In our last Blog, we spoke briefly of depressed Christians and how those in the ministry should treat them. My point was this: depression is an illness and should be treated like any other illness. In my studies of depression, I kept coming back to the 5th chapter of James.

James 5:15 is rarely the topic of Sunday morning services. It is a bold statement:

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

When I read this verse I must wonder why, then, we do not see more people healed. Here are a few thoughts.

First, we cannot center our beliefs around any one verse. Months ago, I reminded my readers that the phrase “by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5), which so many (including me) quote when praying for healing, is a single phrase in verse within a larger context that deals with our iniquities and transgressions. Taken in context, the word “healed” could be referring to healing from injurious sin as much as physical health.

So, here in James, let’s look at the context, James 5:13-18 (ESV):

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? 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 will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

The first thing that I notice is that there are three types of prayer mentioned in this paragraph.

1. Personal Prayer: is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.
2. Corporate Prayer: is anyone among you sick? 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.
3. Intercessory Prayer, or Praying for each other: pray for one another, that you may be healed.

I have heard Christians state that they get as much (or more) spiritual growth from staying home and enjoying family activities or watching sports as they do from going to church. That is because few of our churches provide an environment conducive to spiritual growth. Few exhibit the love and power of God, and one reason for that is because they do not follow the prayer guidelines presented in James 5. Instead of heart-felt, faith-driven prayer, most churches have “pastoral prayer.” What is pastoral prayer? It is a well-rehearsed pattern of platitudes and florid speech designed to teach or lead the body of Christ to the altar of God. In most cases, it doesn’t teach at all. What it really accomplishes is to extinguish conviction in the hearts of those who need to fall on their face and repent. Pastoral prayer also keeps our services orderly so that we can get to the dinner buffet before the Baptists. A church seeking spiritual growth and healing would do well to follow the guidelines in these verses and rediscover true prayer. An individual seeking to join a church that is a true spiritual body of believers, would search for a church like that understands prayer as outlined in James.

The second thing I notice is that James implicitly tells us that not everyone’s prayer will be answered. Those whose prayers are answered are those who pray fervently from a position of absolute surrender (which may be gained through suffering), bathe themselves with the prayers of faith-filled mature Christians, demonstrate a measure of their own faith, and confess their sins to their brothers and sisters in Christ.

• 1st, Is anyone suffering? Let him pray. The first condition we see is that one must be suffering. If we dig a little deeper, we see that the word suffering means “suffering from evil.” James wrote this epistle to the twelve tribes that had been scattered around the world. Most of the Jews around the world suffered persecution, and it is with persecution in mind that he wrote this letter. Persecution leads to absolute surrender to the power and love of God. It is when we are surrendered – at our weakest – that He exhibits His strength and rescues us.
• 2nd, Call for the elders of the church who will pray over the sick and anoint with oil. Surround the sick and suffering with men and women of faith, mature Christians who have learned to trust in Jesus at all cost. Anointing with oil is symbolic of the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, who works with the authority of the Father. Hebrews 1:9 expresses the understanding of the 1st Century Church as it pertained to the anointing oil, there was a relationship between the anointed and the degree in which they loved the righteousness of God (Hebrews 1:9 ESV):

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

• 3rd, the prayers must be made in faith. We must believe that God is able and willing to rescue us and to heal us physically, spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and financially. Remember, God wants the best for His children, just as we want the best for our children.
• 4th, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. This requirement is the reason that most churches do not exhibit spiritual growth and power. People will not confess to one another. I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where Jesus or an apostle asked the multitude to raise their hand it they had an unspoken request. Sure the Bible says that God knows what you need before you ask, and the Bible says that the Spirit prays when you don’t know how, but that is a far cry for saying you don’t have to ask, or you don’t have to share.

Prayer must be fervent and the pray-er, righteous. The KJV used the word fervent, which is perfect here. The NIV misses the implication all together, and even the ESV, misses the point. The image I chose for this blog is that of a long-abandoned hospital because it implies that all hope is gone. It is that attitude – one of hopelessness – that God wants us to take. It is human nature, that only when we have lost faith in ourselves that we will trust in God and others who are devoted to God. That is what the KJV means by fervent.

Who is righteous enough to have their prayers answered? I trust only in Christ. It is only His righteousness that God honors.

There is a definite correlation between sin and answered prayer. We will look at that next.

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Once, when his wife noticed Luther in the midst of a bout of depression, she put on her finest mourning garb. Dressed in black, face veiled, she presented herself to him.

“Who died?” Luther asked.

She lifted her veil and replied, “It seems as if God must have, by the way you’re acting.”

Like Luther, I suffer depression. I often feel like I am fading away, or like there is a veil that prevents me from looking within, or like I simply want to stay in bed forever. Like Luther, I have learned to cope most of the time. He seems to have figured out how his wife could help lift him from the depths. His wife, it appears, had a few tricks of her own to help him cope. I think most people who suffer fron depression develop some coping skills, even if they do not seek professional help.

Too often, though, pastors and others in Christian ministry dismiss the idea of Christians suffering from depression. One pastor I spoke to in preparation for this blog represents the attitude of many. When asked how he counsels parishioners with depression, he responded with, “… I also tell them that they have no need to be depressed because there is an inner joy that we as Christians possess.”

While what he says is true so far as it goes (Christians are blessed with an inner joy), he is misinformed. Depression is an illness not an attitude. Like any illness, the attitude of the patient can affect the sickness, but it does not cause or cure it. To tell that someone suffering from clinical depression is akin to telling a man who just suffered a heart attack that there is no need for bypass surgery because he has Jesus in his heart.

While pastoral education about depression and other mental illness is becoming more common, it is not yet common enough. Today, more Christian pastors are trained as counselors than ever before. The science of psychology has grown by leaps and bounds, just like all the sciences.

Personally, I have no doubt that, had my sarcoma been diagnosed in 1915 instead of 2015, I would have died a slow and miserable death. Had it been diagnosed in 2005 instead of 2015, I would have likely lost my leg. There have been so many miraculous medical advances in the last 100 years that practically no pastor would counsel a sick parishioner to change their attitude so that all will be well.

It is time to start viewing mental and emotional diseases like we do cancer and heart disease. Sure better attitudes help, but better attitudes don’t heal us. God heals us and He usually – but not always – does so through the hands of medical professionals.

Just as a pastor would advise someone with acute chest pains to go to the ER, a pastor should advise someone with chronic depression to seek medical attention. Besides that, though, what can pastors – or anyone – do for those in depression? Here are a few ideas:

• Do not be dismissive of their problems.
• Ask them how you may help.
• Sit with them without speaking if necessary.
• Let them know they can talk to you without judgment.
• Let them know you will support them emotionally and prayerful through the entire journey (do not say this if you don’t think you can handle it).
• Let them know you are their friend and would love to hang out whenever they are ready.
• Without condemnation and without cliche platitudes, help them look at the positive things in life.

We should remember, though, with every illness – physical or psychological – that though He usually works through the hands of doctors, it is God alone that heals. Every illness should be taken to God in prayer.

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