The Prayer Of Faith

I have done many hours of studying of this passage. I want to share with you that as much joy as I get from teaching you the Bible, I think the most exciting part for me is the studying process. I started studying this passage 2-3 week ago, and the Lord nourished and fed me spiritually. I’ve been personally challenged by this passage. Studying this passage clarified a lot of questions that I had about this passage.

Just to preface the lesson, I have done many hours of studying of this passage. I want to share with you that as much joy as I get from teaching you the Bible, I think the most exciting part for me is the studying process. I started studying this passage 2-3 week ago, and the Lord nourished and fed me spiritually. I’ve been personally challenged by this passage. Studying this passage clarified a lot of questions that I had about this passage.

The subject that we will deal with is primarily on prayer because the words “pray” and “prayer” together are mentioned 7 times in total, so it must be an important topic, but we will also talk about healing. Aside from learning Bible stories about Jesus healing people, I think the topic of healing itself in the Bible isn’t taught as much. So, that’s why I prefer going through books of the Bible verse by verse because it forces us to tackle different topics and passages that are often not talked about in the church.

Let me ask you some questions regarding prayer: Do you pray? How often? When do you pray? Do you have confidence that God hears your prayers? Do you believe in what you pray for? Does prayer actually work?

This past week was a difficult week for the Wong Family. Alethia had her shots and caught a cold, hence she’s been having trouble sleeping through the night. Alison had a sore throat and I had an extreme pain on my back.

Context

I’ll be honest with you…one of the advice I would tell myself as a new Christian, as a University student and as a seminary student is to spend more time in prayer.

Prayer is not as exciting and thrilling compared to doing something tangible. Prayer may seem boring.

A lot of Christian theologians, pastors and Bible scholars would agree that one of the spiritual practices that they struggle with is prayer. If you personally struggle with prayer, then there’s no shame in that because even the godly people have that constant struggle as well.

In the eyes of the world, there is probably nothing more useless, impractical, intangible and unproductive in the Christian life as prayer. But, God commands us to pray.

Prayer tests our spiritual character. Prayer tests our trust in God, our patience in waiting upon God and our perseverance in praying the same thing.

Prayer also tests our spiritual character. Prayer tests our trust in God, our patience in waiting upon God and our perseverance in praying the same thing.

So, in this second last lesson on the letter of James, my hope is that prayer wouldn’t be useless, but that you can have confidence in the God who hears your prayer; thus, encouraging you to pray regularly.

Exposition

1. In all spectrums of life, we are to pray to and praise God. (v.13)

James begins in verse 13 with questions. “Is anyone among you suffering?” As we studied James, there were Christians who were suffering persecution. You may remember a couple lessons back, the rich misused their wealth to persecute the poor Christians. Some of them were taken into court.

Regardless of what kind of suffering James had in mind, James instructs them to pray. Are you suffering? Are you going through trials and hardships in your life? Is there trouble at school? Is there trouble at home? Then pray to God. Tell Him about your problems. More than just telling God your problems and asking Him to take them away, ask Him to give you the spiritual strength to endure suffering.

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“Is anyone cheerful?” Answer? Sing praise to God! Singing praise song to God edifies the soul. Quite often, when we are in a state of happiness, we can easily forget God.

What James is saying, in good times and in bad times, you are to turn to God.

2. We should pray for others. (v.14-16)

Instruction for the physically sick

a. Consider the sick

We don’t know what kind of sickness this is because James doesn’t talk about it. However, it may be a sickness that caused this person to be bedridden. Notice that the sick person is to call the elders of the church to pray OVER him. Whatever this sickness is, it’s very serious and dire.

b. Consider the responsibility of the elders of the church

James instructs the sick person to summon the elders of the church to pray over him. Most of you may not be familiar with elders. The elders of the church are qualified men who shepherd the church. You can read about their qualifications in and . Sometimes, elders are called overseer, but they are used interchangably. The responsibility that they have is to pastor or shepherd God’s people, such as teaching doctrine, protecting the church from false teachers, caring for the congregation, and so forth. At OBC, Pastor Brad, Pastor Samson, Garry and Sam are the elders of the church.

Most of you may not know them personally, but I strongly encourage all of you to get to know them or remember their faces. They don’t come to Sunday School, but the best place to know them is Sunday morning services. Please don’t make it a habit of skipping church on Sunday just because it’s the combined service.

Now, it is interesting that James would tell the sick person to call for the elders instead of other Christians. Why is that? Most likely is because the elders are the spiritual leaders of the local church. To be qualified to be an elder, you must be recognized as men who are spiritually mature in the faith. It is the elders responsibility to look after the members in the local church. So, the sick person might be a member of the local church in Jerusalem.

