Powerful Prayer

Introduction

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One of the most unique things about human beings, one of the most obvious things that separates us from the animals and other creatures in the world, is our ability to use language. While many have tried to argue that animals do have language, these are generally not linguists who actually study language. It is true that animals communicate in a simple and direct way with one another, but animal communication is so basic and limited that it cannot be called language. One linguist uses bees as an example. Bees are known to use dance and movement to communicate to the other bees in the hive where the flowers are. However, this communication is severely limited. A bee’s dance will never be able to communicate where other, non-flower objects are. The bee cannot tell the other bees what colour the flower is, or that she thought it was a very pretty flower. The bee cannot indicate affection, desire, poetry, stories, abstract ideas, or anything else. They are limited to one thing necessary for the survival of the colony. The same can be said of talking parrots or gorillas that have learned to use limited sign communication. While the advancements in communication with these animals is a marvel, they will never be able to use language in a human way.

Language is uniquely human, a part of how God made us. Language is necessary for human relationships as well as a relationship with the divine. This is why prayer is such an important part of the Christian life. True faith in God means believing that He is who He says He is and trusting him with our whole selves.

This initiate relationship with God, and so communication and interaction with God is a necessary part of the Christian life.

Context of the Passage

In this passage, we find ourselves at the end of the letter James, the human brother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, encourages his readers to approach life with God in a wholehearted and faithful way, seeking the wisdom of God and trusting with faith in his promises.

As the book reaches its conclusion, it is not surprising that James turns to prayer, since many of the Apostolic letters end with some mention of prayer. Interestingly, many secular letters at the time would end with a wish for the good health of the reader. James seems to combine both of these kinds of ending into an instructive section on prayer exercised with faith in every situation, so that the readers may be healed and sustained as they continue to press on with endurance in the Christian life.

This morning, we will look into this instruction on prayer and see how invaluable it is in every area of life and in every context. By pursuing a practice of prayer that is filled with faith and void of doubt, we will experience the great power with which God responds to faithful prayer.

Prayer in Good Times and Bad

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Our text begins as James concludes his letter. His main themes so far have centred around having a faith that is genuine and active, leading us away from worldliness and helping us pursue a closeness with Christ and with his people. Our faith needs to be more than just a claim or profession, but that profession must impact our life, especially in how we treat one another.

As James prepares to conclude his letter with the usual encouragement for prayer, he brings this theme of genuine faith to a practical conclusion as well. He calls all Christian, in all circumstances, to pray.

This is a natural practice our faith produces when we actually believe it. The Puritans said that prayer was the breath of the Christian, because it is both natural and necessary for sustaining our faith.

What is Prayer? Prayer is intentional communion with God, specifically through words offered to Him. Prayer can take many forms:

Prayers of Praise: Displaying our Faith by confessing to God who we believe He is.

Prayers of Thanksgiving: Showing gratitude for things God has done for us.

Prayers of Lament: Expressing the pain of our heart to God.

Prayers of Petition: Asking God for good things from his hand (James 1:17), especially things he has promised to give us.

Why ask for things God has promised us?

It displays our faith in God’s provision.

Many things that God would give us he only gives us if we ask him. This is because he desires loving interaction with us as part of our relationship with him.

Can we ask for what God has not promised?

Yes, but with the understanding that God has promised to love us, and therefore to seek our benefit. If God doesn’t give us something we ask for but he hasn’t promised us, we must still hold that the core of that prayer, a prayer for help and love, is still answered with a yes.

The prayers that James is speaking of in this passage of prayers petitions and prayers of praise.

Prayer In Suffering

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First, James asks if anyone is suffering. The word refers to a wide range of pain, whether it be physical, emotional, or psychological. This suffering is not necessarily persecution, as we see in James 1:2

James 1:2 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

These trials are not bad for us, instead James goes on to say that the testing of our faith through these various trials and pains produces steadfast faith, making us perfect and complete in our journey towards sanctification.

Nevertheless, James doesn’t expect us to simply put our head down and suffer silently. Nor is he here minimizing the struggle of such sufferings, as is often done when people respond to someone’s sufferings by simply throwing out an unhelpful, “just trust God” or “just pray about it.” The instruction to prayer is not a dismissal of their suffering, but rather a helpful and intentional instruction as to how a believer ought to react to suffering. In our sinful state, we will often seek comfort in created things, escaping the pain and thus dodging the endurance and perfection of our character than it is meant to build. Here, James gives us a different approach: to come to God with petition, speaking to God as a child to her father, asking the one we trust loves us and heals us.

1 Peter 5:6–7 ESV

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Prayer in suffering is predicated on a trust that God cares for us. Therefore, we may bring all our sufferings and trials to him, knowing that he is not indifferent to them. Rather,

Hebrews 2:18 ESV

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Prayer in Good Times

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But perhaps surprisingly, James doesn’t just tell us to pray when we are in bad times, but in good times as well. “Is anyone cheerful?” This word cheerful means to be encouraged, or to have a strong heart. This is when things are good and, more importantly, our mood and outlook on life is happy and uplifting. This place in life is more dangerous than being in a place of suffering, and this is something James has already addressed when warning those who are rich.

