“THE POWER OF PRAYER” James 5:13-18
FBCF – 10/13/22
Jon Daniels
INTRO – A fellow pastor friend of mine & I were walking out of restaurant recently. Group of about 8 businessmen seated at table. As we walked by, all of their heads were bowed down. Looked like they were praying. But we quickly realized that they were all just looking down at their phones at the same time.
Good illustration of our prayer lives. Sometimes, we look like we are praying – head bowed, eyes closed, going through the motions, but no real connection to God is being made. Instead, we are distracted by the things of the world, engrossed in the noise & busyness around us, & missing out on the huge opportunity to tap into the power of God that is available to us in prayer. Gregory Frizzell – “I want to shout from the housetops that powerful prayer is God’s will for every believer!” (How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life, p. 7)
Today, we are going to talk about the power of prayer.
EXPLANATION – James 5:13-18 (p. 1013)
There is such amazing power available to us Christ-followers through prayer! I just wonder sometimes if we truly believe that? When you hear verses like these (slides):
- Jeremiah 33:3
- John 14:13-14 – “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
- Matthew 7:7-8 – “Ask, & it will be given to you; seek, & you will find; knock, & it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, & the one who seeks finds, & to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
- 1 John 5:14-15 – “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”
Listen to the words in those verses: “Call to me & I WILL answer you…” – “If you ask me anything in my name, I WILL do it…” – “Ask, & it WILL be given to you…” – “…we KNOW that we have what we asked of Him.” Do we pray that kind of boldness? Do we pray w/ that kind of confidence? Do we pray w/ that kind of faith? Every Christ-follower should & every Christ-follower can!
James is bringing his letter in for a landing here in Ch 5. He’s been challenging, encouraging, & imploring his readers into living out their faith – being a doer & not just a hearer. In these verses, he touches on some of the other subjects he’s covered earlier in his letter:
- He mentions suffering & sickness in v. 13-14. Reminds us of what he said back in ch. 1:2-4 – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect & complete, lacking in nothing.”
- Remember that he talked about taming your tongue back in ch. 3:8. Ultimate way to tame you tongue is to use it to “pray for one another” (5:16).
The main focus of these verses is on the importance of prayer in the life of the believer. He started the letter by telling his readers that, if they needed wisdom, they should pray in faith & ask God to give it to them. Now he ends his letter by showing his readers how important & powerful that prayer of faith is in their lives.
APPLICATION – Every Christ-follower can & should have a powerful prayer life.
As we walk through this passage, there are 4 “firsts” that I want to share w/ you today so we can know the power of prayer that is available to us as Christ-followers:
FIRST THOUGHT: PRAYER – v. 13 – Our first thought in a time of suffering or in a time of happiness should be prayer. Our first response should be to God, turning to Him in prayer & in praise.
Throughout this whole book, James has been pushing us deeper & deeper in our relationship w/ God & in our love for Him. It’s all about the relationship!
- When you’re madly in love w/ someone, you want to tell them everything & you want to tell them first. Whether it’s good news or bad news, you want to tell them first b/c of the relationship you have w/ them.
- Same is true w/ God. He should be our first response, our first love, our first thought, no matter what we’ve encountered, bad or good, suffering or cheerfulness.
- Same thought that Paul had in Philippians 4:6 – “Don’t worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything…” (TLB) It ought to be an automatic response from us.
o “I’m suffering. I need to pray.”
o “I’m so happy. I need to pray.”
o “I’m in trouble. I need to pray.”
o “I’m confused. I need to pray.”
o “I’m worried. I need to pray.”
FIRST CALL: ELDERS – v. 14-15 – When you get sick, probably your first call is to your doctor to get necessary treatment, & that’s a good idea. But there’s another first call you need to make, & that’s to the “elders of the church” to pray over you for healing, anointing you w/ oil in the name of the Lord (v. 14). Let’s talk about the different components of this prayer by the elders:
“elders” – pastors & overseers in the church.
