Effective Prayer

12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment.

As we discussed last week, there is a lot in this verse.

James isn’t talking about swearing in the sense of using foul language.

He is talking about the integrity of our words.

There was and still is a tendency to make “promises” that you really don’t intend to keep.

They are said out of obligation or perhaps a light desire, but we know that there is little chance that it will actually happen.

We have all certainly been on the receiving end of one of these kinds of “promises.”

James’ challenge and request to the church is that everything we say would stand with such integrity that there is no need to qualify it.

The point of swearing an oath in biblical times was to convey the seriousness with which a person was making the commitment.

James is saying that as the church, as followers of Christ, our words should carry that same seriousness, that same weight with no need of a qualifier.

A person of True Faith says what they mean, and they mean what they say.

Their words can be counted on.

This is our goal as followers of Christ, that those around us could know that we can be trusted with everything we say.

James then moves into the next section, but we don’t see the “dear brothers and sisters” denoting a change of thought.

This next teaching flows on from verse twelve.

I find this to be very interesting, and I’ll explain why after we read it.

Look at James 5:13-18 with me.

James 5:13–18 CSB

13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. 17 Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.

When Bethany was diagnosed with cancer years ago, my boss, Steve, said something to me that I will never forget.

He said, “from this moment on, when someone ask you to pray for them, you will.”

What he said immediately hit me right in the chest.

He had identified something that all of us are guilty of doing.

We find out that someone is sick and out of politeness we say what?

“I’ll pray for you,” but we don’t.

Just like we talked about last week, we have good intentions, but then life moves on, and we forget.

Now, don’t raise your hands, but are you guilty of doing that?

I know I certainly was.

But Steve was right; because of Bethany’s illness, I look at prayer for healing much differently.

The authenticity and integrity of a follower of Christ are foundational to the ministry of God.

Again, we are His representatives in and to the world.

If you tell a person that you will pray and then you don’t, it communicates to that person that they have little or no value to you.

Because you are God’s representative, they will associate that same value as if it were coming from God Himself.

I have a novel idea for us all.

How about when someone asks us for prayer, we just pray with them right then?

More than likely, that is what they wanted anyway.

As we are about to see, you praying for them is part of God’s plan for the world to see who He is.

And your prayers for them could play a significant role in their healing.

In the first several passages, James identifies three different prayers, and they are all significant.

When most people read this passage, they navigate to verse 14 and focus in on the prayer of the elders and anointing with oil.

We should not do this because that is only one of the three.

Look at this with me again, and let’s identify these three different prayers.

James 5:13–15 CSB

These three will be our main focus today, and then we will finish up by talking about what makes our prayers effective.

Praying for yourself, prayer of the Elders, and prayer of others.

I also want to say that these aren’t an either/or situation.

You can do any combination.

1. Praying for yourself.

Yesterday when I was talking with Pastor Juan Jose, he said that often, in the Latin churches, people will get mad and leave the church because the pastor didn’t come pray for them.

But they didn't tell the pastor they were sick.

Unfortunately, that is not unique to the Latin churches, because I know from personal experience it happens in American churches as well.

James addresses the importance of Elders praying, but it does not outweigh the other two.

This is why it is important for us to look at all of what James is saying.

Start by praying for yourself.

We often talk about how important it is that we all have our own personal relationship with God.

This is yet another reason why.

If you are sick, begin by talking with God about that sickness.

Pray for yourself.

In verse 13 James is encouraging the church to express their feelings, joys, and concerns towards God.

You can also ask the Elders for prayer.

James 5:14 CSB

Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

2. Prayer of the Elders.

To pull back in JJ’s example, it says right there that they should call the elders.

We aren’t mind readers. lol

There are several things that I want to point out about verse 14.

First, the Elders do not possess any special power of healing that anyone else does not.

The elders of the church are appointed as God as the under-shepherds of the church.

We work under Jesus, who did lots of healing, but I would remind you that Jesus said that He does nothing on His own but only what The Father does.

The same is true for elders, we only do what the father does, AND God is the one doing the healing.

Often you will see people quote 1 Cor 12:9

1 Corinthians 12:9 CSB

9 to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

They will say that this is one of the gifts of the Spirit, but what they fail to see is that the word gifts is plural.

No one gets THE gift of healing, but rather, the Spirit gives the gifts of healing as He wills.

1 Corinthians 12:11 CSB

11 One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills.

It isn’t like one person per church has the power of healing, and no one else does.

Rather, the Holy Spirit heals people as He wills.

Secondly, James says that the Elders are to “pray over him.”

This specification is believed to be speaking about praying, literally over, someone who is sick in bed, or it could be referring to the laying on of hands.

Most likely, James is talking about people that are not able to come to the church meeting due to their sickness, and therefore they should call for the elders to come and pray for them.

Thirdly, James says that we should “anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

This is where people jump to and then ask, what is that?

