Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  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 (James 5:14-15).

But when Jesus healed the sick, he didn’t pray to the Father. He didn’t tell us to either.

In the book of Acts, the disciples heal many, but they didn’t pray. Peter commanded the crippled beggar to “Walk.” He commanded Aeneas, “Get up and take care of your mat.” He told the dead Dorcas, “Tabitha, get up.” Paul told the crippled man in Lystra, “Stand up on your feet.”

So what is the prayer of faith James is referring to?

The fig tree clue

In Mark 11, Jesus cursed the fig tree and it died. Peter was amazed, “Look Rabbi!”

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.  “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him” (Mark 11:22-23).

Jesus goes on to describe the prayer of faith: “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Reading this verse in isolation, I always assumed the prayer of faith was petition or intercession. But the context of this passage was a curse. Jesus said to speak TO the mountain, not pray ABOUT it. Therefore the prayer of faith is a command.

That is the pattern of the Lord’s ministry, and of the disciples too. We should follow their example. Using our God-given authority.