting spiritually. james 5.16a (ms), confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.
back in JESUS' day and some today believe that all sickness is a result of sin. if you are sick then you must have some hidden sin in your life. if you confessed it and you were still sick then you still had some other hidden sin. but JESUS blew that idea out of the water in john 9 where he said to the man who had been born blind that nobody sinned.
JESUS did teach that a lot of the sickness we have we do bring upon ourselves. if you and i don't follow GOD's principles, my body is going to find out about it. if I don't take care of my body, eat right, sleep right, exercise right, then all kinds of ailments will come upon me. we all understand that.
for example. if I don't listen to GOD's word where it says, don't be anxious about anything, but pray about everything and i worry, fret, get anxious and i get an ulcer, then i'm to blame for it. if i allow resentment to build up in my life – doctors say it's not so much what you eat but what's eating you that makes the difference – resentment can take its toll in your life and it makes a big difference. if i don't trust GOD and i allow these things to come into my life there will be sin.
there was a pastor many years ago who was invited to see a man who was paralyzed from his waist down who had not been in church for about nine months. the pastor in talking to him found that he was a very bitter man, filled with resentment. it seemed that a cow had kicked him in the back and paralyzed him and he was bitter against members who hadn't visited him, bitter against the insurance company for not paying off, bitter against the doctor for not figuring out how to make him walk, bitter against the cow, bitter against GOD. he was very bitter, resentful man.
the pastor told him, "GOD may want to heal you and restore you to full health, but HE will not heal you until first you get rid of that resentment in your life." the pastor said, the man bowed his head and began to weep, almost uncontrollably, deep sobs, "GOD, i have been so bitter. just flush all this anger and hate from me." he wept for about 10 minutes.
the pastor then prayed with him and he left. the next day the man came to church, in a wheelchair, the first time he'd been in church in nine months. at the end of the service the pastor gave a "come forward" invitation to people who wanted to come and pray and the man got up out of his wheelchair and walked down to the front and recommitted his life to the LORD.
what happened? there was a block in his life that was keeping GOD from doing what HE wanted to do in his life and when he got his spiritual act together, the other fell into place.
just some thoughts from the front porch...
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