James (Part 14) James Final Advise – PRAY
James 5:13-18 “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 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. 15 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. 16 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.
17 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. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
In presenting this series of lessons from the epistle of James, I tried to do so from the perspective of someone who quite literally grew up with Jesus; that is in the same household. James was a step-brother of Jesus. I am sure that there are so much more I could have added, but I hope that these lesson have given you a new perspective on what James wrote here.
In these final verses of this epistle, don’t miss the importance of what James is saying here. No matter what the situation, in the good times or bad, we need to go to God and talk with Him. I believe James learned this from his brother Jesus. Can you just imagine the prayers that James and his family heard from Jesus’ lip as they were growing up? Well James closes his letter by letting us know that the privilege of communicating with God is for all of us.
Martin Luther said, “As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.”
J.G. Ryle wrote: “Prayer is the simplest of acts. It is simply speaking to God. It needs neither learning, nor wisdom, nor book knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will. The weakest infant can cry when he is hungry. The poorest beggar can hold out his hands for alms and does not wait to find words. The most ignored man will find something to say to God, if he only has a mind. “
Andrew Murray said: “The powers of the eternal world have been placed at prayers disposal. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of blessing, the secret of power and life. “
Charles Spurgeon: “Prayers are the believer’s weapons of war. When the battle is too hard for us, we call in our great ally, who, as it were, lies in ambush until faith gives the signal by crying out, ARISE O LORD!!” Prayer is the slender nerve, which unleashed the muscles of an omnipotent God”
In this passage James highlights several different scenarios when we need to turn to God and pray.
#1. When are in trouble, Pray. (v. 13a)When James speaks of trouble here it means ‘when we suffering through tough times.’ It’s not necessarily related to physical problems. It’s like when there isn’t enough money to pay the bills. Or when you feel like the rug is being pulled out from under your life, or when someone gives you a hard time, James tells us to pray!
This is not too difficult to understand, but notice what is not telling us; He’s didn’t say that when you pray, God will always take away that trouble.
No matter how much we would like to find that promise, it just isn’t here. In trying to bring about a greater good, God may be allowing a chain of events to unfold that you find troublesome. As a matter of fact, in James 1:2-5 James wrote “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God.”
Troubles are part of life, but in the midst of them we have a choice as to how we are going to act and react. We can trust God and ask Him for help and understanding and allow Him to use those hard times to mold us into who He wants us to be, or we can allow the trials to beat us down and beat us up.
We can find strength and power in our troubles by turning to God while in them. “Is any one of you in trouble? (James says,) He should pray.”
#2. The 2nd thing that James tells us, that those who are happy, ‘well you should sing praises to God.’ (13b) We teach our kids to say “thank you” when they receive something from someone, but all too often we are not genuinely thankful to the one who gives us everything we have. It is those prayers of thanksgiving that we often forget or neglect.
When we are in the deepest of trouble, it’s easy to remember to run to God and prayer. But when we are on the mountaintop and thing are going well, sometimes we have a tendency to forget God. James closes his letter by reminding us not to forget to praise and thank Him in heartfelt songs of praise!
We all have many reasons to rejoice! We are a people who have experienced God’s touch in so many ways. We live in a beautiful area. We all have nice homes and plenty of food. Many times we were sick or injured and have been physically healed. Now as a Christian we have purpose, we have the hope of heaven and eternal life, our sins have been forgiven. We have a new family, new brothers and sisters. There are all kinds of reason to be happy, and we need to be reminded, “Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise!”
#3. James then goes on to address, those who are sick. Now when there is sickness in the family, it is never a happy time. Many times our church has prayed for those who were sick and on some occasions we saw healings that seemed almost miraculous. Was it God who brought the sick ones back to health? I have no doubt in my mind.
In these verses James encourages us to recognize this fact; that we need to go to God, whether it is during times of trouble or in times of happiness or in times of sickness. We are to seek Him out. He is our Father.
Regarding some special cases, James talks a little more about praying in such times of sickness and gives us some procedures to follow. Notice he says that the sick person needs to take the initiative to call the Elders. After the sick person or their family takes the initiative to contact the elders, elders are given specific instructions about what they are to do.
First, they are to anoint with oil. Then they are to pray over the sick individual. In the Greek it says, “…let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord.” We need to recognize what this is all about.
In the Bible there are two terms used for “anoint.” The Greek word ‘chrio’ is the word used to refer to a ceremonial anointing. Like when Samuel anointed Saul and David with oil to declare them King.
In this passage we find a different word altogether, ‘aleipho’. It is the same word which is used in the parable of the Good Samaritan. If you remember that story, the Samaritan took the victim, anointed him with oil and took him to an inn. The word can be used to refer to a medicinal application of oil. It means “to apply or rub him with oil.” Oil among these ancient people was highly valued for its therapeutic qualities. The oil provided more refreshment and soothing comfort than it did real relief for serious ailments. People even drank it as well as rubbing it on themselves as a medication.
James instructed that in times of weakness, spiritual or physical, Christians should ask their church elders to visit them, to pray for them, and to minister to them in Jesus’ name.
This is not about some procedure where the Elders of the church function in some mystical role. It is about them serving, helping and praying for their members.
But even in all this like Jesus we need to remember to say ‘Thy will be done Lord.’ Every sick person that is prayed for will not recover. The fact of the matter is, every person born into this world is terminal. All of us are going to die. If every person we prayed for was made better, none of our friends or family would ever die. Even so, we still have seen God do some amazing things when we pray for certain people.
In our small group we always spend a considerable amount of time sharing prayer requests and lifting those people we care about up before God. I believe we have seen some miraculous recoveries take place. But we still need to remember, God has a plan for each of us, and we need to trust God when things don’t quite go the way we would have them.
James even goes on to say pray for people even when they are sick spiritually. He writes, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
Bad habits, a guilty conscious, a sinful life style can have an effect on our body’s physical condition as well as our spirit. We know that now, and they really believed it back then. Read the book of Job. His friends that came to visit him were convinced that the reason for all the calamity and sickness in his life was due to him practicing sin and so they advised his to repent.
Sometimes the best medicine to confess our sin to the one we committed it against. If we know that we sinned against God we need to anti-up and confess it to Him. If we sinned against a person we need anti-up and confess what we did to them. If we sin against a group of people or our church we are encourage to anti-up and confess to them. And James lets us know when that takes place, and the person is forgiven, and prayed for, a real healing takes place.
Notice that it is not just the elders who are to do the praying, rather we are to pray for one another. We all have the responsibility of praying for one another’s needs, struggles, and hurts.
James ends his letter by letting us know just how powerful our prayers are. In verse 16 he writes, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” NIV. The NLT puts it this way, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” The Amplified Bible says, ”The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].”
Get the idea? And then James illustrates this very point by referring to a great man of prayer, Elijah. When Elijah prayed things happened showing that God cares about what matters to you and me.
And when Elijah prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years. When he prayed for the widows son, He came back to life. When he prayed that the Lord would consume the offering drenched in water at that competition against the 400 prophets of Baal the Lord send fire that not only consumed the wet sacrifice but also the water, and the rocks all around. When he later prayed for rain after three and half years. it poured.
Knowing that intercessory prayer is a mighty weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I urge people everywhere to pray. The reason why it is so powerful and effective is because God cares about what matters to us. Father God really does care for us, so humbly seek Him out and talk to Him.
In closing Peter wrote in1 Pet. 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
