He paid for it all

And the prayer of faith will save the sick …

JAMES 5:15 (NKJV)

When my mom got healed of breast cancer, not only did the surgeons not find a tumor, but the metal marker had disappeared too — God not only healed her of the cancerous tumor, but He removed the metal marker as well! Guys, this is normal Christianity — healing the sick in the name of Jesus, for His glory. I think we should be way more excited when it comes to the miraculous and we should give more than a golf clap when we hear testimonies of His goodness.

Listen, whether it’s a sprained pinky or a tumor, it doesn’t take more of God to heal either. That’s right — sometimes we’ve been so threatened or scared by something that has hit us that we pray harder, we pray louder, we pray stronger, and we think that something in our prayer is going to shift things. It is not our prayer that heals, delivers, and sets free; it is faith in God. When we pray, we want to have faith in God. This is why we need to study the Word of God and know the God of the Word so that we understand why we have authority to pray for the sick.

See, the Church as a whole doesn’t believe that God is supernatural except at conversion. At conversion, we believe that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved. (Romans 10:9) And it’s true, of course. That is true, but here’s the deal: When I say that’s true and you believe it’s true, somebody can pray a prayer and get saved, and it requires no demonstration on your part. All it does is require somebody’s surrender and for somebody to believe in God that Jesus Christ is Lord. Are you with me?

Now, when I say that healing is for today, that involves complete demonstration on your part because if you say healing is real and you pray, and it doesn’t happen, you “look” like a fool. Therefore, the pride and fear of man enters in, and because we want to look good in front of people, we just don’t pray — we don’t want to “let anybody down.” Listen, I don’t care whether anybody believes this or not — this is about faith and this is about Jesus Christ paying a high price for us to be saved. If we see what that word “saved” is, the same word is used in a different section of Scripture. It says in James 5:14, 15 (NKJV) “Is anyone among you sick? … the prayer of faith will save the sick …” The word “save” means more than what you think it does. The word “save” in the Greek is “sozo” and it means “saved, healed, delivered, protected, made whole, to be kept safe and sound, to be kept safe from harm,” so the Greek gives us the complete meaning.

Now, let’s plug the definition in when someone confesses that Jesus is Lord: They shall be saved, they shall be healed, they shall be delivered, they shall be protected, they shall be made whole, they shall be kept safe and sound, and they shall be kept safe from harm. It’s so much fuller! It doesn’t just mean “get to Heaven.” This is powerful! This is what salvation brings — it’s a whole package! It’s not just for our eternal benefit, but for our earthly benefit as well! We just have to believe what God says in His Word, and follow it. It’s as simple as that: Believe and do. Leave the rest up to God. Don’t let the enemy or your past failed experiences erode your belief. The currency of Heaven is faith — keep stirring it up; keep stepping out; keep it growing!

-Todd