The Prayer of Faith

James 5:14-16   Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Healing is real. It is not something that no longer happens, or something that is irrelevant today.  It is something that God has ordained, something he has decided to do for us.  He wants to heal us; it was his idea, not ours.

It was also his idea that if we want or need something from him, we should ask for it. In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

It's not that God doesn't know what we want or need.  It's not that he doesn't understand if we are sick, or doesn't know what we need help with. He is God.  He knows what we need before we know what we need!  Jesus also said in Matthew 6:7-8:  "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

God tells us to ask him for what we need in prayer, not because he doesn't know what it is we need, but rather because it takes faith and humility to admit that we have a problem that we cannot handle our self and that we need his help. It is pride and unbelief that keeps people from asking God to heal their body, or intervene in their lives.  The Bible tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.  (James 4:6)