Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James 5:8

This, friend, is how we believers look at what needs healing.   At first glance James’ advice seems too simple, there must be more, we might think.  But, no, this is from the Spirit of the Lord, pure and simple.

Let us ponder what James is saying.  First, we who are saved must realize our frailty and when we sin, we need to confess it.  The second thing, confess the sin before the brothers and sisters, not off in a corner alone.   The community of faith, according to James, is essential for spiritual healing. This is one reason we need to walk in the light with all.

At the center of healing is the prayers of God’s people.  This assumes that the person who is being prayed for is walking in true fellowship with those who are praying.

What seemed so simple, at first reading, is so rare among us that it sounds like fiction.  For James, it is the way!  I read again, “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other.”  When have I last done that?  When have my believing friends done that?  What are we missing?  Lord, help us, help me!