Real Faith

“Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he 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 man is powerful and effective.” [James 5:13-16]

Growing up I was taught that confessing our sins to a human person is a Catholic tradition and not Biblical; but James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

As I began to study divine healing I discovered a strong connection between physical illness and mental, emotional, and spiritual illness. The Holy Spirit is the best psychologist in the world; He understands human nature better than anyone. He also understands the connection between our spiritual health and our physical health. If your mind and spirit are sick your body will become sick as well.

When a person has a physical injury and it gets infected, the doctor will open the wound and drain the infection so it can heal. The same is true with emotional and spiritual infection. The infection has to be removed before healing can take place. Infections grow worse over time if they are not removed, and eventually the infection spreads to the whole person – spirit, mind and body.

There is often a connection (not always, but often) between spiritual illness and physical illness. Confession is part of the healing process that allows the infection to be drained so the healing can take place. Confessing our sins privately to God will bring God’s forgiveness, but confessing our sins to one another helps to bring healing to the mind and body.

A New Testament church should include appointed elders who are trained and gifted to bring spiritual, emotional and physical healing through the laying on of hands, counseling, and prayer. Some people tell me they do not have anyone in their church they can trust to tell their innermost secrets, so they go to a professional counselor. The church is missing out on a very important role if we do not facilitate and encourage people to confess their sins for purpose of receiving forgiveness and healing. God forgives, but we must learn to forgive ourselves and each other as well.

Confession has the power to set you free from spiritual, emotional and physical bondage. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” [James 5:16].

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. John 5:14-15.

“Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” Luke 11:26

When Jesus healed the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda he told the man “stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” This is a clear indication that the man’s sickness was related to his sinful habits. Likewise the man in Luke 11:26 had been set free from the bondage to demons, only to be “repossessed” at a later time.

When God sets us free from the damage of our past we risk becoming “sick” again if we return to our old ways. Sin is a poison that can affect our spirit, soul and body.

Every form of sickness can be the result of sin. That is not to say that every sickness is caused by sin, but sin can cause every kind of sickness. Physical, mental and emotional illness can be caused by the physical and spiritual effects of sin.

The physical effects of sin include the way certain addictions and evil habits destroy the body and the mind. The spiritual effects of sin include the possibility that you may open the door to Satan and allow him into your life. That seems to be the case in john 5:14-15.

Spiritual Warfare is real, and Satan is out to destroy everyone he can.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” I Peter 5:8

“When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.  When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!”  For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.. . . and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind.  Luke 8:27-39

This the second message in a series on Spiritual Warfare.

I am aware that the whole idea of demon spirits seems mysterious and controversial to many people. We would love to ignore the whole issue and pretend it doesn’t exist.

 Not only are we pushing the envelope to talk about evil spirits, but in this message we talk about mental illness; so we are really in difficult territory.

I have been delighted recently to read of progress being made by some in the mental health field to understand the impact of spiritual forces on mental and emotional health.

According to the National Institutes of Health:

• 12 million Americans suffer from a “serious mental health” disorder. 
• In 2006-2007 there were 58 million ambulatory care visits (to physician offices, hospital outpatient and emergency departments) with mental disorders as primary.
• 28% of all treated illnesses are psychiatric in nature.
• Bipolar depression is the number one treated illness in the United States.
• Approximate 400,000 people attempt suicide each year, and 30,000 are successful.

In the March 2009 issue of Christianity Today Magazine the lead article is titled “The Depression Epidemic” — it’s about depression among Christians. 

Of course we would rather not talk about that — because Christians are not supposed to have such problems. So we either ignore the issue, or we take great pains to say that its caused by chemical reactions in the brain, hereditary issues, or the after effects of some other incident.

The man in Luke chapter 8 had all the classic symptoms of paranoid-schizophrenia.

According to medical authorities even today there is no cure for schizophrenia. The experts say that with proper treatment, they can help you manage the illness so that you can live a more productive life.

But when Jesus went to that town for a visit, at the end of the visit, the man was fully dressed and in his right mind. He didn’t just manage his illness, he was cured.
We could debate whether demons really exist, or whether Jesus and the Apostles were just carried away by superstition.

But for the 12 million Americans who the psychiatrists say cannot be healed – but they can simply manage to live with their illness — God still offers hope through spiritual deliverance.

There can be no doubt that if these cases are brought to Jesus he would heal them the same way he did 2,000 years ago.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”.  Ephesians 6:12

If the church is going to be useful in bringing healing to the 12 million who suffer, we can start by re-aligning our world-view with the Scriptural world-view.  We need to see the world through the eyes of Jesus; because his view has not changed.