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Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him 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 him up. If he has sinned, he 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 man is powerful and effective.17
Elijah was a man just like us. 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, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Is prayer a dying art among Christians? I fear that the answer to that question is "yes." I hope I am wrong. But if I go on the evidence I see in many of our churches, I am forced to conclude that we do far more talking about praying than we do actual praying.
Prayer is something we say we believe in. But if we believe in prayer, why do we not spend more time in the practice of it? It is common knowledge that when a church has a real prayer meeting, it is the least attended of all its meetings. Is that because we are uncomfortable praying around others? Is it because we have never been taught to pray? Or could it be because we do very little serious praying on our own, and are reluctant to join together in corporate prayer? Perhaps the answer lies in a little bit of all of this. But nonetheless, it is troubling to think of how little we Christians actually pray.
"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (v. 16c) The truth is, we believe this Scripture. All of us, who have had a supernatural, life-changing experience with the living God, truly believe in our hearts that God is real and that He answers prayer. And I believe that we all have a real desire to be able to effectively pray so that things happen. But we find ourselves busy with the affairs of life, occupied with all sorts of demanding situations. And, while we intend to pray, before we know it the week is gone and we haven’t spent much time at all in prayer. But deep down inside, we know that if we would just spend more time before God in prayer, we would see more of the Kingdom manifesting itself in our lives and the lives of others.
The passage we have before us is perhaps one of the strongest encouragements to prayer found in the Scripture. We see here that prayer is powerful to change our lives and to change the situations we find ourselves in.
Let’s look at the situations in which we are encouraged to pray and discover how God can work in our lives through prayer. James gives us at least three situations in which we should make prayer our first priority. When we find ourselves in these stress points of life, prayer should be the first thing we do, not a last resort.
When you are bruised, you should pray. "Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise." (James 5:13)
James tells us that there are times when we may feel happy and there are times when we feel sad. When we feel happy, we should sing about it. When we are down because of the trouble that has come our way, we should pray. There are times when we are hurting –– bruised and beat up –– because of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Those are difficult times. At those times we do not want to pray. In fact, we do not want to do anything. Often, all we want to do is give up and quit. But what we really need to do is to take our hurt –– our trouble –– to God.
David knew what it was to suffer emotional pain as a result of difficult circumstances. Listen to what he says in Psalm 31:9 (NLT): "Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress. My sight is blurred because of my tears. My body and soul are withering away." David is sharing the truth about how he feels. He is in distress. He has been weeping over his situation. He feels weak and wasted in both body and soul. But do you see what David is doing? He is not just sharing this in print. He is not just writing a Psalm. He is praying to God! This is a prayer for help in the midst of a distressing situation. David was bruised and so he prayed.
And when we are bruised, we should pray as well. We should pray because God will hear us and help us in our time of trouble. Listen again to the Psalmist in Psalm 120:1 (NCV): " When I was in trouble, I called to the LORD, and he answered me." The Lord wants you to come to Him when you are distressed and hurting. And He wants to minister His grace to you in that situation.
When you find yourself in distress, prayer should be your first choice not your last resort. Often, and sadly, we try everything else except prayer before we turn to prayer. I recall hearing about a situation in a church where they were discussing a decision they had to make. One of the members suggested that they stop their discussion and pray about it. An old deacon responded to the request by saying, "My, has it come to that!" Unfortunately, too many people feel that way about prayer. For them it is a last resort. But it should be a first priority.
When you are broken, you should pray. By broken I mean that God has brought you to the place of brokenness over your sinful selfishness. Often, we harden our hearts concerning our sin. We ignore it as if it doesn’t really matter to God. We act as if it is unimportant and not really a big deal. But is does matter to God. It is a big deal to Him. And if He needs to get our attention by bringing chastening into our lives, He will do that.
You see, God is far more interested in our walk with Him than in our comfort. He is perfectly willing to make us uncomfortable to bring us back to Him. In fact, He is willing to do whatever is necessary to break us rather than allow us to destroy ourselves.
Does that seem harsh to you? Does it seem harsh that God would use hardship to get our attention? Does it seem harsh that God would use sickness to get our attention? Would it be more loving of God to keep us healthy and happy and let us ruin our lives? Obviously not! God is more interested in our spiritual well being than in our physical or emotional comfort. This life will only last a few years. Eternity is forever.
Now that does not mean that every trial and every sickness is God’s judgment on us. This is clearly not the case. But it can be true that some people are suffering because of their sinful behavior. Look at our text today: "Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven." (vv. 14-15) There is a clear implication that when the elders pray over the sick person that they may discern that the sickness is a result of sin, which, when dealt with, will result in the person being forgiven and healed.
Proverbs 28:13 (NLT) reads: "People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy." Psalm 32:5 (NLT) says: "Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone." And Proverbs 28:14 (NIV) tells us: "Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble." When we do not deal with our own sin, we are setting ourselves up for many problems. But when we face up to them and confess them to the Lord, He forgives and restores and heals. So we need to come to the Lord when we are broken and pray.
When you are backslidden, you should pray. This is not only true for us but also for others as well. We should pray for ourselves and for others that have strayed from the truth.
James tells us: "My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins." (vv. 19-20)
What we see here is that prayer is a powerful tool to restore people who have strayed from a lifestyle that honors God. Listen to what Paul tells us in Galatians 6:1 (NLT): "Dear brothers and sisters, if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself." Prayer for those who are backslidden should be the foundation for anything we do after that to reach out to them. It puts us in the right attitude toward them. It sets in motion the activity of God on their behalf.
