The Prayer of Faith

Resurrection Wisdom in a Perishing World – Part 10
God Really Does Work Powerfully through Prayer
(James 5:13-18, Preaching: Pastor Nathan Snyder, May 18, 2014)

[5:13] 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.

As James comes to the end of his letter, he emphasizes the importance and power of prayer.  Whatever your circumstances, whether good or bad, pray.  Whatever your emotional state, whether sorrowful or cheerful, pray.  If all you can muster is a deep groaning, groan before the Lord (cf. Romans 8:26).  If you are up against a situation that seems insurmountable, seek God’s strength and direction.  If you are full of the joy of the Lord, don’t hold it in, sing!

Sometimes the issue we are facing is physical illness, either ours or that of someone we love.  God cares about this.  Sickness was not part of God’s original good design for us.  It will not be part of the new creation.  Jesus came bringing tastes of the coming kingdom, and this included healing many with physical illness.  Granted, he did not heal every disease in the world, and the people he healed would eventually die of something.  Sometimes God does not grant healing, though we pray fervently with great faith.  Even Paul was afflicted with something which God refused to take away, though Paul prayed fervently three times (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).  God had good purposes in Paul’s life to work out through his physical suffering.  He may do the same in our lives.  But sickness in itself is not a good thing and it is right to pray for ourselves and for one another’s healing (verse 16).  James also says the person who is particularly weak should call for the elders of the church to come pray over him or her.  He commends prayer along with anointing such a person with oil (cf. Mark 6:13).  There is nothing magical about this.  Likely the purpose is to symbolize the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the person to heal them.  God is the one who heals, and he does so in response to the faith of those praying, even if the sick person is feeling so weak he can muster little faith of his own.

James knows that sometimes God has afflicted us with sickness as discipline for sin of which we need to repent (e.g. 1 Corinthians 11:27-32).  This is not always the case, but sometimes it is.  Thus it is always a good idea when we are physically afflicted to use the experience as a time of spiritual self-reflection before God.  God loves us, and he may simply be using a physical malady to get our attention and deal with a deeper problem.  If  necessary, we may need to confess wrongs committed against others and seek reconciliation.  Then we will be in a position for the whole church to pray for our physical healing.

God works powerfully through the prayers of a righteous person.  James gives the example of Elijah.  The Jewish people looked to him as a spiritual giant.  James doesn’t emphasize this.  He says he was a man like us.  Actually, Elijah struggled with doubts and depression.  Yet God answered his fervent prayers.  Why?  Because he was righteous in God’s sight by God’s grace.  He trusted in God and wanted to see God’s will accomplished.  Thus God answered Elijah’s prayers.  And he will answer ours in the way he knows is best if we trust him.

Put the Word to Work:  Pray in all things.  Pray for one another’s physical healing.  Do not ever be ashamed to ask the elders to come pray for you.  Confess sin.  Trust God to answer prayers in the best possible way.