So, the elders visit the sick person and they are to pray over him, implying that the sick person is bedridden with a serious illness. We understand the importance of prayer. We lift up the sick person into God’s hands and asking that God would heal this person.

c. Consider how we should pray for the sick

And then we get into a peculiar part of the verse where it says, “anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” Many theologians and experts of the Bible don’t seem to have a consensus to the meaning of this part of the verse, but I’ll share with you where I land.

First of all, there is no magical power to anointing someone with oil. Second, anointing sounds like a magical word, but the word could mean “to rub” or “to apply.” Sometimes, when people are wounded or they have headaches, oil was applied. In Chinese culture, you apply oil to certain places in your body because it’s aching for the purpose of soothing your pain. Third, it’s not about the amount of oil the elders are to anoint to the sick person, but it is about the meaning behind it. James may have the Old Testament background in mind.

James may have the Old Testament background in mind.

: And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.

When the elders of the church apply the oil onto the sick person, the sick person is not being ordained to ministry, but it symbolizes that the sick person is being dedicated to God for special attention in prayer. Sometimes we would pray, “Lord, I lift up uncle Joe into your hands. Please take care of him and heal him.”

Let me

Would God heal this sick person? Take a look at verse 15. READ.

Okay, so if the elders’ prayer are offered in faith, then they will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. That’s what the text tells us. The word “save” can mean salvation, but in this context, it may mean deliverance from sickness, disease and illness. And the Lord will raise this person up, meaning that he will get up from the bed and be restored to health.

But, what if the sick person is not healed? Should we blame the elders for not having enough faith if the sick person is not healed? Umm…no.

There is a form of Christianity that emphasizes healing and miracles. They say that it is not God’s will for everyone to be sick and ill; hence, to be sick and ill means to be in disfavour with God. They also say that if you have enough faith, then God will definitely heal you. God won’t heal you (from your sickness or cancer) becauase you don’t have enough faith. There are these so-called “faith healers” who scammed people by telling them to give money to the ministry and God will heal their ailments.

We must understand that God is absolutely sovereign and the Ruler of this universe. Only God can heal. Nobody can twist God’s arms or manipulate Him.

The elders, when their prayers are offered in faith, will heal the sick person if this prayer is consistent with “the name of the Lord” or the will of God.

Let me make this clear: the power to heal is found in the anointing of oil or in the elders or even in PRAYER itself. The power to heal is in the name of the Lord.

: “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

Praying in the name of Jesus is not a magic formula at the end of our prayer. Rather, it means the prayer should be for God’s purpose, for His kingdom and for His glory alone. If the prayer accomplishes His purposes and His will, then God will do it.

Let me go on a bit of a detour or a rabbit trail. Let’s understand healing according to the Bible.

Anointing the sick person with

Physical healing is not always God’s norm. God doesn’t always heal, but He does heal if it is according to His will. God did not heal Paul when he had this “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians; God did not heal Timothy from his frequent ailment; God did not heal Trophimus (probably Paul’s co-worker).

Does God still heal people? Yes! I absolutely believe that. Does God always heal? Not necessarily.

Healing points to a greater healing.

c. Consider praying for God’s will to be done

d. Consider confessing your sins to one another and pray for one another

Sometimes, sickness and illness are a product of sin. Take a look at the end of verse 15. READ

James may be connecting sins with sickness.

Sometimes, sickness is due to sin. The Corinthian church was in sin and taking the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. As a consequence, some of them became ill and sick.

Sometimes, sickness is not due to sin. Jesus mentioned that the blind man was born blind not beecause of the sins of his parents.

Since sin may be the cause of sickness and illness, James then gives this instruction in verse 16. READ

Roman Catholics take this mean that the people are to confess their sins to the priests, but that’s not what James is saying.

James might have this verse in mind.

: “Whoever conceals his trangressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

Confession of sins and praying for one another ought to be a church community practice so that there may be healing.

James might have this verse in mind. : “Whoever conceals his trangressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

Have you ever confessed your sins to another Christian? I have, and it is sometimes uncomfortable and embarrassing, but it is necessary to confess your sins to be accountable to another Christian. And I have received my much comfort as a result of confessing my sins with my friend. Of course, we can obviously confess our sins to God privately, but doing it with a Christian is encouraging and you will find support and counsel through prayer.

Before we move on from point 2 to 3, we need to ask ourselves, “Do I pray for other people or do I only focus on praying for myself?” If you know someone who is sick, or someone who generally needs prayer, then I encourage you to think about them in your prayers.

