Prayers for the Sick

Prayers for healing should be offered in the context of loving a Christian community, biblical Church authority, and honest repentant confession. If you are in trouble, pray, that is talk to God. If you are not in trouble, bring your praise to the Lord. We should expect God to heal but ultimately we must submit to His Holy will. Covenanted relationships where people grow together in the Lord is what it means to be in the local church. If we are shopping for a church we may never press in to what the Holy Spirit is calling us to do. Elder and Pastor is an interchangeable term in the New Testament. God has designed different parts of the body for His purpose. God will often, not always, use sickness to call us to repent and get rid of sinful things during those times of illness. God is not cruel, He wants to set us free by helping us die daily to the flesh. We should want to love God the way He desires. When we struggle with sin we need to confess our sins to each other and pray for one another. Prayer is God's chosen instrument to bring about His purposes. The secret to effective prayer is obedience. What do we do if we see someone else sin? We need to talk lovingly with them and encourage them to do what is right.
Prayers for healing should be offered in the context of loving Christian community, biblical Church authority, and honest repentant confession.