This blog is based on a message by Pastor Todd Cosenza.
There are some messages that feel important, and then there are some that feel consequential. This is one of those.
I believe the Lord wants to increase the flow of His power in the church. Not just in one person. Not just in the pastor. Not just in the leaders. In the body. Together.
If a church is willing to say, “Lord, have Your way with us. Move the way You want to move. We will keep in step with what You want,” then nothing stays the same too long. God brings change. God brings transformation. God brings increase.
That increase can show up in evangelism, outreach, discipleship, and all the other ways a church grows. But there is also another kind of increase the church must hunger for: an increase of God’s power.
We should want a church culture where testimonies of freedom, forgiveness, healing, and deliverance are not rare surprises. They become normal. They become part of the atmosphere. Part of the expectation. Part of the culture.
That is the kind of culture we see in Acts. And honestly, why would we settle for anything less?
The Passage That Shows How Power Flows in the Church
The key passage is James 5:13-18. It gives us a picture of how God’s power is released in a local church body.
James writes:
“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.”
There is a beautiful simplicity here. We do not need a hundred complicated methods. We need to understand what God has said and then do what God has said.
If we walk in the Word of God, we should expect the results the Word of God promises.
Healing Is Meant to Happen in the Body, Not Only Through a Platform
James says that if someone is sick, they should call for the elders of the church. That matters.
This is not written as a private spiritual trick for isolated individuals. It is written to the church as a body. It shows us that healing ministry belongs in the life of the local church.
The elders are the senior leaders charged with spiritual oversight. They are to pray over the sick and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. This tells us something important: healing is not meant to be disconnected from spiritual leadership, spiritual order, or the life of the congregation.
It is meant to happen in community.
Why Oil?
Over the years, many people have connected the oil in James 5 to the Holy Spirit or to consecration, and there is truth in those ideas. But there is also a very practical biblical connection that helps make sense of the passage.
In the ancient world, olive oil was commonly used as a natural remedy, especially for wounds and skin conditions. People associated oil with healing.
That is why the image would have been so clear to the early church. The oil itself was not magical. The oil served as a physical sign pointing toward God’s healing work.
You can see this same connection in the story of the Good Samaritan. In Luke 10, the Samaritan finds the wounded man and treats him by pouring oil on his injuries before bandaging him. In that world, oil and healing naturally belonged together.
So when James says to anoint the sick with oil, the point is not that the healing power is in the oil. The point is that the oil is a physical representation of the healing God is about to release.
The healing is in the Lord. The oil points to what He does.
The Prayer Offered in Faith
James 5:15 says:
“And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.”
Notice where the emphasis falls. Not on the oil. On the prayer of faith.
Senior leaders in the church must know the Lord, love the Lord, serve sacrificially, walk in spiritual maturity, and pray in faith. Why? Because leaders help lead the congregation into faith.
The church needs agreement around this. When someone is truly sick or facing something serious, they should feel free to come to the church’s leaders for prayer. And the leaders should be ready to pray in faith, expecting God to act.
This is not about trying random spiritual ideas and hoping something works. This is about taking God at His Word.
Why Does James Connect Healing With Forgiveness?
Then James adds something that may sound surprising at first:
“If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.”
Why mention sin when the subject is sickness?
Because sin and sickness are connected.
That does not mean every sickness is the direct result of a particular personal sin. Scripture does not teach that simplistically. But it does teach that sickness entered the world through the fall. To understand that, we have to go all the way back to Genesis 2-4.
When sin entered through Adam and Eve’s rebellion, the door was opened to everything God never intended for humanity: sickness, corruption, brokenness, suffering, and death. Sin opened the door, and all kinds of devastation came through it.
That is why, in the mind of Jesus, forgiving sin and healing the body are deeply related works. He came to bring victory over both.
The Paralytic Lowered Through the Roof
Think about the man lowered through the roof to Jesus. Before Jesus told him to get up and walk, He first said, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Why? Because Jesus was dealing with the deeper issue first. He was closing the door of sin that brought harm to the man before commanding healing into the man’s body.
Then He told him to rise, pick up his mat, and walk.
The religious leaders struggled with this. In their minds, healing and forgiving were different categories. But Jesus treated them as aspects of the same redeeming authority. He came to free people from sin and from the destruction that sin had unleashed.
That is still true today.
Confession Is Part of a Healing Church
Now we come to the part that stretches people. James 5:16 says:
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
This is where kingdom culture becomes very real.
A church cannot truly walk in God’s power while remaining shallow, guarded, isolated, and hidden. James connects confession, prayer, and healing. That means the church must become a place where people can bring things into the light.
Not in a reckless way. Not in a public oversharing way. Not by forcing people to expose themselves before strangers. That is not what this means.
It means building kingdom relationships.
What Confession Actually Looks Like
Confessing sins to one another means there are trusted relationships in the church where people can honestly say:
- I’m struggling
- I need prayer
- I need help closing a door in my life
- I need someone to stand with me in faith
That kind of confession happens where there is love, trust, safety, and spiritual maturity.
It may look like sitting down with a trusted believer over coffee. It may look like walking in a park and opening up about a hidden battle. It may look like a small group, discipleship relationship, or a friendship that has become spiritually strong enough to bear truth with grace.
This is not about embarrassment. It is about freedom.
