James 5:16

A new pastor from an Anglican church in Kennewick (part of the Tri-Cities) came to speak at TCCAC (Tri-Cities Chinese Alliance Church) today for our English service.  He was speaking on Gal. 5:1, 13-26, (5:13 is a great verse, btw ["You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." (NIV)]) but he mentioned James 5:16, and I felt really drawn to that verse:

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

It's pretty simple and straightforward.  Still, it made me think about how I've kept in my feelings of homosexuality for so long, and only recently began opening up about them.  How could I expect to be healed if I never sought for help?  Granted, I tried to be honest with God and I thought I could get healing from Him without the need of anyone else, but it's difficult to be honest to Him when you're not honest with yourself.
Alvin was right when he said that I was taking the first steps to healing... even though that may not have been my primary intention to telling people.

(side note... James 5:15 says,"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven." when paired with 5:16, it has that chiasmus thing going on... the A B B A of Sickness/Healing Sin/Forgiveness Sin/Forgiveness Sickness/Healing.  However, maybe 5:16 can be read as confessing your sins + prayer for sins = healing like how I'm reading it?  According to one commentary I just looked up, verse 15 is definitely talking solely about physical healing, but verse 16 may refer to health in the broadest sense, so including spiritual health).


*07/06/10 completion*
Funny that this verse so perfectly encapsulated what I'd felt, despite how simple it is.  I voraciously continued reading James 5, to see if maybe there was more to the letter that related to what I was going through.  No such luck.  But one thing's for sure, I'll continue praying, for myself and for others.  I hope that as a fellowship, we as CCF will be able to follow through with James 5:16.  I can see great things happening if we do.  =)