Dr Charles Stanley - Help For Our Healing

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Start your day off right with the free in Touch devotional.
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
In Touch with doctor Charles Stanley, celebrating forty five years
of God's faithfulness in sharing the gospel worldwide. Next on
in Touch Help for our Healing.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well, we are the richest nation in the world, will
be probably about one of the sickest. And if you'll
think about it, we spend billions of dollars every year
on medical research and all kinds of medicines and pharmaceutical
this and that, and why is it we're still so sick?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
What is it that's.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Going on inside of us that we can't get healthy?
And so when I think about what the Bible says
about the human body and its placed in the eyes
of God, and think about the fact that we could
put a man on the moon and in space and
somehow we can't even stay healthy, it's like there's something

(01:22):
not right about all that. But the question is this,
what does God say about the human body and about healing?
And so often people don't want to put those two together.
They say, well, that healing ministry. You're not talking about
a healing ministry. We're talking about being a child of
God and having something happen to human body that caused

(01:42):
us to be sick, or some emotional issue that goes
on that causes us to be thrown off course a
little bit. So what I want us to do is
I want us to look at the scripture to see
what God says, and to see what he says when
you and I need healing in our life. Now, first
response is call the doctor. First response, go to the pharmacy.

(02:03):
Let's get back and get enough peals of this and
enough of that, enough of the other. Then I don't
need anything else. He realize what that means. That means
my first choice is what man made instead of what
God made. And so I want us to be open
and honest and look at this according to what God
says in his word.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
So I want you to look, if you will.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
In James, this fifth chapter, the last chapter of James,
and he tells us how we are to respond of
when there is illness, when there is sickness in our life.
And in this fifth chapter he's been talking about lots
of things we're familiar with, trials and so forth. Then
he comes to the thirteenth verse and he asked this question,

(02:45):
is anyone among you suffering, then he must pray. Is
anyone cheerful he used to sing praises, Is anyone among
you sick, then he must call for the elders of
the church and there to pray over him and owning
him with all the name of the Lord. And the
prayer often in faith, will restore the one who is sick,

(03:07):
and the Lord will raise him up.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
And if his committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Therefore, on the basis of all that, confess your sins
to one another, pray for one another so that you
may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man
can accomplish much. So what I want us to look
at for a few moments here is the help for
our healing. Whoever we are can involve other people. Now

(03:33):
think about this. We talk about the church being the
body of Christ, talk about the church being an organization.
The church is also a family, and every single local
church is a family of the people of God, and
family members relate to each other. Family members should care

(03:53):
for each other. Family members should love each other. Family
members should be available to each other and accept each other.
There are many characteristics we can say of a good family,
and so that's what our church is like. And so
in this chapter of James, he gives us a pattern. Now,
once you listening carefully, because this pattern affects everything, not

(04:18):
just sickness, not just emotional things.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Not just physical things.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
But notice what he says, And I want us to
look at it again, read it just for a moment,
and I want us to look at what's involved to you.
And so he is asking this question, is anyone among
you suffering? Then he must pray it's anyone cheerful. Then
he's the same praises is anyone among you sick? So
what I want you to notice first of all, here

(04:45):
he separates sickness from suffering because we need each other,
not only when a person is physically sick, Because there
are many, many emotional distraught people who suffering far more
intensely than people who may be physically sick. There is

(05:06):
emotional hurt and pain suffering. There is rejection and hatred
and bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness and all the rest,
and people suffering loss, loss of their home, loss of
their children, loss of their family, all kinds of things
going on. So when he says, is anyone suffering? And
if we were to ask this morning, is anyone suffering,
raise your hand. Most people would probably raise their hand

(05:29):
about something. So well, I'm saying all that to say this,
and that is, we're not just limiting what he's saying
here to somebody who has some physical ailment. Physical sickness, yes,
emotional sickness yes, indeed, and I think oftentimes it could
be even worse on the emotional side. So he asked

(05:50):
the question if they are, so, the condition we're talking
about here is a physical condition, or it can be
an emotional condition. He says, in light of that, this
is the way we are to operate. And he says,
we're to call for help. And so what does he
mean by that? And notice what he says. He says,
if any one among you is sick, then he must

