I’ve got to tell you that of all pastoral responsibilities, expectations, and duties, praying for the sick was my least favorite thing to do as a young pastor.

Theologically, my beliefs about healing were all over the map. The New Testament, on the other hand, is pretty aggressive on the subject. Jesus and his followers throughout Acts of the Apostles prayed for the sick and experienced extraordinary results. When I look around today, there is little evidence of physical healing taking place in churches irrespective of denominational background.

[ctt_author author="1547" name="Casey Sabella" template="2" link="dRHt4" via="yes" nofollow="yes"]I realized that I did not have a clear, biblical view of praying for sick people. [/ctt_author]

Leaders cannot pray the prayer of faith unless they believe God wants to heal the patient. The pastor or minister often plays a vital role in healing. If all you do when you visit the sick in hospitals is make people comfortable to die, that is nice, but not what James had in mind. I go more into depth about this during the podcast.

BONUS: I mentioned at the start of the show a tip to help your church be more visible on Facebook. I created a free cheat sheet to help you who are technologically challenged. All the tools I mention to use are also completely free and you can get them here or on the show notes page for episode 64 at ministerstoolbox.com