Prayerful Living

Introduction

I’m gonna share a trick of the trade that helps us understand different passages of Scripture. Simply ask the questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Even difficult passages can become much clearer by asking things like, “who is speaking? Who is being spoken to?” What is he saying? When is this taking place? Where is this happening? Why is this happening? How does this impact me? This helps give us direction to understand the main message of different passages, even confusing ones.

Does anyone else get confused about prayer? Am I praying the right way? Is God even listening? What do I pray about? We want to pray and we want our prayers to be effective. What can we do to improve our prayer lives? Let’s dive into James 5 and ask the questions we started with: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Read vv. 13-20

I. Who?

A. Who do we pray to?

1. Notice, “in the name of the Lord” (v. 14), and “the Lord will raise him up” (v. 15)

a. We are praying to God. Prayer is a conversation: us talking to God

b. When we pray we are talking to our Heavenly Father through His Son with help from the Holy Spirit

2. Remember who you are dealing with in prayer: the God of the universe, the Father of Lights, He who provides every good and perfect gift. Isaiah 59:1 “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;”

B. Who should pray? Everyone (vv. 13-14)

1. Prayer is always the right response for anyone and everyone

a. Are you suffering and in trouble? Pray

b. Are you happy and cheerful? Sing songs of praise

c. You sick? Ask the elders to come pray over you. Why? The prayer offered in faith will restore people. Prayer works

2. We often feel that our prayers won’t make it through the ceiling because we are inadequate, we struggle, we feel weak, we don’t feel that we are good enough. I want you to listen to these verses: 15-16

a. You are righteous in Christ. This passage is not talking about those who “earn” their righteousness but those who have Christ’s righteousness on them (2 Corinthians 5:21)

b. Your prayers mean something because Jesus is your Advocate and the Holy Spirit intercedes when you don’t know how to pray

c. So, pray. Who else will ask God to help if you don’t?

II. What Should We Pray for?

A. James mentions several things:

1. Suffering, praise, sickness, sins of others, personal confession, even the weather (Elijah’s example)

2. It’s safe to say that we can and should pray about everything that matters to us

a. We often feel that God is too busy to pay attention to the little things: the amount of gas left in our car, the right color of paint for our house, etc.

b. Does a good parent ignore their kids when they say they are scared of the dark? Do good parents belittle kids for not understanding the big picture? No

c. God is a Good Father. He cares about every little thing that weighs on your heart and mind. He wants to help, He’s just waiting for you to ask Him

B. Above all, don’t forget to pray for each other (v. 16)

1. We often feel weak or embarrassed to reveal our temptations or struggles with others

a. We feel like people will look at us differently. We also feel ashamed that we are struggling with anxiety or depression or our lack of prayer life, etc. When, in reality, what you’re going through is not unique

b. Many others are suffering in silence because Satan wants us to feel isolated. When we feel alone then we will never heal or improve

2. The solution: pray for each other over specific issues then much healing can be accomplished: the prayers of the righteous have great power.

III. When and where should we pray?

A. When you’re suffering, doubting, excited, cheerful, stumbling over sin, turning back to God, etc.

1. In other words, pray anytime and anywhere

2. You don’t have to use any devices or go to a certain place or wait for mealtime. You can pray while you drive (just do it with your eyes open), you can pray while you walk, while you work, while you lay in bed, etc.

B. Paul gave this advice, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing,”

1. When you live at home with a spouse you restart every conversation with “Dear honey”. You just talk to them. Develop the kind of relationship with God where you simply talk to Him

2. I’m not saying “Stop using your specific introductions when starting prayer.” Rather, have a continual conversation with God throughout the day. If you stop for awhile then pick right back up where you left off

3. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing, God is always waiting to hear from you. So, pray

IV. Why pray?

A. God answers prayer (vv. 17-18)

1. Do you ever feel like your prayers aren’t as good as someone else’s? God gives us some comforting words using Elijah

a. Elijah was a guy just like us. He was a regular human being with struggles and pitfalls. He struggled with fear, anxiety, depression, insecurity, inadequacy, complaining, a desire to quit, and even a desire to die

b. Even so, he prayed earnestly (fervently, intensely) that it wouldn’t rain and God listened. It didn’t rain for 3 and a half years until Elijah prayed again

2. If Elijah, who struggled in the same ways as us, can have an effective prayer life then so can we

3. It’s not about how great you are, it’s about the God you’re praying to

B. You can be a big part of bringing someone to Christ (vv. 19-20)

1. You may not be articulate with your words or have half the Bible memorized or know all the arguments to persuade someone to turn back to Christ. But you can pray

2. There’s a church historian named Eusebius who wrote around 300 AD. He said this about James, the half-brother of Jesus, prayer life. He was constantly, "kneeling and praying for forgiveness for the people, so that his knees grew hard like a camel's because of his constant worship of God". As a result, James got the nickname “Camel Knees”

3. Don’t lose hope. Keep praying to the God of Salvation and see how He can work

V. How to pray?

A. James gives us 7 ways to Pray:

1. For each other (v. 14a)

2. In the Name of the Lord (v. 14b)

3. In Faith (v. 15a)

4. In Humble Mutual Confession (v. 16a)

5. In Righteousness (v. 16b)

6. In your humanity (v. 17a)

7. Earnestly (v. 17b-18)

B. Don’t treat prayer like a legalistic checklist

1. Use this list as a guide to prompt you to pray

2. The more we pray the better we will get

a. It is said that if you practice any skill for 18 minutes a day then you will be better than 95% of the population after a year

b. Don’t focus on being better than everyone else. Rather, think of how comfortable you’ll get with prayer and how much better you’ll be at it if you dedicate yourself to pray for 18 minutes a day (that’s just driving to Wabash and back)

Conclusion

Prayer is not meant to be an enigma. It’s our way of communicating with God. Develop a life of consistent prayer. Talk to God anytime and anywhere, about anything that weighs on your mind because He is faithful to hear and will use you in the answer. The more you pray the better you’ll get.

Heavenly Father,

You have given us so much to think about and contemplate. We thank you for Jesus, that He enables us to pray by being our Advocate. You have given us a glorious gift by way of the Holy Spirit living in us, who intercedes for us when we don’t know how to pray.

God, give us a heart dedicated to communing with you. Strengthen our resolve to pray consistently and daily. Thank you for hearing us and for loving us.

It is in the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.