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
To go one step further, the entire book of james is about trials, tribulations, weakness, sin, faith & obedience. So where does this leave us? The preponderance of evidence leads us to believe that James was talking here, not about a physical healing, but a spiritual healing; a healing of weak faith and the resulting discouragement.? So let’s reread it with that in mind and see if it doesn’t make more sense:?“Is anyone among you sick, i.e., weak, weary or discouraged? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save (or rescue) the sick, i.e., weak, weary, or discouraged person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, i.e., if his weak and weariness is a result of a sin, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”? v.16 is important. It’s when we confess our sins to one another, rather than hide them, that we begin to be healed. Rick Warren says, “We’re only as sick as our secrets.” Rick Warren. ? The reason we are discouraged, the reason we continue to stumble in our faith and in our walk with Christ, is because we’re not in biblical community. In Biblical community we share our faults, our mistakes, our sins and ask for prayer and compassion and accountability and encouragement.? Plug for Fight Groups and Become Groups…
Now that leads to the 2nd part of James discussion on prayer:
2. Genuine faith prompts us to learn to pray effectively James 5:16b-20 (on screen)? vv.19&20 support the idea that this passage is about weariness, weak faith, and the discouragement that occurs when we don’t walk with Christ and trust in Him.
If you don’t know the story of Elijah and his weather.com praying, you can check it out in 1 Kings 17 & 18. Really cool story. Brief summary: the king of Israel was a miserable wretch by the name of Ahab. His wife was a shameless hussy called Jezebel. They did not worship Yahweh only but worshipped foreign gods. It’s not that they didn’t worship Yahweh, they did. But they also had other gods they worshipped including the fertility god Baal. Some of us here this morning are like that: we show up on Sunday and worship Yahweh and then we head home to worship the gods of comfort, money, and security.? So God sent Elijah to tell Ahab that because of his sinful leadership, there would be no rain for 3 years. Then after 3 years, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to the smackdown of all smackdowns. You know the story. If not, read about it in 1 Kings 18. ? Afterward, Elijah sits down on Mt. Carmel where all this happened;….BTW, next May, I’ll be standing in that very place; love to have you join me….(pic of Mt. Carmel)? So Elijah sat down and began to pray. He asked his servant, “Any clouds yet?” Servant said, “Nope”. So Elijah prayed even harder. “Any clouds yet?” Nope. Prayed some more: “Any clouds yet”. This time, “Yeah, I see some clouds in the distance.” And eventually it began to rain again in Israel. ? James uses this story to illustrate how important it is to become effective pray-ers.
So let’s focus the rest of our time on v.16b “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” (CSB) The NIV translates it, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”( NIV)
I don’t know about you, but I want my prayers to be effective. When I go to the Father about the needs in my life, I want those prayers to be answered. When I call out to the Father and ask Him to heal or help or give hope to someone, I want those prayers to be productive. Why bother praying if you don’t want and expect your prayers to make a difference? ? I suggest to you that this verse indicates that some of our prayers are effective and some are NOT effective. ? The Bible says that praying without faith is ineffective. (Build w/o verses) James 1:6-8 “But let him ask in faith without doubting…. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” ? The Bible says that prayers outside of God’s will are ineffective. 1 John 5:14 “This is ??the confidence which we have ?before Him, that, ??if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
The Bible says that prayer offered on our own authority is of not effective.
John 16:24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”
The Bible says that prayer that is not persistent and passionate is rarely effective. Luke 11:5-13; 18:1 “Ask and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; knock and keep on knocking.” “Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up.”
That’s what James is saying. Look at v.16b again: “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.”
The word effect/effective (energeo): get our word energy or energetic. It means to be effective, to be productive, to be fervent, to put forth power. ? The word for prayer (deesis) and carries the idea of to be in need of. It is rendered as plea, prayer, supplication, need, or want. Interestingly, the word most commonly used in the New Testament for prayer, proseuchomai, is not used here. Proseuchomai is the broader or more common term for prayer & includes prayers of praise, prayers of repentance, prayers of gratitude. Here James uses, deesis to denote intensity.? So when James puts these two words together, energeo and deesis, the reader understands that prayer that calls on God to meet needs is effective when it is energetic, when it’s passionate, when it’s powerful.
Illustration: two pray-ers; 1 “Dear Lord, I know you’re busy, but if I could interrupt you for a moment…I have this need, I don’t know if you want to do anything about it, but when you have time could you give me a little help here.” 2. “God, you say in your word that I can come boldly into the throne room—so here I am; by your grace you have made me your child and I am a joint-heir with Jesus; You said I can bring anything to your attention and that when I pray in faith, you’ll hear me and you’ll answer me. You’re God, I’m not. So I’m not telling you want to do, I’m crying out to you to hear my prayer and to grant my prayer. God bring healing for my friend, bring a job so that I can provide for my family. You said that if I pray effectively, that I can experience a peace in my heart and mind that is unexplainable—so here I am calling out to you and counting on that promise. You said that when I go thru trials, I should count it all joy. Well, I’m in a heck of a fix here and I know it didn’t catch you by surprise and you have a purpose for all this for your glory and my good, so I take joy in that, O God. I’ve lost a loved one O God, but you promised that in our grief we could still have hope—and I’m going to keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking until that promise comes true in my life.” That’s energeo praying. That’s deesis praying. That’s effective praying.
And who should learn how to pray that way? What does the verse say? The prayer of a righteous person is who can and should pray that way.? The word righteous=right standing. If you’re a believer and have surrendered your life to Christ and have taken His blood and by faith splashed it on your heart, then you are in right standing legally with God. But sometimes that relationship is not right; it’s not healthy. I’m married to Sue legally. But sometimes our relationship isn’t right. ? Could be your prayers aren’t being answered because your relationship with God isn’t healthy. You need to confess your sins to Him and seek Him with all your heart. This is why it is so important to walk in the Spirit and live in a way that is honoring and pleasing to God.? Spiritual breathing. This makes your relationship with God healthy and it makes your prayer life powerful and effective.
Let me encourage you, if you haven’t already, to begin a prayer journal—hold mine up (3-4 of them). Start tomorrow morning. Can be difficult to get started, Paul Cho…? But there may be some heart work that needs to take place as well. Getting your heart and your life straight with God so that your relationship is healthy an honoring to Him.?Pray?
