The Prayer of Faith

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The Prayer of Faith James 5:13-20 - 8/2/20 Introduction: Have you ever thought of the difference between something important to you versus something that essential to you? Something important is something of great significance or value, where something essential is something that is absolutely necessary, extremely important, indispensable. Essential is a word that is being used a lot during our current pandemic response, with businesses for example. All businesses are important, but only a small subset of those businesses were defined by our government as being essential. Jobs for example - All of our jobs are important, especially to each of us, but a smaller number were considered during this season as essential. Whether we agree with the designations or not, what is designated as essential was determined as providing something our society cannot do without. Each of us have different ways of determining what is essential to us versus what is important to us. How can we recognize the important versus the essential? A quick litmus test is that we make sure to get, or to do, what we see as essential, and not so much with the important things. For example, my wife Charlotte, making our bed each day is more than just something important, it borders on being essential to her, it always gets done. Making the bed for me, well let’s just say, please don’t come over and look when Charlotte is out of town. For me, it doesn’t quite get to the important level (or really whatever is below important). In our passage today, I believe James is helping us to see something that is already genuinely important to us, but that should be on our individual lists of essential items. His focus for us is prayer. He is wanting us to see how prayer is not simply important, but essential to the Christian life. Prayer should not be seen only as an important resource always available to us, but only used in crisis - like an umbrella in Arizona. James wants us to see prayer as an essential part of the Christian life, something that we simply cannot do without. 1

Scripture: 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. Prayer Prop: Faithful prayer needs to be our response to all of life. 1. The call to faithful prayer 2. The power in faithful prayer

I. The call to faithful prayer Prayer is clearly the topic James is focusing on as he ends his book. Prayer is mentioned 7 times in 6 verses. What type of prayer is James referring to here? Prayer that is given in faith. He has not used the word ‘prayer ‘until here in chapter 5 verse 13, but he has referenced prayer since chapter One - (1:5) - “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God… “. (6) “let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.… “(4:2) “You do not have because you do not ask.” (4:8) “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” So, the topic of prayer is not neglected by James until the end of the book, but he does emphasize it as essential to the Christian life in chapter 5:13-18.

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James is telling his audience that, for the Christian, prayer is essential. He directs them to see that when you are confronted with life, respond in prayer…. If you are suffering, pray; if you are cheerful, pray; if you are sick, pray; if you are affected by sin, pray. And realize Christian, that your prayer has power because the one you are praying to is the almighty God, who is all-powerful. James goes through several categories that we all experience in our lives, where he is exhorting us to respond in prayer. James picks up the theme of suffering he discussed in verses 7-12, where he encouraged them to be patient in their suffering, and now adds the action that they are to take - prayer. A. 13a Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Using the word “Let” sounds like an invitation or a suggestion. However, what James uses here is another imperative in the original language. We do not have the same verb tense in English, so it can lose some of the intensity in translation. What is more in line with what James is telling us is this - if you are suffering, “you need to pray”, or even, you must pray! It is not a suggestion, but a command James is giving to the church. He is helping them to see that prayer is essential to the Christian life! He doesn’t direct them as to what they are to pray when they are suffering, just that they are to pray. When you pray you are in a tangible way taking a faith filled action, and active step forward. You are ‘drawing near to God’. (4:8) In prayer, you are looking to Jesus in the midst of your suffering. Praying can change your situation, but if does not, it can change your perspective. The prophets he mentioned earlier, they were men known for their prayer, Job himself also prayed. So, Christian, James is saying that if you are suffering, then like them, following their example, you need to pray, you must pray! Then James includes another category in our lives that needs to include prayer, besides suffering…. Those cheerful B. 13b- Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. The imperative continues for this phrase as well, let him sing…you need to sing… you must sing! 3