Kingdom Culture Requires Real Relationships
If everything in a church only flows toward the pastor, the church will never fully become what God intends. God did not design His church so that one person carries all the ministry, all the prayer, all the discernment, all the healing, and all the care.
He designed a body.
That means people must move toward one another. They must build relationships. They must participate in the life of the church deeply enough that trust can grow.
That is why discipleship groups, small groups, prayer gatherings, service opportunities, and ordinary fellowship all matter. These are not just activities to fill a calendar. They create the spaces where kingdom relationships form.
And in those relationships, confession becomes possible. Prayer becomes personal. Burdens get shared. Chains get broken. Healing starts to happen.
When Things Come Into the Light, the Blood of Jesus Flows
There is something powerful that happens when hidden things are brought into the light among God’s people in the right way.
The blood of Jesus begins to flow through the life of the body.
People are forgiven. People are released. Shame loses its grip. Burdens begin to lift. The cleansing work of Christ becomes experienced, not just believed in theory.
And this matters because the blood that cleanses is also the blood that heals.
Jesus did not only carry our sins. Scripture teaches that He also bore our sickness. His redeeming work reaches body, soul, and spirit. His blood is not only for pardon. It is also for restoration.
That is why a church culture of honest confession and faithful prayer is not a side issue. It is part of how healing and freedom increase in the body.
A Righteous Prayer Is Powerful and Effective
James says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
This is not calling for perfect people. It is calling for people who are walking with God, taking His Word seriously, and living in the light. Righteousness is not a performance badge. It is a life aligned with the Lord.
When the church walks this way, prayer carries spiritual force.
Not because human beings are impressive, but because God delights to work through surrendered, obedient, faith-filled people.
Why James Brings Up Elijah
James 5:17-18 goes on to say:
“Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
This is a remarkable encouragement.
James does not present Elijah as unreachable. He says Elijah was a human being just like us. He had weaknesses. He had fears. He was not flawless. Yet he prayed with earnest faith, and God moved powerfully.
Why does James use that example here?
Because he wants the church to understand that this kind of supernatural life is not reserved for spiritual celebrities. It is available to ordinary people who pray in faith and walk with God.
Elijah’s ministry demonstrated extraordinary power, just like Jesus. He saw provision, miracles, the dead raised, and even authority over the weather. James uses him to show that God still works through human beings who trust Him.
The point is not to glorify Elijah. The point is to awaken the church.
The Church Must Decide What Kind of Church It Will Be
Every church eventually reaches a point of decision.
Will it simply become a place where people gather, sing, hear a message, and go home?
Or will it become a kingdom people who represent the actual reign of God in mercy, holiness, love, forgiveness, freedom, and power?
There really is no meaningful middle ground.
The call of Jesus is not to maintain a comfortable religious routine. The call is to seek first the kingdom of God. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” The kingdom is central.
And when the kingdom is central, everything under it begins to align:
- People get saved
- People get healed
- People are forgiven
- People are set free
- Marriages are restored
- Children are strengthened
- The power of God becomes evident
If the church does not talk about these realities, it will not expect them. If it does not teach them, it will not pursue them. If it does not pursue them, it will not walk in them.
So the church must choose. Will we go after the whole counsel of God and the full life of His kingdom, or will we settle for less?
God Is Calling His People to Stretch
This kind of church life requires stretching.
It requires moving beyond comfort. Beyond isolation. Beyond the habits that keep spiritual life private and shallow.
It means being willing to say:
- I need kingdom relationships
- I need to grow in trust with other believers
- I need to confess what I’ve kept hidden
- I need prayer
- I want kingdom power, not just kingdom language
That stretch can feel costly, but it is far better to willingly stretch with God than to resist Him until pressure forces the issue.
When God’s people say yes to His Word, they position themselves for everything He wants to release.
Establishing Kingdom Culture Before Growth Comes
Growth is a gift from God, but growth also requires preparation.
If more people come in carrying brokenness, confusion, pain, and the damage of the world’s culture, then the church must already be building a stronger kingdom culture. That way, when people arrive, they do not simply meet friendly faces. They encounter the life of God among His people.
They find truth. Love. Prayer. Safety. Repentance. Freedom. Healing. The nearness of the Lord.
That kind of culture does not appear overnight. It is established as a church says yes to Scripture and begins to live it together.
A Church That Moves Like Acts
The desire is simple and bold: to create a kingdom culture where God’s power moves like it did in Acts.
That does not happen through hype. It happens through surrender to the Word of God.
It happens when a church embraces both holiness and healing, both confession and faith, both relationships and power. It happens when people stop settling for a reduced version of church and start asking the Lord for the real thing.
God still heals. God still forgives. God still restores. God still works through the prayers of His people.
And if the church will walk in what He has given, there is every reason to believe He will do among us what His Word says He will do.
Application Questions
- Do I truly believe that God wants to increase His power in the life of the church, or have I quietly settled for less?
- If I were facing sickness or serious need, would I be willing to ask the leaders for prayer in faith according to James 5?
- Do I have trusted kingdom relationships where I can honestly confess struggles and receive prayer?
- Are there hidden things in my life that need to be brought into the light so the Lord can close doors and bring freedom?
- Am I participating in the life of the church deeply enough for real spiritual relationships to grow?
- Where is God asking me to stretch beyond comfort so I can step more fully into His kingdom culture?
Scripture references used: James 5:13-18, Genesis 2-4, Luke 10, and the Gospel account of the paralytic lowered through the roof.
