There are many passages in the Scriptures (actually, more than many!) that give me angst, not the least of which is this one: Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. 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 offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins; they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (James5:13-16 NASB).
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. I can handle this, but I do wonder why James didn’t include “. . . and let the rest offer him compassion and encouragement.” In my mind, that would be really helpful to the one who is suffering.
Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. Well, this is a no-brainer, most believers who are cheerful have no problem singing praises. Oh, the might not like to sing them from an overhead, but they will sing them from as hymn book.
Here is where my angst begins: 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 offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins; they will be forgiven him. I know it is probably because I am not spiritual enough, or I have not been a Christian long enough, or my parents did not teach me the proper catechism of Christianity, or my Sunday School teacher spent too much time on social issues and not enough of theological issues, or my prayers are not effective, but the fact is this: As an elder of the church, not to mention pastor, I have anointed many, many people over the past 31+ years, but I have never seen this work. Well, maybe a few times, but what I mean is this: I have never seen someone who was really sick—cancer, broken leg, gun-shot wound, paralysis, gall stones, diabetes, drug addiction, myocardial infarction—you know, really sick, rise up and walk away healed, as the direct result of my (our) anointing him with oil and praying over him in the name of the Lord. Please note that I did NOT say that I do not believe that it works; instead, I said that I have never seen it work (except for a few times that were questionable).
This might be more information that you want, but I have seen quite a few of those, in the aforementioned category, get sicker and die, actually far more than I would like to admit. Yes, I have seen quite a few of these folk leave the place of prayer and go to their doctor and receive treatment and get well, but this passage doesn’t mention anything about visiting the doctor.
Having said all of that, let me tell you what happened yesterday at Grace Christian Fellowship. I was enjoying our time of worship, singing a song that said something about healing rain falling, when the Holy Spirit spoke to me (you do not have to believe that, but He did, anyway) and told me to get the little jar of oil that I keep at the pulpit and invite those who, although they desperately wanted to be healed of their infirmity, wanted more to submit their wills to His will, to come and sit on the empty front row, and be anointed with oil. He told me to use Jesus’ experience in the Garden of Gethsemane (the place of crushing!) where His will was opposed to His Father’s will, yet He was able to say not only, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” but also and especially, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” I did what He told me to do, albeit with some trepidation, and the entire front row quickly filled [Just for the record: some of them had very serious illnesses, including cancer!]. Let me remind you that the prayer was not so much for their physical healing, as it was for them to be able to say with integrity, “Now my will but Thine be done” [Just for the record again, that is probably the most difficult of all prayers; shouldn’t be, but it is!].
Then it was “Showtime”! The curtain dropped and it was time for me to anoint these precious folk with the physical and spiritual “oil of anointing.” Before I took the first step toward one of the people, He stopped me in my tracks, and out of my mouth came these words, “Debbie would you please come and anoint these people?” Debbie never even hesitated, not from what I could see; instead, she rose to her feet, left her husband, Dudley, and came to the front. I offered her the jar of oil and she took it from my hand, as if it were a bottle of expensive perfume—pure nard. Carefully, she turned it up and allowed some of it to run onto her fingers [her tears were already flowing down her cheeks], and slowly and compassionately she placed it upon the forehead of whomever was sitting in the first chair. As she tenderly “anointed” each head, she quietly prayed for the person. In the background, I could hear our worship leader singing that song that said something about healing rain falling. It was falling, really falling, and lots of it was in the form of tears! He was present and He was not silent!
I will never forget the look in the eyes of the man, who had just learned that he has prostate cancer, as he surrendered his will to His will. There was a peace that came over him, a peace that surely transcends understanding or explaining. I saw that same peace come over his precious wife. Neither will I ever forget the look of peace in the eyes of the man, who has an esophageal stricture, a very, very narrow one, that prevents him from swallowing, even Ensure, as he surrendered his will to His will. I saw that same peace in the eyes of his precious wife. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
Strangely, one of the most powerful and beautiful pieces of this experience was seeing how the Holy Spirit used Debbie and the gifts He has entrusted to her, as she spread the oil of anointing that she had laced with love. She will never be the same, and that is for sure.
One thing was missing: Your presence! I really do wish you could have been a part of this beautiful experience. I really do mean that! There is something in the heart of this pastor that longs, yearns, for you to be a part of one of these beautiful visitations of His Presence. Hmmm. . . I think my angst is gone—
"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29 NASB).
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