Yes, James is instructing them to sing when they are cheerful, but isn’t singing praise to God a form of prayer? The psalms are a combination of prayers put to song. The Israelites would often sing their morning and evening prayers. Singing praise to God is declaring truth about God, and often giving him thanks for his great goodness to us. Those who are having a good life, where there is not obvious suffering should also pray, but their prayer should be songs of praise and thanksgiving for the blessings of God. James understands that a reminder to turn to God is often needed even more in times of blessing than in times of suffering. It is these times that we can be more self-dependent than God dependent. Prayer is also essential for the Christian in good times. I believe James would agree with the hymn by Johnson Oatman: Count your blessings with the chorus: Count your blessings name them one by one. Count your blessings see what God has done. Then James extends the category that faithful prayer to those that are sick. C. - 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. The imperative continues for this phrase as well, let him call for the elders…you need to call the elders, you need for them to pray over you. The sick are encouraged here to call the elders of the church to pray for them. In a time in history when there were few doctors, and maybe none available to the poor, there is still access to the ‘Great Physician’ in prayer, as there is today. The important fact is that the prayer is to the Lord, and is done in the name of the Lord, it is the Lord, who will raise him up. James also mentions here that the prayer of the elders for the sick person is to also include anointing with oil. Anointing with oil, because its significance is so unclear, attracts a lot of attention in this passage. Some commentators believe it had medicinal value in biblical times, some feel it was more symbolic of God’s 4

presence, but anointing, whatever it signifies, is clearly subordinate to James’s main concern in these verses: prayer. The power is not in the elder, or the oil, but in the Lord, who hears the prayer of the elders. Our faith is in our God when we pray, not in a certain result. As elders, we always count it a privilege to respond in faithful prayer to this call. But in verse 15, is James given to us a promise of healing? D. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. James is not giving us a formula for healing but an encouragement to approach God for healing, through prayer. We are to follow God’s direction here when there is severe sickness. God heals the sick today. We believe in the miraculous healing of God. However, we also believe in the sovereign rule of God and that His will is always perfect, whether we agree with God’s timing or not. At times, God heals people through use of medicine and medical means, at times God uses the means of surgeries, and at times God heals miraculously in the moment, at times healing does not come until we reach our home in heaven. And the next category for prayer together in the church, was for those affected by their sin: E. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. If you are convicted of sin, James encourages a look to the gospel (15b), knowing that because Jesus died for your sins, you will be forgiven. (1John 1:9). James then encourages us to confess our sins to one another, and then to pray for one another. What a wonderful expression of our fellowship together, to be available to care for one another, to humbly confess our sins, and to pray one for another. What a healing affect that can bring to our souls!

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II. The power in faithful Prayer A. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James now talks about prayer with great power as it is working. That begs the question about who James is referring to as the righteous person. James’ definition does not base itself on our ‘feeling’ of being righteous. If that was the case, we would all fall short, because none of us feels very righteous, especially in the midst of suffering, or sickness, or when convicted of sin. James is referring to those who are Christians, who are simply moving forward in ‘fighting the good fight of faith’. Those who are trying hard to follow after God. The following is not perfect, it is not without failures, it is not as consistent as we would like, but it is someone characterized by a continual pursuit of God. This is directed to every Christian. Every Christian that is seeking to follow after God falls in the category here of a righteous person whose prayer has great power as it is working. It is God’s power at work. Prayer is powerful because God is allpowerful. The example, Elijah: B. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. Elijah - a man like us? James is spurring his readers to pray in faith, like Elijah did, and to expect results, like Elijah did. This is nothing short of astounding. This is amazing encouragement to pray. By James using the expression ‘a man with the same nature as us’, he makes it clear that we have this same ability to pray powerfully as Elijah did!! That means that our prayers are heard in the same way by God, that our prayers are powerful enough to bring about the miraculous. James is addressing the average Christian, you and I, and he gives each of us assurance that our faithful prayers are powerful. And he doesn’t just leave it

