This morning we are going to be looking at the book of James.
The theme of the James’ letter in the Bible is “Faith Plus”. It’s good to have faith, but that faith must also make a difference in the life of action and in the works we do. The key verse of the entire letter of James would probably be chapter 2, verse 17 where James said, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Likewise Chapter 2, verse 26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.“ What are those works that James speaks of? James tells us in chapter 1, verse 27, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
Another theme of the book of James is how the prayer of faith changes our life.
Now it stands to reason that James who was so concerned that Christians realize that faith without works is dead would want us to grasp that the prayer of faith without works is also dead. Now I want to let you in on an amazing truth. The works that must accompany the prayer of faith is for us to have a relationship with God that is growing, healthy, vital, and central to our life. Just as faith without works is dead, the prayer of faith without a growing relationship with God is dead.
So then how do we build our relationship with God? We build our relationship with God by drawing near to Him with our heart, mind, soul, and strength. James 4:8 is a key to this understanding. It says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you...”
Now I want to help you understand what drawing near to God means. Illustration: Anne and I went on vacation at Family Camp at Lake Geneva Christian Camp(an experience I found especially peaceful since I got to enjoy a camp without being the director). During family free time, I saw a little girl named Jackie and her father Tim fishing on the dock. I noticed that Jackie was having a great time but that her father was the one doing the work. He set the fishing line up, baited the hook, he even held the fishing pole most of the time. It looked like Jackie simply stood next to Tim as he fished. But yet it was obvious that Jackie felt like she was fishing. She got to share in the joys of catching a fish because she was near her father. I hope you catch the comparison here. The power of drawing near to God when we pray is a lot like Jackie’s experience. God is the one who does all the work in our life and in our world, but if we draw near to Him in prayer we will experience a part in the amazing thing He is doing.
How does drawing near to God make our prayer life a plus?
I. It Removes Doubts That God Hears Our Prayer
James 1:6-7 says, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;” God doesn’t want us to doubt. How can we doubt a God who is near us. We may not always understand or like the answer, but if we draw near to God we can have the assurance that God is hearing our prayer and responding in the best way all the time.
How many of you have flown in an airplane within the last year. You’ll understand this. Last Christmas, I flew to North Carolina to visit Anne’s family. Near the end of the return flight, the pilot told us we would be making our approach into Minneapolis. I didn’t doubt for one minute that the pilot was indeed landing in Minneapolis and not some place like Orlando or Hawaii. I didn’t doubt his word because the pilot was on the plane with me. Now if the day ever came where we had an automatic pilot and a far away voice from say Atlanta or Dallas got on the radio waves and told me that our plane was making its approach into Minneapolis, there would be plenty of doubt in my mind. Without a pilot flying with us to the Twin Cities we might end up in some place like Duluth or Rochester or God forbid maybe even Green Bay.
That’s how the presence of God with us can remove all our doubt. Do you know people who say, “I just don’t know what God wants me to do.” The problem is that instead of trying to find out what God wants us to do, we need to know that God wants us.
Now I want to say a word to those who have doubted God or find themselves doubting Him today. Our problem with doubts and fears is that we have sought a “feeling of God’s presence” and when it wasn’t there we became discouraged. What we need is to have a “certainty of God’s presence” that is not dependent upon our feelings. There’s only one way I know to achieve that certainty, we must pray to God from our heart like the father of the mute child in Mark 9:24. The father brought his child to Jesus for healing saying, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”
Drawing near to God will also make our prayer life a plus, because...
II. It should eliminate selfish praying.
I’ll never forget my college professor in Christian Education at Trevecca by the name of Joe Bowers teaching us that, “God seems to always answer the prayers of the immature Christians the way they want him too.”
Selfishness was a chief concern of James. In Chapter 3, verse 14, James says that “self-seeking in your hearts” lies against the truth. Then in chapter 4, verse 3 James says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” I could list for you today various pleasures that can compete with our affection with God, but I wouldn’t want to leave any out, so it’s best to leave that to your own imagination. I think everyone knows the difference between a personal pleasure and a making God our pleasure.
Some of us are like a boy named Bruce who wrote a letter to God. Dear God: Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before, You can look it up.
Or we are like another child who wrote Dear God: Would you make me a little brother? I want to have someone to boss around like my brother does.
If our top goal in life is to draw closer to God, then we realize that ANYTHING that does not draw us closer is to be avoided, because it does not further this critical life goal.
Another way that drawing near to God makes prayer a plus is...
III. It helps us pray effectively for others.
James 5:16 says, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
I had another interesting experience as I was observing the children having fun at the waterfront at family free time during Family Camp at Lake Geneva Christian Camp in August. They had this one activity called a “blob”. It’s a big blob of an air mattress at least 15 feet long. And the way you participate is one person jumps on the blob and moves up to the front and sits down. Then the next person jumps on the back and the force of the jump will catapult the person in front up into the air and into the water. Because of God’s laws of physics, the best jumps are when a little child is in front and a 200 pound man jumps next. Now I noticed something about this activity. The person jumping watches carefully that the person in front is ready. Then all that is required to make an impact on the person in front is for the person jumping on back to make serious contact with the “blob”.
How many of us know today that all that is necessary for us to have an impact in prayer on other people, no matter whether they are next door or around the world, is to make contact with God for them. It is the degree to which we genuinely contact God that we will influence others as we pray for them. As we draw closer to God we will be able to help others through our prayers.
I think I know why people don’t intercede in prayer more for others. It’s because most of us only have a few good friends and most of our relationships with people are superficial at best. What we have to do is understand that God knows everyone and their needs completely. It is enough to leave them in His loving hands. We don’t have to solve all the world’s problems, but we can reach others by first reaching out to God.
Conclusion: The Purpose of Prayer is to Change Us
The movie Shadowlands is about C.S. Lewis’ relationship with his wife Joy. In the movie, Lewis’ colleague’s praise him and affirm that C.S. Lewis’ faithful prayers were getting God to help his wife. In response C.S. Lewis says that when he prays because he can’t help himself not to get any gain from God. He closes the dialogue by saying under his breath, "It doesn’t change God, it changes me."
This is what brings balance to James’ concentration on faith and works. While works are important, when it comes to our prayer life the only work necessary to make it powerful is for us to draw near to God. I think that is what James means in chapter 5, verse 16, when he says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” You and I are not righteous on our own accord. And we can never be righteous on our own strength. We are only righteous as we live in relationship to a righteous and holy God. That’s the secret. God is the plus in prayer.
