Restoration of Elders
For as long as I can remember, I have heard people ponder, if we can truly
know God's will for Christians who become sick. Often I hear people say
that it is all up to God and we cannot understand His ways, to some there is
healing and to others, they will receive healing through the hands of medical
doctors and others, it is just their time to go home. With all that in
mind, can we truly know the will of God concerning Christians with sickness?
Does God have a plan for Sick Christians?
I guess the first question is, "Do you believe the Bible is God's Word and it
will not fail"? If the answer is yes, then God has already told every
Christian who ends up sick, exactly what to do. The will of God for any
Christian that is sick is:
James 5:14-15 ~ "Is any sick among you? 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 of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall
raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. "
That is very direct and clear, it does not take prayer and fasting to see
what is God's will for sick Christians, it is obvious and goes directly against
what most Christians have been taught or believe. God had James make this
point clear and to not leave room for doubts, it is God's will that ALL
Christians be healed and turn to Him and Him alone for that healing. Just
because a medical doctor may be able to cut parts out of you to make you
survive, that does not mean you should, God has a better plan and one that is
FREE to all Christians.
This is a plague that has been forced upon the Christian faith by those that
either do not have the faith to believe or have another agenda. If
you are following God and doing that which is pleasing in His sight, you do not
have any unforgiveness in your heart and you have not taken of Communion
unworthily, then there is nothing standing in your way to be healed
supernaturally by God as He has provided to every believer.
In the passage in James, there is another point that is often overlooked, the
“is any” phrase. It sounds like Christians becoming sick should not be a
common occurrence and as a last line of defense, you would go to the elders if
you are not able to maintain health or cannot overcome a sickness attacking you.
While the healing “ministry” may not be with every Christian, the power to heal
is within everyone who is a Christian. If we are mature in our faith, we
should be able to receive our healing on our own, but if we fail (I think of the
time when the disciples could not cast out the devil from the boy), then there
are elders who are mature enough in the faith to cover where we lack.
God First!
When someone gets a cold, what do they do? Most people run to the store
to buy potions to heal the cold or more than likely, make it more manageable.
What happens when a major trauma occurs? The first instinct is to call for
medical help. Why is not to call for the elders or perhaps, if you are
strong in the faith, to simply believe and receive your healing or heal those in
need, trusting in God to handle the situation?
We have been raised to look at God as someone to call upon when there is no
other hope, instead of being our first hope. How many times have you
heard, "there is nothing we can do but pray"? Um, should not that be the
first step instead of the last? If we truly place God as the first step, we
will not need another step!
It is time to wake up and quit making excuses, for God is who He says He is
and His Word is true and cannot fail. We can fail, but He never will!
Look at how many Centuries have been wasted to man's failure to believe God!
Does Healing Fail?
Some might say "I knew someone who believed this and had the Pastor pray for
them and they still died, they were not raised up". Do you dare to say
Scripture is not true, that this passage in James and many others are wrong, God
will not heal them? Remember this one fact, God's Word is true and never
fails, it is always us who fail. With that in mind, the passage says
"elders" and says the "prayer of faith" will save them and the Lord will raise
them up. Was there truly a "prayer of faith" (or as some versions
say a “prayer offered in faith”) offered up for them or was the Pastor having a
bad day, perhaps he did not believe they would be healed for one reason or
another, or maybe his walk is not in the faith of supernatural as much as he
would like? There could be many things at fault here, but we know it is
not the Scripture, nor God that is the problem, it was the prayer or the lack of
faith involved, or even issues such as unforgiveness with the person.
This is the issue and probably the primary reason people run to medical
Doctors like rats off a sinking ship (in panic, not worded to insult). It
is hard to find true elders that can offer up a prayer of faith and that if
there is a reason someone should not be healed, flow in the Spirit to inform the
person what hinders their healing. Oh, there are many that can try to pray
for you, but is their track record of success or failures? Do they always
see the people raised up? If not, you might look somewhere else. We
need a restoration of elders who live up to the title. We need at least
one group of true elders in every city!
True Elders
In many churches, the elders are elected on reasons such as financial, time
involvement, or perhaps because they are the people who have been in the church
the longest and it is more a place of honor. From these, run! ;)
Pastors and the church members should be very careful of who they appoint as
elders, the role of elder is very important.
Elders should be appointed based on their experience, faithfulness to God ,
knowledge of God, and fullness of God. The people should be full of
the power of God and know how to use that power. And there should be a
number of them. Some may not be quite in the place to pray for people at
the moment they need prayer, so having many insures people receive a proper
prayer of faith from at least one.
No True Elders?
What if there are no true elders in your church, what should you do?
Well, I would say to find some true elders somewhere or build your own faith and
receive your healing. Jesus said we only need to believe, without doubting
and we shall receive. When you go to the elders, their faith is added to
yours and you receive. If you have the faith without doubts, you can
simply believe God and He will heal you.
Summary
We need to become real with what we believe and this is the focus of The
Awakening. The Body of the Christ needs to arise from its slumber and walk
in power. That means each one of us who are part of the Body needs to wake
up and stand tall on what we believe and stop making excuses when we do not see
what we expect. Healing is just one aspect, there are many more.
With just healing though, can you imagine what the church will be like when
people no longer doubt God's will to heal? Think, entire churches walking
in perfect health without any funerals for Christians who died of sickness.
I am sure the churches would be full to overflowing and always being enlarged to
hold more. Of course, Christians would no longer need health insurance and
save a lot of money :)
We need to stand up and believe God in all aspects of our Christian walk.
He has given us great and promises which are available to all Christians if we
only believe!
For more information on healing, see the article “Where
to Turn for Healing”.