Medicine for the Soul
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title: Medicine for the Soul------------------------------- Date: 04/28/2000
Keywords:
"confess" "healing" "prayer"
"righteousness" "sick" "sin"
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temptation.
Passage: James 5:14-16*
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each
other so that you may be healed. They prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Question
1. Can we put addiction to pornography into the category of illness?
2. What does this passage recommend as an antidote to sickness?
3. Why should Christians confess their sins to each other?
4. Does this passage recommend that we pray for ourselves?
Practical help
This passage is most frequently quoted as an exhortation to prayer.
We're supposed to pray because James told us prayer is effective. I don't think that is
the whole message here. Maybe you've been struggling with internet porn for a long time,
and praying profusely about it, but haven't seen the fruit of your prayer in your life.
Then if you only focus on the last part of verse 16, you're left with one conclusion:
"I must not be a righteous man."
Look more closely at the passage in context. Nowhere in here does
James recommend that a sick person should pray himself out of the sickness. Which is not
to say that you shouldn't pray for yourself -- but look at what James is really
recommending: "call the elders," have them pray over you, "confess your
sins," "pray for each other." While James may have had in mind physical
ailments, the application is equally important if not more so to soul-sickness like porn
addiction. I can speak personally for the power of confession, and of the prayers of
others. As long as my sin is a secret, it remains with me and I remain the only soldier
doing battle with it, Satan's strength against my weakness. When I confess it to trusted
friends in Christ, and they commit to prayer for it, there is victory. If your trusted
friend is a "righteous man," one whose righteousness comes from giving his own
sin struggles over to Christ, then the battle is Jesus' strength against Satan's weakness.
The "therefore" that leads off verse 16 is maybe the most
powerful word in the passage. It follows directly from the unconditional promise of
forgiveness. If you know this forgiveness, then you have no compelling reason to hide your
sin, and you can confess freely. Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and
Savior know this forgiveness. If you don't have this confidence, then the place to start
is with the story of Christ. You can learn his story by clicking
here.
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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.