James 5:15-16 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. 16 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.

Who is a righteous person? We can quickly disqualify ourselves from being righteous and bring much hardship on ourselves by improperly understanding the freeing truth of this passage.

Who is righteous? It is simple really, those who have been made right? Who is made right? Those who are cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

Don’t confuse salvation with righteousness. Salvation is the beginning of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, the one who died in your place for your sin. Now as God looks upon you, He sees the covering of the blood of Jesus and He declares you positionally righteous, because He sees His Son.

This does not mean you are relationally righteous with God. Like the prodigal in Luke fifteen, the prodigal was in the family and carried the family name. He was positioned in the family based on being born into the family, just like you were when you were saved. But relationally he had rejected the fellowship and presence of the family. His life spiraled out of control until such a time as he came to his senses, and when he had had enough, the prodigal returned to the father.

and…

You guessed it…

Confessed.

Luke 15:21 And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

James is saying that the prayer of a person who is relationally and positionally righteous is powerful as it works in whatever direction the person praying points it. James says the result of this kind of prayer is healing.

I wonder if there are a lot of healings that have not happened yet because we are just on the cusp of confessing. Confession that makes us right with God and others.

Wait! Hold the phone!

Others?! Yes, others. Right relationship rarely stops with just God. God is the first person we confess to, but often not the last. Again, going back to the wise counsel from James, he says to confess our sins one to another. His intent is that we would pursue right relationships with those around us that we have hurt or offended.

Rather than waiting for others to come to us, our humility should propel us forward toward healing by taking initiative.

God certainly sees our hearts in this and releases healing into our lives, even our bodies, as we are righteous in our relationship to Him and others.

So-much-so, the Holy Spirit finishes the thought that when people are right in relationship with Him and others, there is much power in their prayers. How would you like to see much power in your prayers? How about healings all around you? What if there were a path of restorations beside and behind you, everywhere you go?

Confession is an open door. Walk through it with God and others and watch what happens.

Father, thank You for the blessings that come through confessing my sin to You and others. I am so grateful for the fruit of confession and repentance. The lower we go into humility and love, the higher the results of kingdom building occur all around us. Jesus, thank You for teaching us these things as we see Your life before us in the gospels.


Blessings,

Pastor D