Help! I Need Healing.

Help! I need Healing!
(Sorry, Not Marvin. He wasn’t around during this time)
James 5:14-16
Deacon George Miller

When we think of the term, “Healing”, we probably view it in terms of a physical wound that needs to be healed. However, Healing can be the result of a Physical, Mental or Spiritual wound, as pain comes in different forms.

How often are the wounds we suffer from, self-inflicted? How often are we in pain because we made some wrong choices in our life? The person we thought would be our life-long partner, didn’t turn out to be. The hopes and dreams for your child, ended up being a nightmare. The substance you decided to try for fun, ends up becoming a chemical dependency. The job you finally landed and gave your all to for years, decides you are no longer needed. The Pastor you placed your faith and trust in for years, turns out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. When calamity after calamity happens in your life and you’ve done all you can to remedy your situations, only to realize that nothing is changing, and the pain isn’t going away, you realize to yourself, “Help, I need Healing”. So, where or who do we turn to for healing?

In this scripture text, James 5:14-16, James is referencing individuals who are sinning, (if anyone is sick among you.). This same reference is a parallel to what Paul said in I Corinthians 11:30 = For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you (sin), and many sleep (meaning dead to sin). The time comes when the person reaches a point of desperation where the self-inflicted pain becomes unbearable, thus causing the “Transition”, beginning with a call for Help! In the early church, the believers/members/church body were responsible for disciplining in the church, (the meaning behind Matthew 18:15-17).

Turning to the Church is the equivalent of deciding to go to the hospital or to the doctor when all other remedies fail. When you receive a request from someone to pray for them, you don’t ask, “Why”? The same reason a person may respond to altar call may be the same reason they come to you. It’s the light they see in you, they possibly feel you have a more direct line to God than they do, the person is asking for Help, and you are chosen to be their intercessor, but don’t sleep on the fact that God told them to choose you.

When seeking Healing, just remember:

• Be committed and sincere that you need healing and want to change. “Don’t wash the cup on the outside and the inside is still dirty.
• The prayers offered in faith aren’t referring to the sick person, but to the faith of those who are praying for them. – Often, it’s the prayers that someone else prayed for you, that will bring about the needed change.
• God always encourages us to “Come to Him”.
• Allow time for the healing process to occur, it’s never our timetable, but God’s.
• Stop picking at the scab. It will fall off when the wound is healed.
• Change will happen when the pain of holding on becomes greater than the fear of letting go.

Prayer:
Dear God, we humble ourselves to you, apologizing for the wrong we’ve done and asking for your forgiveness. I pray that you cleanse me from the inside, out. Give me a new walk and a new purpose, help me to forget those things that are now behind me and to continue to press forward to the new goals I have in my life. Help me to never again allow anyone to think more highly of me than I do myself. In the precious name of your son, our savior, JESUS! Amen, Amen & Amen.