James 5:5 ESV

You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

Now, in now way does this mean that good times should be avoided or that we should feel guilty about having an easy and uplifting season in life. A good and happy season in life can very well be a blessing from God, but we must be aware of the dangers. I was just reading the part in the Pilgrims Progress where Christian and Hopeful pass through the enchanted forest. It is a place of sleepiness and Christian has to warn Hopeful that if he falls asleep there, he may never wake up and make it to the Celestial City, to Heaven. This picture of an enchanted forest very well represents the good times in life. These are pleasant times, like walking through a beautiful forest which tends to make us sleepy. The sleepiness represents spiritual apathy, a carelessness towards God and a state of being unaware of the serious conflict we are in for our very souls. While there is danger in times of suffering, the enemy is very easy to spot. He is bold and forceful in those times, and we are able to spot him and directly engage his tactics. But easy times are more dangerous because the enemy is sly and hidden. He creeps upon us, not in bold face-to-face conflict, but in a creeping, progressive spiritual sleepiness from which we may, if we indulge it, never awake.

So what is James’ application for us? Prayer. Specifically, he tells us to sing praise. The Greek word for praise is where we get the word Psalms from. The word generally means song but in the NT it is always used in the context of singing a song of praise and worship to God. James sees the Christian life as a journey in which we need to push forward, and it is just as much of a struggle in the easy times as in the hard times.

Interestingly, James in no way tries to diminish the joy of that cheerful season in life. He doesn’t say, “stop being cheerful, don’t you realize we are in a spiritual war?” as if the Christian life is meant to be somber and depressive. Martin Lloyd Jones says in his masterful book Spiritual Depression that the Christian should seek a life of joy and happiness in Christ, since this best displays the truth of the Gospel we believe. It is a joyful Gospel, and being filled with the joy of Christ makes us better able to enjoy the good things God has made to be enjoyed since

James 1:17 ESV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

But how we engage these good and cheerful times is to keep our eyes focused on the giver of every good gift. It is to recognize that these cheerful times are gifts from the hand of a good Father who loves to bless us and encourage us. So the call here is not to dismiss cheerful times, but rather to remain awake during those times, keeping watch over ourselves.

On the Great Lakes, such as Lake Superior, there are sometimes freak storms called White Squalls. In the past, and perhaps still today, many sailors on even the largest ships have been washed overboard because they will be relaxing on deck without a lifeline in the calm weather, when suddenly a storm violently hits the ship, washing the poor sailors overboard to their death. James isn’t telling us to not enjoy the calm waters, he’s telling us to keep our lifeline on because we are aware of how weak we are and how much of God’s grace we need. In these times, we keep that lifeline attached by singing praises to God. By cultivating a heart through regular personal and corporate worship. Don’t squash your joy, but rather invite God into that joyful experience. Christ isn’t just your lifeline in hard times, he is your friend and father in the good times. Indeed, Jesus’ first miracle was to provide wine for celebration at a wedding, displaying the fact that the coming of the Christ is a celebratory occasion. Invite Christ into your joy and happiness, just as you should invite him into your times of suffering and hardship.

One way to do this is to invite other church members and other Christians in general into your joy. We we should weep with those who weep, but also laugh with those who laugh. As we will see next week, these encouragements to pray apply both to private prayer and congregational worship. Let us freely share both our heartaches and our joys, our pains and pleasures. In this, we come closer to Christ together and will be stronger in our faith together when the painful times inevitably come.

Conclusion Pt 1

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Life is full of pleasure and pain. The pleasure is a display of God’s good grace, and the pain is both a reminder of the fallen nature of this world and a test through which the redeemed display the genuine nature of their faith and to develop endurance which produces perfection in sanctification (not that we will ever be perfect before glory, but we develop perfection through these trials).

In all situation in life there is a time to pray. However, we must remember the words at the beginning of James 1:6-8

James 1:6–8 ESV

But 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. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The doubt here isn’t passing doubt, or a struggle with doubt, but rather a study of what James means by double-minded shows that he’s talking about someone who prays but their mind is still focused on what is worldly. They are praying, but their prayers are not sincere, but rather simply an action they perform while their heart is not set on trusting God.

So in all times, prayer must be part of our life. Those prayers will look different in different situations. A time of pain necessitates prayers of lament, crying out to God in tears, wrestling with God when we cannot understand where his sovereignty is leading us. In times of cheerfulness, we should sing praise and invite God into the joy that he has given us in our lives.

What situation are you in? What difficulties or joys are in your life? What season are you in and what kinds of prayers would fit best for your situation? Prayer invites God into our experience and helps us remain close to him in all times in life. Study the Psalms and use them as a template for these different kinds of prayers for different times of life.

Do you know God? Prayer is not magical, it assumes you have placed your faith in Christ and have drawn near to God, confessing and repenting of your rebellious sins and relying on Christ for grace and forgiveness. His death guarantees his love for you, a love that will continue through the highs and lows of life. Trust in Christ and walk into the experience of knowing a loving God who is there in all times, and on to eternity.

Prayer and Healing

The Difficulty of this Passage

Understanding this as Spiritual Sickness

Understanding this as Physical sickness and healing

The Prayer of Faith

Confession, Prayer, and Healing in the Church

The Point

Prayer is a powerful tool the Christian needs, in all cases, both privately and with the Church, in order to endure through the trials of this life.

The Power of Prayer

Conclusion