James 5:13-20
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Prayer of Faith
Prayer of Faith
finishing up James
Last week we discussed patience in suffering
this week we will talk about when someone is sick.....what to do with our sins and rain....above all we see the topic of prayer
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
the first portion.....anyone suffering? we can all suffer at times. Suffering is miserable to go through. James encourages the one suffering. pray! that this could be prayer for yourself or praying for others. both helps the soul.
and being cheerful..... sing praises, obviously to God. who doesn’t like being in a cheerful place? maybe God is really showing Himself faithful and you are experiencing a joy.....a great place to be in. we are guided to praise! be thankful!
remember how James has expressed the power of riches leading people away and also the struggle with suffering that could harden the heart. both of these could cause a person to not press in towards God but to turn away. James knows this and is showing the correct path for them and us.
James give two ends here. suffering, the low and cheerful, the high. each one he shows a way to lead to God, whether through prayer or praise. in this spectrum, we can find every reason in life to look to God.
Calvin puts it well when he comments that James ‘means that there is no time in which God does not invite us to himself’
one commentary said ‘Prayer may not remove the affliction but it most certainly can transform it.’
and as for praise, well.. try this if you haven’t before. try to praise Him for an extended period of time....see how refreshed you are afterwards.
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.
now this sickness is pretty generic. it doesn’t say exactly what it is so it could be thought of as a severe flu with severe weakness, so weak that maybe the patient couldn’t walk so the elders needed to come to them. this is body ministry in the home..... the church in later years built this to be called “holy unction” and called it a sacrament that was performed just before a persons death. it may have been taken further than these verses meant it for.
what is it that we see being done here in James....
we see the elders, or in other words, overseer's, which were the church leaders.....they were called to pray over the sick person.... possibly laying hands on them and also anointing them with oil.
now oil in the scriptures are called out for two reasons. one as medicinal purposes and another was spiritually symbolic. in this case we see the elders performing the anointing, not doctors, and mixed with prayer, so we can conclude this to be a spiritually symbolic practice. when oil was used in this way it could symbolize the presence of the Holy spirit or a blessing for the sick person to get well. verse 15 continues this thought and explains the promises of these prayers....
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.
two parts to this verse. saving the sick person
also, possibly the sickness was brought on by sin, as we know this can happen. and we see forgiveness here for the possible sin.
James finds a conclusion to the sin issue....
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.
confession is taken in another way with the Catholic church. they perform confession to the priest which in turn gives them certain prayers to say to be released from the sin.
our protestant views are very different in regards to this. we do not have priests.....but pastors. when someone sins, it is expected for them to confess to the person they sinned against…not share all their sins with the pastor.
this verse teaches us to confess to one another.....and also to pray for one another. see the outcome… that you may be healed. life is relational....when you have relationships with imperfect people....you will have sin. Sin towards each other brings about hurt. we all know what that is like. but this is key. in our spiritual walk with God, He shows us forgiveness for every single sin of ours. He is teaching us through that on how to forgive others.
His church is meant to be a place of forgiveness. a place where healing in relationships takes place. we can be a spiritual hospital for the community. as we forgive each other, there is healing that brings unity to the body of Christ.
James then gives an example of a praying man of God with Elijah.
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.
quite a powerful testimony of prayer we could say..... and when you read the story of the widow and her son, it is fitting that James talks about this..... the son becomes close to death until Elijah prays for him, as James discussed praying for the sick earlier.
James brings this moment up in Elijah's life to point at how we can pray....with fervency, and to see what God did through it.
Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
God is answering Elijah’s prayers. God is working in a much bigger way too through this event. Ahab was now king and he was worshipping other gods. Our God can get the attention of the Israelites. and when there is a famine, the food and water, basic needs start becoming less and less. this was meant to show Ahab that he was doing what was wrong and needed to come back to God.
James finishes his letter with this encouragement.....
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
what a great encouragement and challenge. to help one that is wandering from the truth. we should be about this work…to help each other.
think about it like this.... we are all under the same God. if we can lead believers back to who they believe in.......
question for you....are we our brothers keeper?
if yes then we must pray for each other, we must encourage each other, and we must help each other through this journey by loving one another enough to call attention to the path we are on if we are walking not in accord with our Lord.
it is good to bring each other back to the right path......