The love of God is unconditional but the grace of God comes through faith. A lack of faith in those who should have some reasonable level of faith hinders healing. In addition, answers to prayers may also be conditional. For instance, in my last blog I quoted James when he said, “You have not because you ask not.” We are told that God knows our thoughts and our heart’s desires before we utter a word but asking in prayer still seems to be the normative condition for God responding to our desires or needs. There are additional conditions that hinder answered prayed and healing if they are not met.
In his letter, James reveals several of these conditions that, if not met, may hinder healing. “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (Ja.5:14-16).
From this text we discover that unconfessed sin can get in the way of healing. His counsel is to confess our sins so that we might receive prayer and through that prayer we receive healing. He has just mentioned calling the elders so that their anointing and prayer of faith might be offered for healing. Notice that if the elders pray without faith, healing will be hindered. I have seen many church leaders pray for healing with little to no faith that it would occur and it did not. He ends that instruction with “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.” The implication is that unrepented and unconfessed sin can open the door to sickness. We know that is true when guilt, stress, and worry compromise our immune systems. It also gives Satan legal access and the legal right to attack us with illness through spirits of infirmity.
In order to receive healing, we need to make sure we have dealt with any sin in our life – especially unforgiveness. Remember the psalmist, speaking of covenant children, declared that God forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases (Ps. 103:3). The fact that he mentioned forgiveness of sins before healing is not an accident. Isaiah declares, “your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:2).
Another serious example of this principle is found in I Corinthians. “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor.11:28-31).
Some in the church at Corinth were abusing the Lords supper by taking it while at the same time abusing weaker members of the church. Their sin brought the judgment of sickness on them. God calls them to self-examination and repentance so that the judgment might be lifted through healing.
How often do we pray for physical healing without doing any assessment of the spiritual health of the person for whom we are praying and then leave disappointed that God did not heal. But was there unbelief, unrepented sin, rebellion, unforgiveness, a disregard for the people that Jesus died for, etc.? Those things that come to us as a result of sin will typically not be healed until the sin is dealt with.
The problem is not in the prayer or the faith of those offering the prayer but in the spiritual condition of the one who is ill. Let me say right away that not all illness for disability is a result of anyone’s personal sin but some is. In addition, we see a number of people in the gospels come to Jesus with long term illnesses and disabilities that were caused by spirits of infirmity. They were not healed until the spirit was cast out. I will discuss demonic hindrances to healing in Friday’s blog. In the meantime, be blessed.
