Why does James say to seek the elders of the church and be anointed? What do all of the dozens of different healings have in common?

Matthew 9:20-22 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

This was not the faith of Jesus – not directly at any rate – as He didn’t know it was going on until it was over. The woman is the only one who knew… and it was *her* faith.

Matthew 9:18-25 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. [skipping the story of the woman]… And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.

But this was not the faith of the maid, for she was dead and did not know what was happening. This then, is the faith of the ruler, who said “she shall live.” But why didn’t the ruler just raise her himself, if he had faith?

Luke 22:50-51 And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.

And here, the high priest’s servant doesn’t ask to be healed – not that we know of anyway – and the Bible gives no information by which this healing could be attributed to his faith. This healing is solely on Jesus’ faith.

Mark 6:5-6 And he [Christ] could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

But Jesus couldn’t – that’s worth saying again – Jesus couldn’t… do major miracles in His own country – why?

Acts 14:8-10 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Paul perceived that he HAD the faith to be healed… But if that’s the case… If he had the faith to be healed… why then was he still a cripple? Wouldn’t he have walked long ago if he “had” faith?

Faith is a force that can be measured just as electricity and gravity can be measured. Christ proved this when He said “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.” (Luke 17:6)

Each miracle, each act of faith requires a different amount. To illustrate this point, let us say that faith has a scale of 1 to 100, both positive and negative. Let us also postulate that it takes 40 units of faith to heal a lame man. And maybe 50 units to call fire from heaven, and maybe 60 to raise the dead.

It doesn’t matter whose faith is strong enough to accomplish the miracle – but the total faith of all those in the room must total the amount required.

If we say that at that point in his life, Paul had 35 units of faith, and that Paul’s faith plus the faith of cripple equaled over 40 units. The cripple by himself couldn’t heal himself – he didn’t have nearly 40 units – but Paul perceived that he had enough to be healed with his faith added.

To make one last postulation to illustrate this point, if Christ had 100 units of faith, the people in His country had such strong negative faith that Christ’s faith plus their 55 units of negative faith wasn’t enough for great miracles, only a few healings. The total of faith was subtracted from Christ to where the total of faith was only 45 units – just enough for a few healings (Mark 6:5)

When someone prays for you, as in James 5:14, it is your faith, plus their faith, that does the healing. The total.