Tuesday 8/21/12 Healing 2

James 5:13 - Is any one of you in trouble?  He should pray.  Is anyone happy?  Let him sing songs of praise. 14 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.  15 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.  16 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.  (NIV)

Dear Father in Heaven:  Once again we call on You to heal us from our sins.  In faith we ask that You wash us white as snow with the blood of Jesus.  We are aware that we also need to repent and we confess that we really, really need Your help in doing that.  In the name of Jesus, help us to repent, turn and walk away from evil, not just in our doing but in our thinking also.  And Lord, if You would please consider healing our tired minds and bodies we would also appreciate that.  Lord, so many with cancer and memory problems and kidney problems.  Hear our prayers for Joe, Luella, Joan, Sterling, Stanley, Stan, also for Vicki, Burt, Patsy, Barbara, and for Grant and Curtis.  Touch them and the others who I am missing, I am sure.  Be with Joanne Zimmerman and touch her, Lord.  And bless also Josh as he opens another place to help others.  And Lord, schools are about to open, please be with the kids returning to school and make them into students.  Touch teachers and help them, and be with all other employees and please, please watch over the bus drivers.  And Lord, for our dear friend Ean Garman, please watch over him and help him in his daily walk.  Thanks, Lord, for the good news from our son Matthew, and thanks for getting Dolores and me home yesterday.  You are wonderful, Lord, and I love you.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.

Good Tuesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  Wow, another beauty of a day and another day I woke up on the green side of the grass.  Folks, today, please take a look at your day.  I want you to look over all that is right in your life and then tell me if there is not more right than wrong.  In other words, count those blessings.  Look for the good in your life and STOP DWELLING ON THE BAD!!  Start looking up and talking to God, and stop complaining all the time.  Yes, if the shoe fits, put it on, for today I am telling you like it is.  There are a lot of people out there hurting, really hurting and need help.  Get up and get moving out for Jesus.  Folks, if you have a computer and a TV and a cell phone, you are much better of than a lot of people in this world.  Folks, dig in and smile about it. Remember, if you think you are at the bottom or you are at the bottom, the only way to go is UP.  So look up to Jesus, and expect to get help.  Jesus will help you if you just have faith and help yourself some.  Let's get to the message, folks ...

Healing (Day Two).  2 Kings 20:4 - Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him.  5 "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says:  I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.  On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord.  6 I will add fifteen years to your life.  And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria.  I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.'"

James 5:13 - Is any one of you in trouble?  He should pray.  Is anyone happy?  Let him sing songs of praise. 14 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.  15 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.  16 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.  (NIV)

Yes, brothers and sisters, God still heals.  Here is scripture from the Old and New Testaments that show that, and yes, it is still good today.  And yes, I am going to use this scripture again today.

Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.  (NIV)

I want to bring out this verse:

2 Kings 20:5 - "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says:  I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.'" (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, listen to these words again ... "I have heard your prayers and seen your tears; I will heal you."  This is telling me that God does indeed hear our prayers and even sees our tears, and I am sure if you are like me, you have cried often when you are talking to our Lord Jesus.  Yes, folks, I have cried a lot to our Lord over the years, and I have cried other times also.  Yes, I am a man and real men are not afraid to wear pink shirts and also cry.  In fact, many times when I am writing the message of the day I have done it through tears, sometimes tears of just crying out for the Lord to hear prayers and other times tears of joy.

So brothers and sisters, please do not be afraid to let the tears flow, and please, please talk to God often, and please remember to listen for His answers.  Let me point out again this quote from God ... "I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you."  Folks, He could be talking to you right now.

You have great pain, you have cancer, whatever you have, even your burdens ... Turn them over to God now.

Let's now just look at one more verse today.

James 5:15 - 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.  (NIV)

Okay, let me write it again, and just change the shape of one word ... 15 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.

Brothers and sisters, you see the key word here is faith ... The prayer offered up in Faith ... If you do not have faith that your prayers will be answered, then let me ask you this ... Why are you praying?  God hears our prayers, sees our tears, and will answer our prayers if we indeed pray in faith.  And the word of God tells us that we will be healed, and our sins forgiven.  PRAISE GOD, PRAISE GOD ...

So as I wrap it up for today saying these words to you ... Please pray and know God hears you and He sees your tears, and yes, He sees all you do (that should scare you a tad), but He will forgive you and heal you, He really will.

Now go forth and share those blessings, and yes, done in faith He will replace those blessings with even more blessings.  You cannot out-give Jesus ... AMEN.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.