Is Anyone Sick?

Daily Reading: James 5

Scripture Focus: 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. 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. (James 5.14-15)

Devotional Thought: One of my first memories of being in a Christian "healing service", was as a young teen, very unfamiliar with the Bible.  I couldn't figure out what was happening.  I didn't know what it meant to anoint someone with oil.  You, too, may have wondered where the practice comes from.  Well, James 5, gives you your answer.

Anointing with oil, has long been a Christian practice that represents the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  In the Old Testament, anointing with oil was done to symbolize inaugurating places, people, and things into the service of Jehovah.  Other ancient cultures also used oil for this purpose.  In the New Testament, the oil of anointing came to represent the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus told his disciples to heal the sick, anointing them with oil (Mark 6.13).  The healing was not in the oil, but in the act of faith and obedience.

The same is true today.  We anoint with oil, not because there is healing power in the oil.  That would be superstition or magic.  We anoint with oil, because we believe that through our faith and obedience, we prepare the way for God to stretch out his hand to heal.  It is a mystery, but it is a mystery I gladly follow, because the Bible plainly instructs it.  And, I realize that “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (emphasis mine).  It’s the Lord who does the healing!

Prayer: Lord, I come to you right now for the healing of those I know and love.  Stretch out your hand to work a miracle in their lives I pray.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 45.8-17

8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;

9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

10 Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father's house,

11 and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.

12 The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people.

13 All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.

14 In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her.

15 With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.

16 In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth.

17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.