His Choice

James 5:14-15 provides the proper protocol for a sick person to receive prayer from the church. Prayer for the sick is a vital function that anyone can perform for their ill. Some may think this kind of prayer a waste of time, but it does make a difference to the ill and God the Father.

When someone (with trembling faith) prays for a loved one to be healed and nothing appears to happen, what then? Does faith in a loving Heavenly Father strengthen or weaken in this incident for that individual?

Our loving Heavenly Father receives no enjoyment out of the pain of His children. He cries with our sadness and laughs with our happiness (Psalm 46:1). God the Father is always present in the path our life travels-no matter where the journey takes us.  

As humans, we often forget God the Father does not conform to what we believe He should think and do. He has the choice to do as He pleases with our life. The final directive is always at His discretion.

Prayer is important when it comes to healing for a sick person. Our loving Heavenly Father may provide two broad categories of healing to His child. (He sees the full picture, and all the facts.)

Healing can happen here on a decaying earth.  Our loving Heavenly Father can provide a partial or complete miracle with a frail, imperfect human body. Healing can also occur in Heaven. As soon as the physical body dies, healing happens in the blink of an eye. A brand new spiritual body no longer has any of the imperfect human ailments it had before. Welcome to Heaven, a place of pure perfection where pain and illness cannot reside.