(06:12):
call for the elders of the church and they are
to pray over him, annoying him all in the name
of the Lord. He says, here's what you to do.
So he doesn't leave his rest to guess what to do.
He makes it very clear. And so I want us
to look at this couple of verses here because he
makes it so very clear. He says, here's the course
of action. He said, then he must call for the

(06:33):
elders of the church and there to pray of him. Now,
watch this, The elder doesn't call the person. The person
calls the hell of the church. For example, if you
become ill and you want somebody to pray for you,
don't wait for somebody to guess that you're sick. He says,
you call for the elders of the church. They are
to pray over him, annoying him all in the name

(06:55):
of the Lord. That was his old business. Got to
do with it? Well, somebody says, does the all? Well,
he'll know the oil and the prayer. It's the prayer
that's important here, not the oil.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Though.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
The oil, for example, is a symbol of the presence
of the Holy Spirit in some places. And then you'll
recall also with the good Samaritan, when he found this
man lying on the side of the road, he pout
oil in his wounds and wine, and so that helped him.
And so they didn't have many things they would help,
but those two would. And so he says, we're to

(07:28):
annoyt them with oil. That's nothing magical about that. It
is a symbol, It is an indication, it's a reminder
anoynt them with oil, he says. And he says, do
it in the name of the Lord. That is, I'm
doing this in obedience to the will of God, the

(07:48):
word of God, indicating that we're trusting the Holy Spirit
to work in your physical body or in your emotions,
whatever happens to be going on in your life. And
then he said, is and the prayer often in faith,
will restore the one who's sick. The Lord will raise
him up. If he's committed sins, they'll be forgiven him.
And the most important part of all of this is

(08:11):
right here, because we're talking about what makes the difference.
It isn't the oil, it's the pray. Now, I want
you to think about this. Let's say, for example, that
you were sinking, you wanted some elders to come and
pray at your house for you. What kind of people

(08:32):
do you want, Well, you want people who certainly believe
that God heard n answered prayer. And so you probably
have some characteristics you think. I want people I know.
I want people that I know another word of God.
I want people to live a good life and so forth. Well,
he doesn't leave it for our he doesn't leave it for.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Us the guess.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Listen, He says, there are three things here that very
very important. This prayer, the prayer that's prayed over a
person who is ill. This prayer should flow out of
a person with three characteristics. First of all, he said,
often in faith. And if you'll go back to the

(09:09):
first chapter of James for a moment and listen, and
all of us probably know this passage pretty well, but
I want you to look in the first chapter of
James and he asked a question and speaks here of
wisdom in the fifth verse when he says, if any
of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who
gives to all generously and without reproach, and they'll be

(09:30):
given to him. But he must ask in faith, without doubting,
no wavering back and forth. Maybe he will, maybe he won't.
Yes he can, No, he can, he says, no wavering
back and forth. He says, let him ask of God,
who gives to all generously and without reproach.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
It'll be given to him.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
He must ask in faith without any doubting, For the
one who doubts is like the surf of the sea,
driven and tossed by the wind. He says, for the
man ought not to expect that he'll receive anything from
the Lord.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
So he says the prayer of faith, that is a
watch this.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
A prayer of faith is a prayer based on the
Word of God, based on our experience with God.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
In answered prayer, the prayer of faith.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
So if that's going to be healing, there must be
a prayer that flows out.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Of a life of faith, which means watch this. We
need to be in the.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
Word of God, continually reading the Word of God, listen,
listening to him, being reminded by him, challenged by him,
directed by him. We need the Word every single day
of our life. And if you listen, the truth is
your effectiveness as a follower of Jesus is absolutely related

(10:51):
to your relationship to His word. So if I'm going
to be praying a prayer of faith, it's going to
be based on the Word of God. And if I
haven't read the Bible for about a week or two
weeks or whatever it might be, I guarantee you if
you'll just stop and think about it in your own life.
You don't read the scripture, your faith level starts down.

(11:12):
And the longer you stay away from the Word of God,
the less faith. You have to genuinely trust him in
those serious times. So he says, first of all that
prayer must flow out of a life of faith.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
And then watch this part. He says.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Not only that, but he says, the Lord will raise
him up and if he's committed sins, they'll be forgiven him. Therefore,
confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. Now,
for example, if you're going to pray for somebody, you
have to deal with a sin problem, because there is
a direct relationship between sin, sickness healing. There's a direct relationship.

