“The Prayer that Changes Everything”
James 5:13-20
This morning I want to talk to you about a word that none of us like to hear. Trouble. .For some of us we might say that TROUBLE seems to be around every corner. TROUBLE everywhere we go. There is a board game called Trouble and if in moving your game piece around the board and you land on another player then you are officially in trouble and you have to go back and start over. Travis Tritt wrote a country song called T-R-O-U-B-L-E. He is out one night and in walks a woman who looks like trouble. I have heard people say that trouble is their middle name. Most of us can remember when our parents said those words to us…you’re in trouble young man or young lady that the news wasn’t going to be good. . If my parents ever called me by my first and middle name I knew there was trouble on the horizon.
One little boy prayed, Lord take care of my daddy and my mommy and my sister and my brother and my doggy and me. And Oh, please take care of yourself, God. Cause if anything happens to you we’re all gonna be in TROUBLE.
James begins this passage by asking us a very simple question, are there any of you who are in trouble? And he then tells us, if you are then pray. And if you pray in faith, He then tells us what the result will be.
At least 3 different kinds of prayer in this passage.
1. We are to pray for ourselves. Read v. 13.
2. We are to call for the leaders/elders of the church to pray. Read vvs. 14-15
3. We are to pray for one other. Read v. 16
So that covers the WHO. Who is supposed to pray?
Now this passage tells us when to pray. Pray at 4 different times.
1. We must pray when we are suffering/in trouble. In v. 13. He asks a question. “Is any one of you in trouble? If so, he should pray.” Now what James is asking here is not just are you in trouble???…..but are you in great trouble and are you suffering as a result? It is the difference between saying there is a hurricane out in the gulf and there is a hurricane in my backyard. So pray when you are in trouble but don’t be surprised when you are in trouble. 1st Peter 4:12 says “dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange is happening to you.” We know life is never easy so James is reminding us that instead of allowing life to make us resentful, or discouraged or bitter that we should allow them to make us better. When life is more than you can handle, pray.
2. We should pray/offer praise when we have success. Look at the 2nd part of v. 13. Now he asks, “Is anyone happy?” If he is, let him sing songs of praise. Every one of us have numerous things to be thankful for today. Many things to be happy about. James is reminding us that all of us, at one time or another have something to give praise for. I have this book titled 14,000 things to be happy about. Filled with all kinds of things that will make you smile.
Now listen, I know that when we are singing praise songs on Sunday mornings, I know something that you may not think I know. And I’m going to tell you…right now. I know that some of you don’t sing. For some reason you either:
• Don’t think you know how
• You think everyone else is a better singer
• You are daydreaming
• Or you just don’t know the song
• Or maybe you only like country music
But here’s the thing. If you don’t sing you are missing what worship is really about. Paul and Silas were arrested and thrown in jail and you know what they did? They sang. And the fact that they sang instead of getting depressed had an incredible impact on the other inmates. When we sing it’s hard to think about our troubles at the same time. (His eye is on the sparrow.) But I think it’s the other way around. I am happy because I sing. It doesn’t mean I don’t have any troubles. It just means I have chosen not to focus on them.
3. We should pray when we are sick. Vv. 14-15. Every one of us has no doubt experienced God’s healing in their lifetime in one way or another. You have been healed or a member of your family has been healed. The doctors couldn’t understand it but healing took place. No one could explain it. But God did it. We all know that God is able to anything. The scripture tells us that He can do more than we can ask and even more than we can imagine. (Eph. 3:20) And I don’t know about you but I have a BIG imagination.
James’ focus here is on what the church can do when we pray in the name of the Lord. He is focused on what a Bible believing church could and should do when someone is sick. We –should- pray- that- God- will- raise-them-up. Then he basically says, so let me tell you how to do that. He gives us 4 steps… in this process of praying for the sick.
Step #1. The sick person calls for the elders/leaders. In The NT this word for sick is very broad. It can mean any kind of sickness…. physical… (Cold, cancer, broken arm) mental… (depression) emotional…(grieving) spiritual… (Out of step with the Lord) So this word is much broader than we usually think of it. It is referring to any sickness that has become just too much for someone to bear. You ever been there? The leaders of the church are called for two reasons (1) they represent the church and (2) they should know how to pray. If they don’t then they have no business leading.
Step#2. The elders/leaders go to the sick person. Plural. They go together. They go together. There’s strength in numbers. There’s comfort in numbers. And by going in person we also communicate to that person that we are sincere. We could send a card, we could make a phone call but a personal visit to pray with someone carries a lot of weight. It says we really care.
Step #3. The leaders pray and anoint with oil. When the leaders show up James tells them to anoint the sick person with oil. The word literally means to rub the oil on them. Most likely it was olive oil.
