This week as I was praying for a friend, God reminded me of a scripture. I knew when He spoke it that this was MY scripture to stand on for her. The scripture is found in James 5:15; 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.
Great relief flooded my soul as I read this scripture. It took all the pressure off me as I saw my part in this situation. My part is to pray the prayer of faith. And I did.
In this scripture faith is defined as; a conviction of a truth of anything. This one was easy for me. I am fully persuaded that the word of God is truth concerning healing.
The word save in this scripture means; save from suffering, heal or make well.
The word sick means; to grow weary. Many grow weary when they are battling sickness.
Finally, to raise him up means; to arise from sleep and collect ones faculties.
As I explain why this particular scripture was so relevant that day, allow me to set the scene for you.
My friend, we have been friends for 25 plus years, yet we live in different cities, we don’t see each other often. We are both in ministry and lead busy lives. We catch up by phone quite often and have lunch together every now and then, or I see her when I teach at her school. That has been the sum of it over the past few years.
I knew she had been having health issues, but she made it sound like nothing major, and I didn’t push the subject. Therefore when I received a call on Sunday morning from her husband asking me to come and pray for her I was surprised. And when he told me she was in the final stage of cancer, I was dumbfounded. Not too long after that her daughter called and asked me to come. I was on my way to the hospital by that time.
Needless to say it was a horrible night. I was mentally and physically exhausted the next day when I came home. With my mind reeling, I was desperately seeking God for an answer when He gave me this scripture. I took a deep breath of relief. My part was to pray the prayer of faith.
My friend is one of the strongest word women I know, yet, just as the scripture said she had become weary and lost her faculties in the process. By the time I got to her, she wasn’t speaking or communicating at all. She wasn’t eating, only sleeping. I know her and I knew we had to get her alert to the point that she could fight. Therefore that is where I targeted my prayers. The first night I stayed all night long and prayed and worshipped and declared the word of God over her. With little to no communication from her, I was going by faith alone.
The next morning I came home to shower and collect myself. I had only been gone a couple hours when her daughter called me to tell me that she was awake and talking and eating. What a relief!
I was excited. The word did exactly what it said it would do. I prayed the prayer of faith, MY PART. That prayer caused her to arise, shake off the weariness, lay hold of her faculties and battle.
I leave the rest to God and to her. Now, that doesn’t mean I am going to stop praying or stop standing in faith with her, absolutely not. I am only saying that I must do my part and continue praying as God does His part.
Friends, don’t allow anyone to put the responsibility for another person’s healing on you. My sister did that when my Dad died. As he died, she said ‘I thought you would get him healed.’ That was the hardest thing to shake off. The guilt of that followed me for a long time. His healing was not my responsibility – that was between him and God. My part was to pray for him and lift him up to God in prayer. It is the Lord who raises up.
Also, don’t look to man for your healing – it is the Lord who raises up – always look to Him for everything you have need of.
In the past, I have often taken on the responsibility of breakthrough for other people, whether it was healing, financial or some other thing. I have prayed and prayed and when it didn’t turn out the way they wanted it to, I have allowed the enemy to bring accusations – I don’t allow that any longer.
I have learned through this; not only in this situation, but in my ministry as well, it is my part to keep you lifted up in faith, as best I can. It is my part to feed you faith and insight daily to keep you in a place where you are encouraged to continue fighting – but it is not my part to bring breakthrough for you – that is between you and God. Look to Him.
For the past two days my friend has been alert, talking, eating and praying for herself. I am in total agreement with her for a wonderful outcome and total healing – a miracle. As I continue to pray the prayer of faith, I leave the rest to God. I have done my part and I did it to the best of my ability. I continue to pray and stand in faith and leave the rest in God’s hands. Knowing it is in His hands brings me great relief. He is a big God, He can handle it. I can trust Him with her. He loves her far more than I do and He wants her raised up even more than all those who love her.
I hope this speaks to someone today who is struggling with this – I know it spoke volumes to me.