- Acts 20:28 – “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God…”
- Titus 1:7 – An overseer/pastor is God’s steward – His manager & administrator of the church
- Different translations of 1 Peter 5:2 tell us that pastors have a responsibility to shepherd, tend, guide, protect, guard, feed, watch over, take care of the flock – the members of the church.
- Hebrews 13:7, 17 remind us that pastors are our leaders who speak the W of G to us; that we need to obey & submit to them b/c they are “keeping watch over your souls” & will have to give an account to God for this.
- So much more than just a hired hand in the church or an employee who just draws a paycheck. Elders are our spiritual leaders, ordained & set apart by God. If there’s ANYONE in the church who MUST know how to prayer powerfully, it’s them. So, make them a first call for prayer when you get sick. In our church, that would be me, Gil, Mark, & Michael.
“anoint w/ oil in the name of the Lord” – Oil is a symbol representing the healing power of the Holy Spirit to come upon the sick person. It’s an act of setting that person apart for the Lord’s intervention in their life. The oil itself has no healing power. So why do it? Simple answer: B/c the Bible says to do it. “It is an act by which those who are praying express their faith in God outwardly & visibly & show that they are trusting Him to perfect His will in the life of the one who is sick” (Francis Dixon, “The Letter of James”, Words of Life Bible Study Notes, #10).
We pray in faith for healing & trust God to do so in the way that is best for us & that will bring Him the most glory. That may be to miraculously heal that person in this life, or to bring the healing through doctors & medicine. The answer may be to allow that physical condition to remain in that person’s life so that they will draw closer to Him, like Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Or the answer may be that the person will die physically, which is the ultimate healing for the Christ-follower. We ask for the healing & trust God to answer in His way in His time & for His glory. We will not always be able to understand His answers, but we can trust His goodness, His faithfulness, & His love for us.
FIRST MOVE: CONFESSION – v. 16a – Sometimes, sickness is due to sin in our lives.
- Paul writing to the church at Corinth about the careless way they were observing the Lord’s Supper. 1 Corinthians 11:29-30 – “For if he eats the bread and drinks from the cup unworthily, not thinking about the body of Christ & what it means, he is eating & drinking God’s judgment upon himself; for he is trifling with the death of Christ. That is why many of you are weak & sick, & some have even died.” (TLB)
We are so careless & nonchalant & flippant about sin, thinking that we can sin anyway we want to w/out worrying about any consequences. But our holy God will not sit idly by while His children just sin & sin & sin. If He must, He will discipline us by allowing us or one of our loved ones to get physically sick so that He can get our attention & draw us back into fellowship w/ Him. That’s not always the case, but it definitely is sometimes. So, our first move needs to be to confess all known sins to God & get right w/ God & others so our prayers will not be hindered.
What if YOUR sin & refusal to confess is the cause of someone NOT being healed? So, confess sins to one another – Do it before you pray. Sometimes there are times that sickness is in response to sin. Sometimes an opportunity to examine life. You could truly see healing! The W of G is true! Nothing crazy, outlandish. Just simply reading the Word & believing what it says.
FIRST PRIORITY: RIGHTEOUSNESS – v. 16b-18 – The first priority of our lives in all things is that we live & walk in righteousness. We are made right w/ God through faith in Christ – our positional righteousness. And we are to walk & live in righteousness through our ongoing faith in Christ – our practical righteousness.
v. 17-18 – Elijah – “a man just like us” who walked w/ God. Bible hero – Mt Carmel w/ prophets of Baal. Miracles! Boldness. But a man just like you who struggled w/ fear & anxiety.
Whole point – Elijah has nothing on you. We think he’s different from us.
- “I’m no Elijah….no David…..no Moses….no Abraham….” Etc
- WRONG! I can do the same thing as them!
Elijah was a normal guy who could pray & stop the rain, call down fire – You & I can be like him! Would God respond to our prayers like He did to Elijah? Yes!
CONCLUSION – So, what needs to be your first step today?
