Genuine Faith Is Marked By Effective Prayer Series

Genuine faith is marked by effective prayer 5:13-20

How’s your prayer life?

1. Genuine faith prompts us to pray in all circumstances. James 5:13-16a?

a. In times of suffering v.13a

suffer (kakopathei): suffering from any source

b. In times of gladness v.13b

c. In times of discouragement v.14-16a

? sick (asthenei): to be weak; to have no strength.

2. Genuine faith prompts us to learn to pray effectively James 5:16b-20

? The Bible says that praying without faith is ineffective. James 1:6-8

? The Bible says that prayers outside of God’s will are ineffective. 1 John 5:14

The Bible says that prayer offered on our own authority is of not effective.

John 16:24

The Bible says that prayer that is not persistent and passionate is rarely effective. Luke 11:5-13; 18:1

effect/effective (energeo): energy or energetic

?prayer (deesis): to be in need of

One day, Joe, Bob and Dave were hiking in a wilderness area when they came upon a large, raging, violent river. They needed to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so. ? Joe prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength to cross this river." Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across the river in about two hours, although he almost drowned a couple of times. ? Seeing this, Dave prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools to cross this river." Poof! God gave him a rowboat and he was able to row across the river in about an hour, after almost capsizing the boat a couple of times. ? Bob had seen how this worked out for the other two, so he also prayed to God saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools, and the intelligence, to cross this river." Poof! God turned him into a woman. She looked at the map, hiked upstream a couple of hundred yards, then walked across the bridge.

How’s your prayer life?

1. Genuine faith prompts us to pray in all circumstances. James 5:13-16a? In vv.13 & 14, James asks 3 questions and then answers them.? The 1st question James asks is in v.13 prompts us to pray:

a. In times of suffering v.13a James asks, “Is anyone among you suffering?” ? Some translations say, “Is anyone among you in trouble?” The word there is kakopathei: “suffering from any source.” It’s the idea of suffering or being troubled because of adversity in a general sense. That could be financial trouble. Legal trouble. Marital trouble. Family troubles. Relational troubles. Job troubles. School troubles. ? I had my 4th shoulder surgery in February, and after the surgery you have to begin therapy. If you don’t do the therapy, the surgery doesn’t do any good. You have to do what the doctor ordered.? James says that the prescription for suffering and trials and troubles is to “Pray!” We do everything but pray. We worry. We fret. We self-medicate. We go shopping. We look at pornography. We watch our favorite TV shows. But we don’t pray. James says, “If you have troubles; if your suffering: pray!? Then James asks the 2nd question that prompts us to pray:

b. In times of gladness v.13b “Is anyone cheerful?”

Circumstances are good right now. The marriage is good. The kids are going back to school—hallelujah! The job is good. So what does James say we should do? “Sing praises!” Now, he’s not saying we should only praise God in the good times; just that when you recognize the favor of God in your life, it should prompt you to praise God. ? Then in v.14 James asks the 3rd question that prompts us to pray:

c. In times of discouragement v.14-16a (on screen)? This has been the source of much controversy through the centuries. Is James saying that if you are sick with cancer or some other disease and someone prays over you, you will be well; that you will be healed?? That can’t be true. If this means that if you have faith, you or those you pray for will automatically be healed, then very few if any of us have faith. The Apostle Paul’s physical malady was never healed. Timothy had chronic stomach problems. Ephaphroditus, Paul’s courier of the letter to the Philippians almost died. ? I am not denying that God heals. I’ve been healed miraculously at least once. I’ve seen others healed. But to say that James is saying it’s guaranteed if someone with great faith prays for you, is not sound biblically.? If you do a word study on the word sick (asthenei): to be weak; to have no strength. The use of that word asthenei differs according to context. In the gospels, it is used primarily to refer to physical maladies. but the rest of the New Testament writers normally used it to refer to someone who had “weak faith or a weak conscience.” John Walvoord