Well my friends this is the final post on our study of the Book of
James. We will be dissecting these last
eight verses and share some additional scripture as well. The theme of today’s post is ‘Rich in
Faith’. It could just as easily be
entitled, Prayer of Faith’ as there is a definite focus on faith filled
prayer. Please read James 5:13-20 in
your own Bible after you begin with prayer.
Thanks.
13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should
pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should
call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the
name of the Lord. 15 And the
prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him
up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 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.
17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed
earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and
a half years. 18 Again he
prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19 My
brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring
him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of
his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
The writer of Hebrews offers a good definition of faith in Chapter 11,
verse 1.
“Now faith is confidence in what
we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Confident of what we hope for and sure about something we can’t
see. That about sums it up. This is taken from the NIV but other
translations share similar words. The KJ
says that faith is the substance of what we hope for and the evidence of what
we can’t see. The CEV says faith makes
us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we can’t see. I kind of like that one. Anyhow, our faith empowers our hopes. Our faith gives heart strength or assurance
of the reality of what we can’t see with our eyes. In the next few verses James relates faith to
our prayer life.
13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should
pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should
call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the
name of the Lord. . 15 And
the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise
him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
The first thing that jumps out as I read verse 13 is that we should pray,
communicate with our Lord, when we are facing troubles and when we are being blessed.
So often, when either of these things come our way prayer or communion
with God is one of our last thoughts when we must already know that we should
turn our hearts to Him right away whether we are troubled or blessed. In the first case we should turn to Him for
strength, guidance, maybe even a Christian friend to come along side us. When we are blessed we should celebrate it as
a gift from God and tell others that very thing. We should share this thought and give God the
praise, thanks and credit for it. Think
about this next Sunday when your pastor asks if someone has a praise to
share. Too often that time in worship
fills with burdens and problems but it’s also very important for those in
attendance to hear how God has been working in the lives of others in the
room. This helps people in struggles to
remember that God is there, that God cares and that He’s busy in the lives of
people they know and love in their church family. Keep your eyes open throughout your
week. Maybe God has done something in
your life which you can share this Sunday.
Verse 14 has been problematic for many people for many years. Here’s the basic issue. If the only verses in God’s Word dealing with
healing were these three verses, we could easily conclude that a Christian
could feel that no matter what illness struck him in this life he could pray
and God would heal him of it. The problem
comes when we realize that believers oftentimes have illnesses which don’t go
away, which progress and in the end, take their lives. I’m no scholar but the explanation which I’ve
read and which makes sense of this is that James is speaking of specific
troubles or sickness related to sin in their lives. We don’t know what these would be but it’s
been suggested that the verses support the idea that this sin might be related
to behaviors or actions by this individual which harmed the testimony or witness
of the local church. Since verse 15
includes the phrase that the faithful prayer of these elders “will make the sick person well; the Lord
will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven”. First we see that the sick person will be
healed, then that the Lord will restore him (possibly to fellowship with his
brothers & sisters in Christ) and that his sins will be forgiven. That does seem to support the interpretation
that this man’s sins were related to sins against God and His local church. If you read this passage differently and can
support your idea with other scripture then go for it. The one I shared from my reading seems to be
the best fit so I present it to you as just that….my opinion.
16 “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.”
The first part of verse 16 seems to suggest that we bare our souls to all,
so to speak, about our sinful acts. What
makes a lot more sense (and seems a widely accepted interpretation) is that
James is telling us that we should confess our sin to one another as we are
convicted of them. In other words, if
you sin against someone you should go and make it right with them by confessing
to them and asking their forgiveness.
Not only does this make sense, it’s also found in scripture as I’m sure
you have already recalled. In Matthew
5:23, 24 Jesus talks about what we should do in such a situation.
“Therefore, if you are offering
your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has
something against you, leave your gift
there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and
offer your gift.”
Jesus makes the point in this passage from Matthew that sinning against a
brother or sister is serious and needs to be dealt with quickly. He says that whatever “gift” we bring to the
Lord won’t be very worthy because we bring it while holding sin in our
hearts. We are told to go to the
offended brother or sister and be reconciled before we offer our gift to God.
Getting back to James 5:16, we read that we are to “pray for each other so that you may be healed”. There is an old saying that ‘confession
is good for the soul’. James seems to be
saying that confession is good for the body as well for he speaks of being “healed”
as a result of confession and prayer for each other. James says that there is great power in
prayer.
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (Vs. 16) There
is an interesting verse in Ephesians that relates to our prayer life. It’s found in Ephesians 6:18A.
“And pray in
the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Ephesians
6:18A
The phrase “pray in the Spirit” means
to pray in line with what the Spirit wants, not what we want. Paul writes that we are to pray about all
kinds of things and on any and all occasions.
Prayer isn’t just a church thing it’s a lifestyle thing. Do you pray in public? Before you eat at a diner or restaurant, do
you ask God to bless the meal? When you
speak to someone at the grocery store or pharmacy who shares a problem with you
do you pray right there in the store?
How about a similar scene at the gas station? It’s a powerful thing to stop whatever you
are doing and invite such people to join you for a short prayer. I’ve had the opportunity to do this in a lot
of different public places and it’s a pretty unique way to make public witness
of your faith in God. I also seems a
great encouragement to those being prayed for.
There is something very special about proclaiming God’s presence in such
a locale. If you haven’t done it why not
give it a try. Pray in the Spirit on all
occasions.
Here’s one final thought on prayer.
It is certainly a very personal and intimate time between you and God
but it’s also a time for God to help you see what’s important. What I’m trying to say is that prayer often
changes your heart and not the person
you are praying about. God already knows
your thoughts, your needs and your challenges.
Through prayer He can remind you of things you may already know about
His love and care for you or He may use that connection to reveal something new. I know I always feel different, better, more
at peace after spending some time in prayer.
Prayer changes things. Prayer
changes YOU! As a testimony to the power of prayer James shares
a brief version of the story of Elijah and the rain.
17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed
earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and
a half years. 18 Again he
prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
19 My brothers, if one of you should wander
from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever
turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover
over a multitude of sins.
Considering what James has said earlier in his letter, these final words
are given to encourage each of us to do all we can to help a brother (or
sister) who has “wandered from the truth”.
It is a powerful thing for a compassionate believer to pray for, reach
out to, and lead another wayward believer back to Christ. It’s a strong statement when we read that it “will save him from death and cover over a
multitude of sins.” He is calling
each of us to help each other find their way home.
I want to thank you for taking the time to work through James Epistle
with me during these last 16 lessons. I
have heard from several of you but would love to hear from all of you with your
comments and suggestions on how these posts might be made better and more
useful for you. I think the next series
will be lessons taken from Psalm 23.
This Psalm is very often used at funerals as it provides wonderful words
of comfort but it has much to say to us about our daily walk with the
Lord. If you have thoughts about how
these posts could be more beneficial for you please don’t hesitate to leave a
comment. I will prayerfully consider
everyone’s input in preparing the next study.
Also, if you haven’t done so already, I’d surely appreciate your sharing
this link with any of your friends as well.
The more people who stop by these posts, the more people who are taking
the time to dig into God’s word and that’s a real blessing. Here’s a quick FYI about those who have checked
out this series. According to the
blogspot data there have been 1,073 visits to this blogsite since January 1st
when this study in James began. That
includes each of your visits as well. That’s
an amazing number! I thank God for this
technology and am so thankful to you for following along. I pray God’s blessing on you every day and
encourage you to “get your nose in the Book” daily! Keep your eyes open for the next series. I will wait a couple days before it begins as
several folks have said they need a little more to finish up James. Love y’all.
Bob
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