(11:53):
That doesn't mean that everybody who's sick is living in sin,
but when a person is living in sin, that what
God said. He said, if you regard, which means if
you hold them to it, you know it's there and
you keep it there. If you regard iniquity in your heart,
he says, I'll not hear you. Now, people don't believe
that people live like the devil. Sometimes they pray and say, well,

(12:13):
I've been talking to God and I know God's.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Going to answer my prayer. No he's not. He says,
if you regard iniquity in your heart, I'll not hear you. Now,
I want you to think about this.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Those elders, whoever they may be, when they meet with
somebody to pray for them, for example, they have to
deal with sin in their own life.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
If it's there.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
And the person who is sick or distraught, or whatever
the issue may be, they have to deal with the
sin issue. Sin is a barrier to the blessings of
God and the ways in the work of God. And
let's say, for example, if I were to come to
your house and pray for you, or wherever we pray, you,
come to church, whatever, and we're praying for you, and
I'm living in sin.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
God's not going to hear that.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
And so this prayer to be effective is got to
come out of a clean heart. Out of it flows
out of a heart and a mind of faith that's clean.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
And the person for whom you pray has to deal
with it.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
If I come to you and I ask you to
pray for me, now I've got sin in my life
and I'm holding on the sin and praying for God
to heal me, I'm wasting my time and not being
fair of the person who's praying for me.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Sin.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Sin is an enemy of God. It's an enemy of
your life. It's an enemy of your relationships, and we
have to deal with it so that we can be
fit to pray for other people.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
And God, listen. God desires to answer our prayer.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
He desires to heal, He desires to help people through difficult.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Trying time, so that it's emotional or physical. But he listen.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
He wants those prayers to be at the hearts that
are pure. So first of all, it's got to flow
out of a heart of faith. Second, it's got to
flow out of a heart that's pure. And thirdly, notice
what he says in this passage. Therefore, confession sends to
one another and pray for one another so that you
may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man
can accomplish much. Now, what's a righteous man or a woman.

(14:09):
A righteous man or woman is a person who's been saved,
who's committed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and listen, whose lifestyle,
whose lifestyle is obedience, not perfect, whose lifestyle is obedience,
whose desires to walk obedience before God, whose desires to
walk in the will of God, and who listen, and

(14:31):
whose desire to walk in the will of God is
a part of the every day thinking. It's their attitude,
it's their spirit about things. And so when he talks
about effective prayers, they are in effective prayers. They're prayers
that are just words. Then they're effective prayers, he says,
the prayers of a righteous person. And so he says

(14:52):
in this passage that this prayer must flow out of
a person who is a person of faith with the
pure heart, as a righteous life, a testimony of Godliness
in their life.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Now, I want you to think about this. Are you listening,
say man?

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Because when you and I live out our lives trusting
God and walking in obedience to his will, watch this,
that means that every single one of us are walking,
healing agents of the living God. But for that to work,

(15:33):
the three things that are necessary got to trust Him's faith.
Heart's got to be pure, Your lifestyle has got to
be righteous.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
And that's what transforms somebody's life.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
And when somebody says, I watch this, I need you
to pray for me, they just express confidence in you.
They just express confidence in you, watch this, in your
relationship to God. They just express confidence in your walk
with Him. They just express confidence in your ability to

(16:06):
communicate to him their need that they just communicated to you.
That makes you a very special person. Every single one
of us are walking, healing agents of the Living God.
That means all of us have a big responsibility to
keep their life right before Holy God. Now, what would

(16:31):
happen in churches if people live like this? Well, do
you know why we don't. I'm gonna give you ten reasons,
and then maybe we all need to repent. Let's think
about why, why is it when we have this awesome
potential we don't.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, I just want I.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
Just want to give you an of these reasons because
I think I'm gonna put them on the maximen so
you can jot them down.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Number one.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
A lot of folks say, well, that was just for
the first century church. That doesn't work today. That's first
century living and when the Bible and for the end
of the first century, they didn't do that anymore. Secondly,
they don't believe it works today, regardless of first century.
They just think, well, you know that used to work then,
doesn't work today. Besides that we have doctors and so forth.

