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perverted appetite without restraint. If God were to work a miracle in
restoring these persons to health, He would be encouraging sin.
It is labor lost to teach people to look to God as a healer of their in-
firmities, unless they are taught also to lay aside unhealthful practices.
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In order to receive His blessing in answer to prayer, they must cease
to do evil and learn to do well. Their surroundings must be sanitary,
their habits of life correct. They must live in harmony with the law of
God, both natural and spiritual.
Confession of Sin
To those who desire prayer for their restoration to health, it should
be made plain that the violation of God’s law, either natural or spiritual,
is sin, and that in order for them to receive His blessing, sin must be
confessed and forsaken.
The Scripture bids us, “Confess your faults one to another, and
pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” [
James 5:16
.] To the one
asking for prayer, let thoughts like these be presented, “We cannot
read the heart, or know the secrets of your life. These are known only
to yourself and to God. If you repent of your sins, it is your duty to
make confession of them.”
Sin of a private character is to be confessed to Christ, the only
mediator between God and man. For “if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” [
1 John 2:1
.]
Every sin is an offense against God, and is to be confessed to Him
through Christ. Every open sin should be as openly confessed. Wrong
done to a fellow-being should be made right with the one who has
been offended. If any who are seeking health have been guilty of evil-
speaking, if they have sowed discord in the home, the neighborhood,
or the church, and have stirred up alienation and dissension, if by any
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wrong practice they have led others into sin, these things should be
confessed before God and before those who have been offended. “If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” [
1 John 1:9
.]
When wrongs have been righted, we may present the needs of the
sick to the Lord in calm faith, as His Spirit may indicate. He knows
each individual by name, and cares for each as if there were not another
upon the earth for whom He gave His beloved Son. Because God’s