“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 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.”—James 5:14–15 (NIV)

On November 10, 2008, my stepmom was helicoptered to All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg to give birth to my sister. This was a high-risk pregnancy due to a heart defect detected around five months of gestation. After my stepmom gave birth, my sister faced a delicate heart surgery, which led to an infection and a coma. My one-week-old sister lay in the hospital, connected to a machine pumping blood through her body. In that moment, our family had only one solution—prayer.

Our entire church at the time prayed fervently for my sister to come out of her coma. During Thanksgiving week, while she lay unresponsive, the elders of our church drove all the way from Deerfield Beach, FL, to St. Petersburg to pray over my sister and our family. Days later, on Thanksgiving Day, her heart began to respond. Within hours, her heart was fully functioning, and the machine that had kept her alive was no longer necessary. I was only 13 at the time, but I vividly remember sitting in the hospital waiting room bewildered that God had answered our prayers.

In this life, while we’re still on this side of eternity, our bodies will grow weak and fall ill. In those moments, we can remember that we serve a God who is a healer. As believers, we’re encouraged to turn to Him as our first response, not as our last resort.

Our faith in God and His power allows us to pray boldly for healing—physical, emotional, and spiritual.

One of the things I love about this passage is that it reminds us that our faith is communal. James encourages us to seek the leaders of our local church, share our needs, have them anoint us with oil—a symbol of the Holy Spirit and His ability to heal—and pray over us.

There’s no formula that guarantees healing: no special prayer, no exact words to recite, no recipe or protocol. Healing comes through prayer offered in faith to God. And if there is sin that needs to be confessed, forgiveness is available as well.

It may seem unusual to talk about sin in a passage about healing, but it reminds us that our greatest illness isn’t the physical ailments that harm us, but the spiritual disease of sin. Prayer is powerful; it’s capable of addressing both our physical and spiritual needs when offered in faith.

Prayer doesn’t guarantee healing, however. There are times when we pray, yet complete healing doesn’t come. My sister developed cerebral palsy from the coma she experienced after her heart surgery. Years of prayer and petition haven’t changed her condition. Yet faith in God isn’t based on what He chooses to heal, but on who He is and His completed work on the cross.

The promise of eternity with God is an anchor for our hearts in times of sickness, reminding us that ultimate healing will come for those who place their faith in Jesus. Some will be healed in this life, but all believers will be healed on the other side of eternity. 

In the meantime, our role is to exercise our faith, to expect to be healed, and to pray in anticipation for a miracle. We’re to bear one another’s burdens as a body of believers and to faithfully place our trust in God on behalf of one another, crying out to Jehovah Rapha, our Healer.