Olive oil was used for several purposes. (1) if an animal was wounded they were anointed with oil to sooth the pain and to help cure the wound. Psalm 23:5. David said you anoint my head with oil. (2) People used it for cosmetic reasons. Psalm 104:15 says God gives us oil to make a man or woman’s face shine. Appearance. (3) Men were anointed if they were being placed in office. Priests and prophets were referred to as anointed ones. Oil was of course a symbol of the Holy Spirit. James says we are to use it when we pray for someone and that when we do we must always pray in the name of Jesus. This is a reminder to us that it is not the elder; it is not the oil; it is not the church that heals. It’s Jesus.
Step #4. Healing comes. V. 15 is a powerful verse. Listen…. “and the prayer offered in faith WILL make the sick person well.” James refers to this as the “prayer offered in faith” …it is mentioned one time in the Bible …right here. Now the text does not say anything about how the healing will take place. It doesn’t rule out medical care. Healing is healing. Right? God is in charge of all healing. I believe the scripture teaches that healing comes through these two avenues…. prayer AND medicine. Whether quickly or slowly, whether by miracle or by medicine or by some combination of the two, God is able to heal His children. God needs nothing to heal us. From nothing He created the entire universe. So we may ask well then why does He use medicine? Why does He use doctors? It’s because He chooses to involved us in the process. In the Bible many times we see that for healing to take place people did something.
• Woman touched the hem of Jesus garment…was healed
• He told the man who was paralyzed…get up…walk
• Blind man to wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam
• When he brought Lazarus back from the dead…he told then to take away the stone…The dead man came out his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said take off his grave cloths.
God chooses to use His people.
4. Last, Pray when we you have sin in your life. Look at vv.15-16. “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” We cannot look at this passage without seeing the connection between the physical and the spiritual. And we cannot help but notice that it is entirely possible that someone’s physical illness could be caused by the sin in their life. Sin cause physical illness. Sin can cause depression.
The psalmist David committed several severe sins… he caused a man to be murdered; he committed adultery. Following that he began to feel the effect on his physical body. Listen to how he describes it…”When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of the summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover it up. I said, “I will confess my sin to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
Can guilt and sin do that to us? Absolutely. It happened to David and it can happen to us. And something else here. James is telling is that until that person confesses that sin it is absolutely useless to pray for them. That’s why if you are trying to help someone who is struggling one of the tough questions you must ask is this… is there any sin in your life that is standing between you and God? Get them to deal with it.
Perhaps the biggest problem we have with this passage is found in v. 15. James states without qualification that the sick person WILL BE HEALED. Period. We would prefer to read it the prayer of faith MIGHT save the sick. We all know that not everyone we pray for and not everyone we anoint will be healed. So we come away from this passage with at least one question. What does James mean when he says that if we pray with faith the individual we are praying for WILL BE HEALED?
When you pray you should pray with confidence. Now you can’t fool God. He knows whether you are really confident or not in what He will do. The prayer of faith is offered on the basis of two things. (1) God can heal. (2) God will heal. (1) Always works for me. (2) Gives me trouble. Read it again. “The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.” This poses a problem for us. Because sometimes we see healing and others we don’t. What are we to think? In the book of Timothy Paul left Trophimus in the city of Miletus and he was very sick. Luke the doctor was there with him. No doubt they prayed. But he was still sick.
To me this passage reminds us of several things. (1) Never hesitate to pray. We should never think well I don’t know God‘s will in this so I’m not sure whether I should pray or not. We should never think I don’t know if MY prayers will help. Maybe someone else should pray. I don’t know if I’m spiritual enough. Never hesitate. (2) Pray with intensity. Fervor means to have an intensity of feeling. When Jesus prayed in the garden the evening before He was crucified He prayed so intensely that He sweat drops of blood. (3) Pray submissively. Realize that God’s understanding of the situation is much greater better than ours. Lord your will be done. Just because we believe that physical healing is best for someone doesn’t mean that God agrees with us. God always sees the whole picture. Then He closes with these words about the prophet Elijah. Vv. 17-20.
We have seen this in our congregation before. One man I met who was a retired teacher had just started retirement when he suddenly developed some severe health concerns and he was diagnosed with cancer. A fast growing type and he and his family were more than concerned. Someone asked me if I would go over and talk to him. So I did and he and his wife came to church and we gathered over him and prayed for him and he was healed. The doctors were stunned. The family was amazed. We were all thankful. This man had a limited amount of time left here on earth and God did a miraculous thing. Why? Because His people prayed. And I believe God will do it again and again and again. Never stop praying. Never, ever give up on God.