(17:19):
The third is that so many people are too embarrassed
to admit admit that they have needs.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
To other people.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
Let me just say this, I heard somebody on the phone. Yes,
they weep and weep and weep and weep, and I
just had to listen. Just listening was all they needed. Then,
of course we're too prideful to calling others to help us.
When you get too big, too important, too smart, too

(17:53):
rich to ask for help, you are in dead serious trouble. Then,
of course, one of the reasons we don't pray for
people like we ought is because we're afraid we may fail.
And then what will they think of us? Well, I
ask them to pray for me and it didn't work.
And now what you share a lot of projects mixed

(18:17):
up in all this, And then we are too embarrassed
to confess our sins before other people. And this doesn't
mean we have to get up and just say, well,
I've done this and I've done that. But there ought
to be somebody, some person that you can trust. Then,
of course we are so consumed with our own needs,
we don't have time, We are so busy with their

(18:40):
own things, We don't have time to feel for somebody else.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
If you can't feel for somebody else, you're not going
to pray for them seriously.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
Then, of course, somebody says, I don't know why, but
I just can't. And the reason is because sin in
their life. They know that they don't have the faith
to believe that God could heal somebody or that he
could help them through something. Now let's move from the disease.
For example, let's say somebody's lost their house. They're going

(19:11):
through a difficult time emotionally. It's just like they wanted.
They worked hard at it, they'd raised their kids there,
and at this point in their life they thought they'd
be secure, and all of a sudden it's gone and
they don't have anything. That's a distressful, difficult time. And
what they need is to be heard, loved, listened to, assured,

(19:35):
and not offer a quick response.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Now I went to here's what I would do.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
You don't know what you do in some situations, and
so instead of saying here's what I would do, the
right answer is let's find out what God wants us
to do, because he has the right answer.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
And then somebody says, I just don't feel worthy.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Let me ask a question, how worthy do you feel
about anything? That worthy business is a cop out, it's
not a matter worthy. We're children of God and so can't.
We can't let that bother. And then I'll give you
one last thing, the reason we don't do it. It's
easy to send them a get Will card of flowers.

(20:23):
You get real trouble in life that you have anybody
in mind today that you would call that you'd say,
I'm going to call her, I'm going to call him
because I know they pray a prayer of faith, their
heart is clean, they're living a god in life, and
I believe in God will answer their prayer. Every believer

(20:47):
needs somebody and somebodies in their life that match that requirement.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
And think about it.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
A church is a family, and a family for each other,
love each other, support each other, help each other. It's
all each other, each other, each other, And I think
they're about eleven or twelve each other's in Paul mentions
in his epistles.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
That's what the churches about. It's about each other.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
So I just want to challenge you, whatever church you
belong in, wherever you go to church, ask yourself the question,
are you allowing yourself to be a walking agent of
healing in that family? That's who we are. That's our

(21:38):
best testimony, walking agents of healing or hurt, pain, suffering, sorrow, loss,
whatever it might be, because we know the one who
can change all that.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
That's Jesus.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
If you've never trusted him as your personal savior, you
miss it.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
That life's best.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
If you've never trusted Him as your savior. What kind
of relationship do you have with God? You don't have one.
Do you have any idea how God could possibly use
you if you let him straighten your life, And that
begins with asking Him to forgive you of your sins
and surrendering your life to him. Belongs to him anyway,

(22:22):
surrendering your life to him and allowing him to give
godance and direction for your life. Your life will change.
You'll be happier, You'll have a joy in your life.
The more you give yourself away, the more God gives
you in return. Why just waste the way your life
on yourself when God can transform you and in the

(22:46):
process he can change the lives of other people.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
That's my prayer for you.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Father, How grateful we are in your wonderful patience, loving kindness,
tender mercy. And we pray today that the Holy Spirit
would impress upon each one.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Of us.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
That we have a responsibility to be one of those
walking agents through whom you can absolutely change someone's life,
alter their whole future, improve their health, strengthen.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Their relationship with you. And I pray that each one
of us.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
Would purposely make ourselves available, so that our prayers would
be like the prayer that James speaks of, effective, fervent, strong, sincere,
life

Speaker 2 (23:47):
Changing in Jesus' name, Amen,