Lesson 19: Faith that heals
James 5:13-18 
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
14 Is anyone among you sick? 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.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

 One of the interesting things about different languages is how they have changed to fit the circumstances in which they exist. One interesting example is that some peoples of the far north have from 50 to 300 different words for snow. In the language the book of James was written, there are also different words for being sick. The word that is used in these verses is not limited to sickness of the body. It includes sickness of the mind and spirit as well – discouragement, depression, hopelessness, and so on. The healing God gives may be for any of these kinds of sicknesses.

 Sometimes we want to ask Jesus why He allows suffering for us since He has given us promises like these that we can be healed. If prayer can do such powerful things as we read in these verses, why does He still allow sickness of every kind into our lives?


 First, we must remember that suffering is not God’s fault, it came into this world because of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), God’s curse on sin extended to all creation. Everything became subject to death. Our bodies, our minds, our spirits, our world around us is all included in this curse on sin.

Second, God still loves us. He made a way for us to come back to Him. But His plan for us is not so we can live long or healthy lives here on this earth. His plan is for us to seek Him and know Him again. He wants us to be with Him for eternity. For this purpose, He gave us the opportunity to talk with Him. Through prayer and reading the Bible we get to know and trust Him, and He uses suffering in our life for the purpose of drawing us to Himself. We will study this more in our next lesson.

Memorize: James 5:16 (above)