Fellowship: A Tool of Healing
“Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another, that ye may be healed...”
In the verse above, James is encouraging us to confess our faults to one another and to pray for one another. Both acts require intimacy and trust, and intimacy and trust are built over time in loving fellowship. It's in the act of fellowship that we become comfortable enough with other people to humble ourselves and confess our faults. It's in the safety of fellowship that we can pray one for another.
The word “faults is” pretty self explanatory. It means to fall beside or near something; a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness; a sin, or misdeed. What is interesting is the root word that this one word "faults" comes from. The root word means to be near or at. To have a fault is to have been near something at one point and then moved away from that something. Our faults arise when we move from being near God to being away from Him. It's in the act of shifting our place from His side that we fall, lapse, or deviate from the truth.
Also, when James says to "pray for one another" it is not the normal use of the word prayer we see in scripture. This word prayer is used only 7 times and it is more like the English word "wish." To wish is to feel or express a strong desire or hope for something that is not easily attainable. If someone is praying in this manner for you, that means they have an idea of what your deep desires and hopes are. They have fellowshipped enough to know those things and they care enough for you to pray.
What is the result of these acts of confession and prayer? Healing!
This is major and so simple. If in the place of fellowship, I tell my brother or sister where I have moved away from God and reveal to them the deep places in my life that I require prayer, and they in turn listen to me and pray for me, I can be healed! To heal is to cure, to make whole, to free from errors and sin and to bring about one's salvation. This means that the cure to my disease can be in fellowship! In fellowship, I can be made whole! In fellowship, I can be made to see the error of my ways, and in fellowship, I can find the road to salvation!
SOME QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
Why do we alienate ourselves from our brothers and sisters in Christ, when our healing can be found in our relationship with them?
Why do we shun fellowship when in that place I can return to right relationship with God?