3. We should be righteous people who pray in faith. (v.15-16)

In the last part of verse 16, I prefer this translation: The effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much.

A righteous person is a Christian who is genuinely saved and have received Christ’s righteousness into his/her own life, but a righteous person is not only someone who simply believes in Jesus, but this Christian also lives a godly life. We learn about that in where we should not only be a hearer of the Word, but to be a Doer of the Word.

Prayer is effective and accomplishes a lot if/when the Christian is living in holiness and devotion to the Lord.

Perhaps some of you may wonder, “Is God listening to my prayers or answering them? Is prayer effective?” Well, if you’re believer, then you should ask yourself if your lifestyle is consistent with the teachings of the Bible.

Again, it doesn’t mean God always answers prayer immediately. God could either answer “Yes, No or Later” in His own timing. Most of the time, we have to wait, struggle and persevere in prayer. We must pray regularly as much often as possible. I don’t want you doubt the effectiveness of prayer. As this verse tells us, the effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much.

If you’re familiar with the Bible, God answered prayers. You see tons of characters in the Bible where they prayed fervently for God to do something, and eventually God did.

Now, maybe for some of you, you may think, “Oh those were characters in the Bible. They’re more special and significant than we are.

4. We should look to examples of effective prayer (v.17-18)

James used Elijah as an illustration of a righteous person who offered a prayer of faith:

a. Elijah was a normal human being and a sinner like us.

b. Elijah prayed and stopped the rain for 3.5 years. Afterward, he prayed again and it rained.

For those of you who do not know Elijah, he was a famous prophet of God in 1 Kings. He’s popular for his “battle” against the false prophets in . But, he’s also well-known for the fact that God stopped the sky from raining for 3.5 years through his prayer, and then asking God to rain again after 3.5 years was over, which showed the power of his prayer.

But of course, James reminds us that Elijah was a man (a normal human being) with a nature like ours. Meaning, that he was a sinner like us. He has the same experience as we do as humans. In and onward, Elijah was depressed, downcast and disappointed in life.

Although Elijah was a prophet of God, he was still an ordinary person who did extraordinary thing.

I hope this is an encouragement for you.

b. Elijah’s example reflects the power of praying to God who hears.

Because Elijah had the same nature like ours, we too, as believers, can pray effectively and know that God listens to our prayers and He will respond in accordance to His will.

Conclusion

God answered many prayers in my life. Unfortunately, I don’t always remember them and I regret not writing them in my journal. But, I can give you an example of an answered prayer that seemed impossible.

When I was planning to be trained to become a pastor, there were three items that I desired God to answer:

1. I want to stay in Vancouver; I don’t want to move out.

2. I want the tuition to be low or cheap

3. I want to serve at OBC; I don’t want to go elsewhere.

I thought prayer item #3 seemed impossible because there wasn’t an intern position opening, so I thought I go and apply elsewhere.

Ask Pastor Brad

Immerse

3. Summon the elders of the church

Let the elders pray over him

Anointing him with oil?

Although there are different interpretations, it may be best to view this act as a symbolism where the sick person is set apart for God’s special dealing.

The prayer and the anointing of oil ultimately do not have magic power to heal, but the object of our prayer, God Himself, has the power to heal.

Understanding healing in the Bible:

Healing is not always God’s norm.

There is a form of Christianity that emphasizes healing and miracles. They say that it is not God’s will for everyone to be sick and ill; hence, to be sick and ill means to be in disfavour with God. They also say that if you have enough faith, then God will definitely heal you. God won’t heal you becauase you don’t have enough faith. There are some who scammed people for telling them to give money to the ministry and God will heal their ailments.

Not God’s will for everyone to be sick and ill.

Healing is not always God’s norm. God does not always heal, but He does heal if it is according to His will.

In , there are gifts of healing by the one Spirit. Not all Christians possess the gifts of healing.

God does not always heal, but He does heal if it is according to His will.

Healing happened most often during a specific time in biblical history, such as the era of Moses and Elijah’s prophetic ministry, Jesus and the Apostles’ ministry.

Healing is not always God’s norm. God does not always heal, but He does heal if it is according to His will.

Prayer as it pertains to healing:

Prayer should be offered in faith.

Prayer should reflect a righteous conduct.

Prayer should be done in the name of the Lord

The church community should confess sins to and pray for one another that it may lead to healing.

Elijah was a sinner like us.

Elijah prayed and stopped the rain for 3.5 years. Afterward, he prayed again and it rained.

Elijah’s example reflects the power of praying to God who hears.

John Piper: “One of the great uses of Social Media will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.”

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