What Every Elder Is Commanded to Believe
James 5:14-15:
Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Every elder in a church must be prepared to pray the prayer of faith for the sick. If you are incapable of doing this, you cannot fulfill the command to do so in James 5:14-15. It is “the prayer of faith” offered by the elders that causes the Lord to raise up the sick person. If you cannot pray the prayer of faith, you should not be installed as an elder.
Most churches subscribe to the unscriptural practice of choosing elders based on their financial or business skills, or even their age. In Acts, even those entrusted with the distribution of food had to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom (Acts 6:3). (YOU try being in charge where there are big responsibilities and complainers and see if you don’t agree that you need the Holy Spirit and wisdom!) There are moral qualifications as well, as Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus make clear. You must be prepared to fulfill this solemn responsibility in the name of the Lord. James’s instructions are commands for the church.
It is a tragedy that most churches ignore this command of the Lord, which is just as binding on the Church as the commands to walk in love, be baptized or partake of the Lord’s Supper. In many churches, you would get nothing but “the prayer of unbelief” from the elders, or even from the pastor. It should not be that way! You would do yourself a disservice by asking such men to come and pray for you. They will talk you out of any faith that you might have. They will blame God for it all and ask God to comfort you and give you peace, instead of praying the prayer of faith as they are supposed to. If this is the case for you, you would be better off finding a church that believes the Bible about healing, go there, and having its elders come when you need them.
I am not saying that some of these elders are not fine Christians in the moral sense. I am saying that they will do you more harm than good if they do not believe that the Lord will raise you up when they anoint you with oil in His name (if they even do that). It’s nice that they believe in walking in love and morality, but you do not need someone to pray that you will walk in love and be moral when you are laid up – you need someone who believes that you will be raised up in answer to prayer!
If you don’t know of any believing elders who can come, take consolation in this: The woman with the issue of blood, blind Bartimaeus and others had no support or encouragement and received their healing anyway with their own faith. Their faith made them whole, and your faith can make you whole. Remember how the very people who should have been encouraging Bartimaeus told him to shut up (Mark 10:46-52)? Sometimes the very people who should be helping you will pour cold water on your faith in the same way. Even if they do, you can still get your healing. It is wiser, though, not to let unbelieving people pray over you. Two can’t walk together unless they agree (Amos 3:3). If you’re expecting to be healed and they're expecting “a touch from God,” “a blessing,” “peace,” “comfort,” “just a few mercy drops from heaven,” etc., instead of healing, you are not in agreement anyway and the prayer is a waste of time and it will hurt you more than help you. It is of no benefit to have someone come and wail over you, “Oh, God, somehow, some way, let this be the day. Touch him now, if it be Thy will, for Jesus’ sake!”
If you are a church elder, do not think that you can ignore the command in James 5:14-15. If you are called for, you must go and pray the prayer of faith and expect the Lord to raise up the sick person because you have obeyed His command. Remember that in this case, even if the person has sinned in some way, the Lord will forgive him, so that cannot prevent his healing from coming, even if you think he doesn’t deserve it! NOBODY deserves it from a fleshly perspective, including you, so thank God for grace!
You should also be prepared to explain how healing was provided in Christ’s atonement and is available to all on a gift basis. You need to be able to speak words that will put faith into the person who needs the healing. This is better than just running in and slapping hands on someone.