A Covenant Community Prays Fervently Series

Introduction

In his profound book on the importance of prayer in the life of a congregation, John Onwuchekwa shares this quote - which is attributed to several different people including Martin Luther:

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.

Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation); R. Scott Pace; David Wheeler

Prayer is a vital tool in the lives of believers, and yet so often it is a tool that is under utilized, if it’s utilized at all.

Last week, we began considering the conclusion to James’ letter to exiles as he urged honest communication. Today, we get to the second of his three final instructions on the topic of prayer. Open your Bibles to James 5. We are considering verses 13-18 today.

Prayer is something that is mentioned some seven (or 8 times - including fervently in vs. 17) times in these 6 verses - James uses three different words for prayer. If you’d like to mark something in your bible to note the difference, feel free. I have added markings to the slide in the following way:

p??se???µa? (proseuchomai) (four times) - pray (underline) - this is the most common word for prayer in the NT.

e???/e???µa? (euche/euchomai) (twice)- (ehCHE) vow - prayer offered on behalf of another (elders for sick - prayer of faith, one another) - rare use of the word - euche is only used 2 other times in NT for a vow; euchomai is used more times - a prayer (5), would (1), wish (1) [brackets]

d??s?? (deisis) (once) - supplication (noun, singular) {braces}

James 5:13–18 (ESV)

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 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. 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. 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. 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. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

If we could consolidate all that James say here into one sentence, it might be:

Theme: Individual, pastoral, and community prayer is an effective and important, God-given instrument for every aspect of the believer’s life.

Now, in this passage, James does not provide an exhaustive exposition on prayer, but he makes some very strong points about when we should pray, with whom we should pray, and why we should pray. But it is important to realize that prayer is not just some aimless communication into the sky. It’s not a ritualistic endeavor designed to garner favor. Prayer is our lifeline to God. Prayer is our means of communication with the Spirit of God. Prayer is the resource that Jesus instructed us to use. Because of that, in all of our communication with God, we have an underlying premise:

Prayer and praise presume Providence

In other words - when we pray and when we offer praise, we do so because we know there is a Sovereign God who rules and reigns over all things. He is the one who can change the circumstances of our lives and is the reason for us to experience joy or happiness. Because of that, we get to pray bold prayers, desperate prayers, hope-filled prayers, confessional prayers. What’s more, we get to pray at a variety of times, with a variety of people, for a variety of reasons. James here limits his instruction to three categories and then provides a fourth example.

James begins by telling us that we should…

Pray Individually (13)

James 5:13 ESV

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

So James here provides two instructions for two specific circumstances - suffering should prompt prayer, cheerfulness or happiness of heart should prompt praise.

Suffering prompts prayer

While there are seasons when we will face suffering together as a congregation or a group - often this suffering will be more individualistic. Much like the Apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7) or the various trials and tests that James alluded to in chapter 1 (James 1:2-4), it seems like God allows suffering in our lives individually for specific reasons. For Paul, his thorn was the keep him from being conceited. God had blessed him with so much knowledge and insight that it would have been easy, even tempting, for him to make it about himself and not about Christ. The thorn in his flesh (whatever that was) was a reminder that God is God and Paul is not.