Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them. (James 5:14)
Expanded Passage: James 5:14
During a heated discussion with another pastor, I exclaimed, “I do not believe divine healings happen today. This was something God only did in the past. Educated believers do not believe in superstitious healing. I am sure John Wesley would agree with me!”
A few weeks later, this discussion resumed. My pastor friend stated, “I decided to do some research on what John Wesley did believe. For your information, Wesley did believe in, and practiced, the use of prayers for healing on behalf of others and even for ailments that he himself was experiencing.
In his journal, dated May 8, 1741, Wesley wrote, “I was obliged to lie down for most of the day, being easy only in that posture. At our love feast which followed [the service], beside the pain in my back and head, the fever still continued upon me. Just as I began to pray, I was seized with such a cough that I could hardly speak. At the same time came strongly to my mind, ‘These signs shall follow them that believe’ [a reference to healing power found in Mark 16]. I called on Jesus aloud to ‘Increase my faith’ and ‘to confirm the word of his Grace.’ While I was speaking the pain vanished away, the fever left me, my bodily strength returned and for many weeks I felt neither weakness nor pain.”
Confidently ask God for healing when you are sick.
Jim “Umf” Lo is a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, cross-cultural leader, intercessor, and author of several books published by Wesleyan Publishing House.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
