Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Because “the prayers of all saints” are “before the throne” of God (Revelation 8:3-4), we can confidently pray for good things (Matthew 7:7-11). We are thus to pray for people who are sick as a result of their backsliding. Of course, not all sickness and suffering is a direct result of personal sin (think of Job, for example, and, even more prominently and preeminently, of Jesus). However, James 5:13-16 deals specifically with Christians who are ill due to sin: “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” The connection between sickness and “sins” and “faults” is unsettling, but it is Scriptural. Really, we are praying for the spiritual restoration of a slip-sliding-away Christian, for the backsliding precedes the illness. Our spiritual lives impact everything about us, including the physical and the emotional. Let us pray for struggling Christians so that they may flourish.