The Who, What and When’s of Prayer

James 5:13-18

Over the last few weeks, I hope that God has been revealing to you the emphasis that the Scriptures place on prayer. Faith and prayer go hand-in-hand. Faith is reliance upon God, and prayer voices that dependence. In other words, prayer is the voice of faith. It is the verbal expression that I can’t, but God can. Prayer confesses that apart from Jesus, I can do nothing while also confessing that with Christ all things are possible!

I find the illustration with children to be the best to help describe our relationship with God, and I think even the Scriptures emphasize that illustration, too. God is our Father, we are his sons and daughters! But God doesn’t work in us so that we can grow in independence. Maturity is when we live, breathe and function always depending on God. Walking by faith. Praying without ceasing.

Think of it this way. I have five children and with all of them, there’s a stage of life when they’re held practically all the time. Even when they can learn to walk, you recognize that it’s simply easier for you to hold them than let them walk. I remember one winter when Samuel was young, and there was a ton of snow outside. We put him in his snow outfit and then plopped him into the snow only to see him stand there like a huge unmovable marshmallow. There was no way he was going anywhere without us holding him. But there have been many times when I’ve had my children stand at my side and look up with their arms in the sky and say, “Up, please!” It could be the insurmountable stairs or the huge crowd in a mall or maybe they’re exhausted and they don’t feel they can move anymore. In any situation, they know that daddy or mommy are stronger. Daddy and mommy are able to do what they believe they can’t.

When it comes to our relationship with God, it’s not merely that we feel we can’t. Jesus says “You can’t live for God’s glory apart from me.” Many times we’d like to believe we can. We want to pull up our bootstraps and say, “See, I did it!” But that’s not living by faith. And it definitely isn’t understanding prayer as a cry of complete dependence.

I hope in saying this that you’re actually encouraged. Sometimes I think that Christians try to talk about the Christian life as though it’s basically “easy.” If you just try 7 basic steps, you’ll be able to soar! But that’s not the message of God. Read the Bible for any length of time, and you ought to say, “I just can’t do this!” That’s some people’s particular feelings with the book we’re going to enter this morning as I talk about prayer. It’s the book of James. In this book, James says that his desire is that we as Christians would be whole. What a beautiful goal, isn’t it? We as humans long for wholeness and completeness. That statement feels nice, but then you start reading James and you could think, “How in the world am I supposed to do that, James?!” The things James is saying seem impossible. They’ll cause you to feel overwhelmed at times. But as James comes to a close to his book, he tells us we can’t do any of this on our own. Wholeness isn’t something we give to ourselves. It’s something that God gives to us.

And, as James gets to the final words of his letter, he gives the final ammunition we need to be mature and complete. It’s the ammunition of prayer. If you recall, James starts off his book talking about counting it all joy when you fall into various trials. Then James ends the book referring to the various seasons of life: suffering, joy, sickness, sin. James is emphasizing that All of life, whatever the season, is to be bathed in prayer. James emphasizes this by addressing the seasons of life, our need for one another in prayer, and then he gives one example of prayer. All in all, like Paul did in Ephesians 6, James also elevates prayer because he knows we are all weak people in need of God’s continual grace in our lives.

So, today, take comfort in the words of James today. And, I pray that these final words would be an encouragement to you that even though you are weak, your God is very strong to sustain and grow you in the walk he has called you to. Let’s pray and then read James 5:13-18 together.

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

In verse 13, James emphasizes the pendulum swings of life: suffering, cheerfulness and sickness. I think we can all relate to these seasons, can’t we? One moment, we’re joyful. The next moment, we’re sick. Then we feel better again and then we have some type of family difficulty. Life comes at us with so many curve-balls, we don’t know how to handle it. Then when you throw in the commands of James, it seems overwhelming. How am I supposed to be godly and complete in the midst of all of this? That’s why James now turns to emphasizing the need for a prayer-bathed life. Let’s walk through each season.

The Different Seasons of Life (vv. 13-15).

