Promise Of God In Prayer

The Promise of God, in the prayer of faith

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

There are many promises about the prayer of faith, or praying in faith, when one believes. James, in his words to us, brings the promise of prayer before us, most visibly and audibly. Can’t we see? Can’t we hear? Can’t we even feel the warmth and beauty, which is given to us in prayer? The prayer of faith promises healing to the sick, as God promises rain to a dry and parched place. The fact is that as soon as the rains begin, the land is no longer dry, as it is drenched with the changing waters of the rain. If we see each other as places, people, souls that are sick, there is our Lord’s promise for us. James has told all of us who are sick what we can do.

I’m urged to stop at this point, just to share with you personal facts about James, which qualify him to speak in this way. These are what will propel and chasten us to listen to him, believe all that he is saying and obey his words. James has come up under Jesus as his Teacher, his Role Model, his Lord, his Healer, his Help and most of all, his Love. He is speaking to the twelve tribes wherever they are. In other words, it matters not where the people of God have been scattered, where they live and how they live, sickness will be present.

Can’t you hear him saying to the Church, the twelve tribes, these words of faith and power? Wherever sickness is present, let prayer be more present. Where sickness is invasive, make prayer even more invasive. Where sickness is attacking, let prayer be much more attacking. Where sickness is prevalent, prayer is most prominent and prevalent. Why is this so? It is so, because the enemy of sickness, is prayer. The Lord Jesus Himself has told His Church so, and can Jesus lie to us? Will Jesus make a mockery of prayer to us? Will Jesus deceive us with false words about prayer, and have us living in a fool’s paradise, where prayer is concerned? Shun the thought!  Perish such blasphemy! James is able to speak to the Church, to you and to me, as he does, because all he says is first hand. It is not just from what he has heard from Jesus, but what he has witnessed and lived daily, with Jesus.

Additionally, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, is one who is filled with the Baptism of Jesus, one who has received the Promised Gift of the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, whom Father God has sent in the Name of His Son Jesus. Jesus has openly said to His own, that He, the Holy Spirit, shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. John 14: 26b.  Hey! I take it that all James has told us so far and is telling us, has come from the Holy Spirit, who continues to bring to his remembrance all that his Master Jesus told him and taught him, and the others. It is sincere faith that allows us to accept James’ words.

James has told all of us who are sick what we can do. Listen again to this promise. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick.

In these words alone, we have the undeniable and unfathomable promise of the prayer of faith. Faith allows us to understand that the problem is not sickness. How can such a blanket statement be made? It can be made because Jesus has told all believers, all people everywhere that if they believe and do not doubt, they can pray in His Name and their prayers will be answered. James would have heard every single promise of prayer, which Jesus had made. Therefore, what he tells us is in direct response to what Jesus has said. Here are but three promises concerning prayer, which Jesus has definitely made.

Speaking to His disciples, Jesus said this. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have it, and it will be yours. Mark 11: 24. Do I know this promise of prayer? Oh! At one time I would answer and joyfully say, I know this promise of receiving what I have asked for, sometimes. But not today, for I am becoming more and more aware that Jesus does not tell lies. Something is radically wrong with my praying. What about you?

Jesus has made this very clear indeed. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. John 15: 7. Do I live and model this promise of prayer? O yes I do, I proudly respond. I will let you know that I am abiding in Jesus, and I do pray, but God does not always give me what I ask for. Not again! I am learning daily that nothing Jesus has spoken about prayer, I must water-down to suit my unbelief and lack of faith. Something is abjectly misleading with my praying. What about you?

Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure and He tells them that He and the Father are One. He assures them that anyone who believes in Him will do the works He has been doing, works which surely include supernatural works, miracle works. Jesus even went on to say that such persons, who put their faith in Him, will do even greater works than He had been doing, since He was going to the Father. Then Jesus spoke these simple, factual words to those who believed in Him. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14: 13 – 14. 

O how I cower in shame and guilt! O how I have not believed in the Name of Jesus! Do I really ask in the Name of Jesus? Jesus has categorically stated that if we believe and ask things of Him in His Name, He will not just answer, but, truly I tell you, says He, that He will do what we ask for. Do I believe and rejoice in this promise of prayer? Of course I do, I would quickly respond with all my different responses to the prayer of faith. Never would I speak with the singular words of Jesus. But not today! O no, not again! The Spirit has convicted me deeply and I can no longer be an enemy of my Lord, in speaking what He never spoke. Something is taking place in my heart, mind and spirit. What about you?

James knows that Jesus is a promise keeper and has come to us with nothing short of our Lord’s promises to all who pray in faith.

The Promise: The prayer of faith shall save the sick.