Let’s talk about it.

This phrase is a subordinate clause which means it forms part of the main clause and is dependent on it.

What is the main clause?

“They are to pray over him.”

The anointing with oil is not an action that is separate from praying over someone.

If you go back and look historically, oil was often used for medicinal, hygienic, and cosmetic purposes.

The story of the good Samaritan from Luke is a good example of medicinal use.

Luke 10:34 CSB

34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

It was also used for hygienic or cosmetic uses.

Matthew 6:17 CSB

17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

Luke 7:38 CSB

38 and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with the perfume.

Luke 7:46 CSB

46 You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume.

Obviously, these last three passages, which there are many more, aren’t using oil for physical healing.

So what is James referring to?

Consider the example set before James.

He saw Jesus physically heal many people, and it makes the most sense that this is what he would be talking about.

However, it isn’t the oil that is doing the work of the healing.

James says in verse fifteen that the prayer of faith will raise the person up.

James 5:15 CSB

15 The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

So if the oil isn’t doing the healing, what is the point?

If we look back at the old testament and the use of oil for anointing, we will find that it was used ceremoniously.

The Letter of James B. Prayer and Healing (5:13–18)

Anointing frequently symbolizes the consecration of persons or things for God’s use and service in the OT. Typical is Exod. 28:41: “After you put these clothes on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint and ordain them. Consecrate them so they may serve me as priests.” The same usage is continued and expanded in the NT, where anointing is often a metaphor for consecration to God’s service (Luke 4:18 [= Isa. 61:1]; Acts 4:27; 10:38; 2 Cor. 1:21; Heb. 1:9 [= Ps. 45:7]). If James has this background in mind, then he would be recommending that the elders anoint the sick person in order vividly to show how that person is being set apart for God’s special attention in prayer.52

The oil is simply a reminder of God’s presence.

Often the oil that is used for anointing has been infused with other really good-smelling stuff, and the smell lingers for a long time.

That lingering fragrance is a reminder that God is with them.

We practice similar things in other areas of our faith.

Baptism - the water simply represents the fact that we are being made clean because of Christ.

We go down to represent our death to sin and ourselves and then come up to represent the new life in Christ.

The Lord’s Supper - we drink juice and eat bread to remind us of the blood and body of Christ that was shed and broken for our sins.

This is the same thing with oil.

The oil, nor the elders, hold any kind of power.

Both are instruments for God to use as He sees fit.

3. Prayer of others.

James 5:16 CSB

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

As an SBC church, this is not something that we do in this setting very often.

However, this is something that we see happen in our Life Groups all the time.

The LG members are able, because of their depth of relationship with one another, to share with the group what they are struggling with.

As they confess those things, the entire group has the opportunity to both pray for that person and to help them with that struggle.

This is a huge part of why our Life Groups are as effective as they are.

Within the context of those deep-rooted relationships, we are able to share significant moments with one another.

As we all know by experience, there are many things that we have gone through that we would not have been able to do without the prayers and support of the other members.

None of these three kinds of prayer are throw-a-ways.

All of them are significant to the life and health of a person.

Pray for yourself

Prayer from the elders

Prayer from others.

What makes our prayers effective?

I think I’ve shared with you before that I’ve had family members ask me to pray for them because they said, “you have a closer relationship with God, or God hears your prayers better than mine.”

This was a prevalent idea when James was writing his letter and it is still prevalent today.

Both in James' time and today, there are what I call “professional ministers.”

What I mean is that people put those who pastor up on a pedestal as if they have some special connection with God that is unattainable by others.

This simply isn’t true.

God is just as accessible to you as he is to me.

James heads this idea off with these last few verses.

Look at them again.

James 5:17–18 CSB

17 Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.

Elijah was well known for the miracles that God did through him.

This one is a big one.

It didn’t rain for three and a half years.

Can you imagine? There must have been an incredible famine in the land.

But Elijah prayed, and God answered.

James says something super important at the beginning of verse 17 as he is reminding the church about Elijah.

“Elijah was a human being as we are...”

The ESV says a “nature like ours.”

James is saying to the church, there is no difference between you and Elijah.

You both are made of the same things and are in connection with the same God.

If God can perform miracles like that through the prayers of Elijah, then God can do similar things through your prayers as well.

This requires that we ask the question, what makes prayer effective?

James calls out two things in these verses.

1. The prayer of Faith.

Biblical faith is the certainty that it will happen, not based only on hope or hard work, but on the revelation of God’s truth and character.

The Letter of James James 5:15

A more fruitful approach is to focus attention on the qualification that James introduces: it is only the prayer offered in faith that brings healing. James’s language here again has a point of contact with the opening section of the letter, where he insisted that the believer who asks God for wisdom “must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (1:6).

I love that the commentator brought up this section in James 1.

James 1:6–8 CSB

6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, 8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.

True Faith is one that is built on the experiences we have had with God.