So, the way we should deal with our own sin by prayer is the same way we should deal with the sins of others. When we sin, what do we want? Do we want judgment? Or do we want forgiveness and mercy? We should give to others what we want for ourselves. We should not only pray for our sins, but also pray for the sins of others around us, that God would have mercy on them and enable them to return to Him and receive forgiveness.
Often, we underestimate prayer because we do not understand how it works. It is not the power of the one who prays that counts. It is the power of the One to whom the prayer is directed that counts. Elijah is our example. "Elijah was a man just like us. 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." (vv. 17-18)
James is saying here, "If Elijah could pray and see things happen, so can you." "But wait a minute," you say, "Elijah was a mighty man of God. He was a prophet. I am certainly not in the league of an Elijah." I’m sure James anticipated this argument because he introduces Elijah with the statement that "Elijah was a man just like us." Yes, Elijah was a prophet of God, and he certainly did many miracles. But of course, we know that God did the miracles. Elijah was simply the vessel used in the performance of those miracles. James points out that Elijah was certainly not perfect. In fact, Elijah was subject to the same human imperfections that we endure. While Elijah did many miracles, at one point in his ministry, he ran from the woman, Jezebel, when she sought to take his life. Elijah was afraid and discouraged. He hid in the wilderness and thought that he alone served God. You even sense that he complained to God that he was in the boat alone. God had to remind him that there were others who stood for the true God of Israel. Yes, Elijah was a prophet of God, but he was just a man like we are. So James uses Elijah to encourage us to pray.
The story referred to here is told in detail in 1 Kings 17 and 18. The background is that the wicked King Ahab and his evil wife, Jezebel, had led Israel away from the Lord and into worship of the false God, Baal. Because of their wickedness, God punished the nation by withholding rain. Our text says that it was because of the prayers of Elijah that it did not rain for 3 1/2 years. That is powerful praying!
At the end of that time, Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to a contest on Mt. Carmel. Some people have called it a "God contest." The challenge was to see whose God was the true God. The priests of Baal gathered and had their little ceremony, calling on the name of their god for the entire day. All day long, the priests cried out to their god, but their god did not answer them. The whipped themselves into a frenzy, but still, no answer. Finally, it was Elijah’s turn. Elijah prepared the altar and prepared the sacrifice, which was to be consumed in fire. He made it more difficult by pouring water over it, to such an extent that the altar, surrounding area and sacrifice were thoroughly drenched. Then he prayed and fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the altar, and licked up all of the water. He proved that his God was the true God.
But there was still a drought in the land, so Elijah prayed again. In the account in 1 Kings, we find that as he prayed, he sent his servant seven times to see if there was any evidence of rain. Finally, on the seventh time, his servant saw a little cloud. The cloud grew and before long, there was a great rain and the nation of Israel was saved. Here, again, is the power of prayer!
We see several important truths in the example of Elijah’s prayer. The first truth is the truth that Elijah had power in prayer, even though he was just an ordinary man. Our prayer is not answered because we are God’s perfect servants; but simply because we are God’s servants. Elijah had his faults. But when Elijah prayed according to the will of God, God moved in a mighty way. The same can be true for us. We ought never to be discouraged because we have faults. God hears our prayers, not because we are sinless, but because we trust in Him. The "righteous man" whose prayers are effective is not a person who is righteous in his own righteousness. But this refers, rather, to a person who is righteous in the righteousness of Christ.
We see also that Elijah prayed in faith and according to the will of God. You see, in 1 Kings 18:1, that God told Elijah that He would send the rain. Robert Law said, "Prayer is not prayer getting man’s will done in heaven; it’s getting God’s will done on earth." We must pray in faith according to the will of God. So, prayer and God’s word go hand in hand. We must understand what God desires to do and then pray for that to happen. But notice that Elijah’s prayer was specific. All too often, we simply pray that "God’s will would be done." There is nothing wrong with that, of course. There are many times when we do not fully understand what God’s will is for a certain situation. We can only be honest in those circumstances and simply say to the Lord, "Father, we don’t understand what Your will is, but whatever it is, we are for it. Thy will be done." But we must never quit trying to find God’s specific will for certain situations. We must seek the Lord and inquire of the Lord in prayer as to what His will is. We must study the Word and come to understand what are the promises of God that we should claim for specific situations that are before us. Search the Word. Seek God in prayer. I believe that if you do, He will bring you to the place where you understand how to pray for that specific need. And when you pray that way, knowing that God has shown you His will, then you can pray in faith, believing that God will send the answer.
We also see that Elijah prayed earnestly. Elijah was persistent in his prayer. Even though God had shown him that He would send rain, Elijah prayed and kept on praying until he saw evidence of the answer to his prayer. Remember, he sent his servant seven times to look at the sky and see if rain clouds were forming. Elijah did not quit until he saw the answer. We see him, on the one hand, at the altar before the prophets of Baal. He prayed once, God acted, and that was the end of that. And so, when Elijah prayed once for the rain to come and there was no evidence of rain, rather than get discouraged, he simply kept on praying. We need to be more like Elijah in our praying. We need to keep on praying until God answers that prayer.
We see that because of the effective prayers of one man, God moved in the life of a nation. Our prayers can affect the lives of others, many of whom we do not even know. Our prayers can affect situations across this planet. That is why it is important to pray. World affairs can be altered. The destinies of nations may hang in the balance. Prayer is not simply something we do for ourselves. It is something we do for the sake of all mankind.
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