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there, he compares the power of our individual prayers to that of one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament. Charles Spurgeon - “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the arm of omnipotence.” I want to read you a quote by HB Charles, in his fine book, “It happens after prayer”: “Some people are like thermometers. They only register the condition of their surroundings. Other people are like thermostats. They regulate the conditions they find themselves in. Their circumstances do not dictate how they think, or feel or act. They have a ‘spiritual climate control’ that enables them to be strong, and stable, and steadfast, whatever the situation.” HB Charles I would say that the people that are described in this quote as thermostats, have something in common…. Faithful Prayer. I believe they are men and women that pray. Here are some examples: • Elijah, a prophet, and a man of prayer, asked great things of God, and the weather patterns were affected in the middle East for 40 months. How about examples of men and women of prayer outside of the Bible: • George Muller a Christian, a man of prayer, living in England in the 19th century, and he asked great things of God. He cared for and provided for over 10,000 orphans, praying for God’s provision for food and shelter, and God always provided. • Corie Tin Boom a Christian, a woman of prayer, and she asked great things of God. During WWII, She and her family and friends protected an estimated 800 Jews from the Nazis. God was with her and brought her through her own internment in the concentration camps, surviving the holocaust. • Joni Erickson Tada, a Christian, a woman of prayer, she daily asks great things of God. Now at 70, she has now lived 53 years as a quadriplegic, but from her wheelchair, showing us that God has met her in her suffering, each day now for over half a century. And then spreading the joy of the Lord and hope of the gospel to the disabled around the world. 7

• You_________, Christian, a man or woman of prayer, you can ask great things of God. Your prayers are no different from Elijah, George Mueller, Corrie Ten Boom, Joni Erickson Tada in the eyes of God. Remember, God made a point in calling Elijah a ‘man with a nature like ours’ in verse 17. He is not in another category when it comes to prayer. And you are praying to the same great God to whom Elijah prayed. Our great God who hears and answers your prayers. How big is your God? God that he sent his Son to die for our sins and change the eternal destiny of every believer that put faith in his death and resurrection. God that has power to overcome sin and death, God that has power to call us out of the world to eternal life. God whose power did not stop at our salvation…our Savior is even now interceding for us. Do you wonder how often your name is on the lips of your Savior? As the very prayers of Jesus interceding for you before the throne of God the Father? HB Charles - “Let me give you a single formula to make sense of life’s problems. If you have a big God you have only little problems. But if you have a little God you have big problems.” The conclusion (19,20) James concludes his book with these two verses that at first seem disconnected to the preceding verses. However, in closing his book, James encourages his listeners in a way that is consistent with the entire theme of the book of James to walk in God’s ways, to be doers of the word and not just hearers, to not wander away from the truth, and to help one another as brothers and sisters follow after God. C. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. James has been giving direction to his listeners, throughout these 5 chapters, of righteous living. His encouragement is to guard your heart when tempted to wander. To help one another along the path of life. It is easy to see how Prayer 8

must be an essential part of guarding our own souls from wandering and also interceding with prayer for others tempted to wander through trying times. I am reminded of the 5th verse of the hymn - Come thy Fount: So to grace, how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be And let they goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee Prone to wander, Lord I feel it Prone to leave the one I love Here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. You can feel this song as an expression of praise and prayer to the Lord. We need his grace. Prayer is essential to us. III. Application To live lives more described by the thermostat, that through prayer, we can express our trust in God’s sovereign rule in our lives, and in prayer we can experience God’s grace, his presence, and his love. God by his great power will help us remain steady and steadfast even in challenging times. Would you be more characterized as a thermometer, or as a thermostat? If you see more of your life circumstances are affecting how you think, feel and act more than you would like them to. If you want to trust more that God is control your life and your circumstances, then: • 1. Ensure prayer is essential in your life - (Faithful prayer needs to be our response to all of life) • 2. Pray in faith trusting a powerful God for great things Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring, for his grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much. - John Newton 9

Prayer Benediction - Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

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