PRAYING FOR THE SALVATION OF THE UNCONSCIOUS SICK OR THE DISTANT SICK PERSON. (PART 3).

TEXT:

"If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death." (1st John 5 verses 16 to 17, King James Version).

In the introduction to this series, I'd referred to the situation where you have someone sick unto death, who has probably lost consciousness, who's in a state of coma and you wished you could pray along with him, confessing his sins before he passed on. I noted there that the problem with such occasions is that you cannot get the sick fellow to respond to your prayers because of the problem of his loss of consciousness. I also mentioned another instance where you wished you could pray for someone who's sick unto death but the fellow is beyond your reach because of distance. As a Pastor or Christian worker, you might have come across such instances and many more, which are a common occurrence in ministry; and oftentimes, we are at a loss as to what to do at such times.

     Only the Lord Himself can tell how many people have died in their sins and gone to hell because while they were sick, they relapsed into unconsciousness; and for ignorance or lack of knowledge, those around them couldn't get them to confess their sins and receive forgiveness from the Lord. This ought not to be so. In the Book of Isaiah chapter 5 verses 13 to 14, the Lord lamented saying,

 "Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: ...Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it."

     This is a very serious matter because when we come to deal with near death occasions in the lives of men, it's obvious that forgiveness of sins becomes very paramount. With the Scripture reading for today, it's obvious that whether the sick person is conscious or not, whether we are faced with the problem of distance or not, the Lord will answer the prayer for the forgiveness of sins offered in faith.

        At such times what do you do? Simply, you ask the Lord for the forgiveness of the sins of the fellow, whether they be sins of omission or commission, whether they be transgressions, iniquities, failures, mistakes or otherwise. It doesn't matter whether the sick cannot respond to your prayer because of his unconscious state. The same goes for the distant sick person. We need to understand that essentially, prayers are offered to the Lord and it's for Him to answer them.

      Here, the Scripture under consideration says that "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death." The crucial provision here is "he shall ask, and he shall give him life". Here, the willingness of the Lord to answer such prayers is highlighted by the phrase "and he shall give him life". So, next time you find someone in coma or someone far from your reach, who is sick unto death, you simply ask the Lord to forgive his sins.

      I do sincerely believe that these Scriptures (1st John 5 verses 16 to 17) have been given by the Lord God of salvation to deal effectively with the situations under consideration. Therefore, no more should we consider unconsciousness or the distance of the sick as problems. As Pastors and Christian workers, let's take advantage of the provisions of these Scriptures.

    The big lesson to learn here is that because we are believers in Christ Jesus, we've been made "life givers" to them that are lost. As reconcilers of men unto the Living God, we should understand that sickness, loss of consciousness or distance cannot hinder us from carrying out this divine assignment. Truth is, the power and the effectiveness of prayer transcends physical inhibitions like loss of consciousness, distance or what have you. Praise the Lord!

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me the privilege to reconcile the lost to You, even at dire and critical moments of their lives, in Jesus name.