As you experience God and your faith grows, you become single-minded.

Your expectation is that God will do what He says and you do not wavier.

If you are praying, but you find yourself worrying back and forth about what will happen, you do not have faith.

I mentioned my dad when we went through Hebrews 11.

When Lily was diagnosed prior to her birth, my dad prayed and then began telling everyone that she would be okay.

Like annoyingly insistent.

I realize now that it only seemed annoying because I did not yet posses the level of faith required to believe God.

If this is where you find yourself, not being able to believe, address it with God.

God never throws you in the deep end.

He is going to build your faith slowly as you are able.

James is telling us that it is through the prayers of the faithful that healing comes.

2. The prayer of a righteous person.

What does it mean to be righteous?

RIGHTEOUSNESS (Hebrew צדק, tsdq;, צְדָקָה, tsedaqah;, צַדִּיק, tsaddiq; Greek δικαιοσύνη, dikaiosynē, δίκαιος, dikaios). The quality, state, and characteristic of being in the right.

Specifically, it is to be right before God.

How are we made right with God or in God’s eyes?

Through the forgiveness and grace of Jesus’ death and Resurrection.

But is this all that James is speaking of?

No, James is talking about the result of a person choosing daily to walk in obedience to Jesus.

All of us are aware that we are technically “right” with God by virtue of Jesus.

But if we choose to live in sin, we are damaging that relationship.

Let’s get the real for a moment.

A husband and wife make a covenant with one another and by virtue of that covenant, they are “right” with one another.

However, if one of the two of them is intentionally doing something to harm the relationship, that person is not righteous.

This goes back to the same kind of concept we talked about with faith and works at the beginning of this letter.

Our faith is proven by our works.

It isn’t defined by our works, but our obedience shows our faith in God, ourselves, and the world.

The same is true with our righteousness.

As believers, we are right with God because of Jesus, but our daily lives reveal or don’t our righteousness.

I’ll boil it down to this, if you are praying for healing, believe that God will do it, and living in obedience to God’s leading, you are fulfilling Jame’s instruction.

We must address one last question before we can be done, though.

What if I do believe I’m doing all that I know God wants, and I still don’t get healed?

This is the million-dollar question, isn’t it?

It’s one that all of us struggle with.

It’s a good question to ask, and James says something in these verses that addresses it.

The Letter of James James 5:15

Certain preachers and writers make a great deal of this call for faith, insisting that a believer simply needs to have enough faith in order to receive healing from the Lord. The devastating result of this line of thinking is that believers who are not healed when they pray must deal with a twofold burden: added to their remaining physical challenge is the assumption that they lack sufficient faith. But this way of looking at faith and its results is profoundly unbiblical. And, in James, at least, the prayer of faith that heals in v. 15 is offered not by the sufferer but by the elders (v. 14). Are the elders, therefore, at fault when their prayer for healing does not bring results in a reasonable amount of time? Would the healing have taken place if they had just believed enough?

I know that this is the place where many of us have found ourselves.

Whether it be sickness, loss, relationship issues, etc.

We always ask that last question.

Would __(blank)____ have happened if I had believed enough?

The Letter of James James 5:15

Answering such a question involves us in the finely nuanced broader issue of the relationship between God’s sovereignty and our prayers. But we can say this much. The faith exercised in prayer is faith in the God who sovereignly accomplishes his will. When we pray, our faith recognizes, explicitly or implicitly, the overruling providential purposes of God. We may at times be given insight into that will, enabling us to pray with absolute confidence in God’s plan to answer as we ask. But surely these cases are rare—more rare even than our subjective, emotional desires would lead us to suspect. A prayer for healing, then, must usually be qualified by a recognition that God’s will in the matter is supreme. And it is clear in the NT that God does not always will to heal the believer.

When we ask to be healed, we are not guaranteed that it will happen.

James is not describing a formula for success.

He is sharing the basic requirements, but ultimately it is up to God.

By praying and ASKing for healing, we are submitting ourselves to God's will.

That does not mean that God is required to do what we want.

I cannot tell you why some people are healed and others are not.

I can tell you that God loves all of us, and it says in Psalms that when we weep, God weeps with us.

God does not like that we suffer, he does not put that on us as a punishment.

We live in a broken world, and until Jesus returns and renews it, we are left living with the consequences of a sinful world.

But we are not alone.

God is with us, has given us one another, and is working in our lives to build our faith.

In submitting ourselves to God’s will, we must remember that no matter the outcome, God is working for our good.

This is a selection from Oswald Chamber’s devotion for this morning.

“Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.”

All that happens in our life is transformed by God into something for our good.

As we experience life, whether it is suffering or joy, we pray and praise and trust God because He is working.

We, like Elijah and so many others, can simply pray and trust that God will do what is best for us and for those around us.

That is what it means to have True Faith, to know and trust the goodness of God.

Let’s pray.

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