The Season of Suffering

How are we to respond when suffering hits? James says to pray. What is interesting is that James does get too specific. We might want to hear James say, “Pray immediately when you wake up in the morning” or “Pray before every meal.” We, as closet legalists, like those types of rules. Rules that aren’t too constrictive, but definitely clear. But if James were to do that, I think he’d be de-emphasizing the need for our relationship with God. If we just view prayer as some “thing” we do, then we just use God as a lucky rabbit’s foot instead of cling to God as our Good King and Glorious Savior.

As a result, James reveals to us that prayer is a must always. James echoes the thoughts of Paul when he says, “Pray without ceasing.” The sense of that is, “Constantly be in an attitude of prayer.” Prayer is the first expression of faith. And, those who have faith grow in prayer.

This first season he mentions is suffering – which to note again, is mentioned in chapter 1 with joy. With regards to suffering, this is an obvious theme in his book, and he has actually just gotten done talking about Job and how he went through suffering, but the reminder is that God is always good and has a greater plan in place than we realize.

The word for suffering in this text refers to any distress or difficult circumstance that falls on someone. It’s not just talking about those horrifically horrific circumstances that we tend to think God only cares about those things. But this word includes any circumstance that we could look on someone else’s life and say, “that’s hard, sad, evil.” For example, losing one’s job or facing opposition in the workplace or having spiritual dryness. Any of these and more could be considered “suffering” since this is a general term. James’ question is, “Is anyone among you suffering?” That’s a great question for us this morning. Is there anyone here that falls into that category? Anyone? Are you experiencing difficulties? Then pray.

“Yeah, but. . .” There is no difficulty too small where God says, “I don’t care.” “Yeah, but. . .” The apostle Peter says, “Cast your cares on him for he cares for you!” God, the Creator and Sustainer of all the galaxies as well as the infinitesimally small cares for his children. Pray.

But what does this mean? How are we to pray? We tend to want a magic formula prayer request so we can know we’ll endure. We kind of like the “Prayer of Jabez” where we just memorize a verse and pray it over and over again, and treat it like rubbing a Genie’s lamp. But this word for “prayer” that James uses here is not specific, and I find that very helpful. It reminds me of Paul’s words to the Philippian church when he says, “6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Don’t be anxious, let your requests be made known to God. What are your requests? What do you want to pray?

To some of you, that might not sound that spiritual. You could be thinking, “But my prayers can be selfish.” Certainly! James even said that earlier. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t lay our whole selfish self at God’s feet for him to lovingly confront and comfort. Paul says in Romans 8 that we don’t know how to pray as we ought, but he doesn’t then say, “Don’t pray.” Instead we take heart that the Spirit himself even intercedes on our behalf!

This might seem confusing, though, because you could think, “In the midst of suffering, I want to know exactly what I need to say.” Think about it. When there are pains, you could be thinking, “God, do I pray for this person’s healing” or “Do I pray that they can endure?” Or you could think, “Do I pray this persecuted Christian gets out of prison or that they witness faithfully in prison?” Do I pray our friend’s child no longer has cancer or do I pray for endurance in the midst of cancer?

I say, pray both! Pray all. While I do believe the Spirit can give burdens on your heart that align with Scripture and lead you to pray for specific things, I also believe that God never promises to tell you his sovereign will. When James says “pray,” that means pray. Pray about it all. Pray about every circumstance.

Again, I find this freeing because sometimes people tend to think they have to pray for a specific thing and believe that specific request is going to be answered that specific way or else they’re not praying in faith. Listen, that’s not faith. Faith is dependence on God – it’s not believing something’s going to happen. God isn’t up in Heaven saying, “Just believe I’m going to do it and I will.” Then you pray something like, “But God if you don’t heal. . .”, and then God says, “Well, I was going to, but you don’t have enough faith!” What?!

Or, sometimes people won’t pray for miraculous healing or someone getting out of jail because they say, “Well, that may not be God’s will.” My response: It may be God’s will! There are examples of Paul asking for prayer to speak boldly or to get out of jail. We’re commanded to pray for those suffering in jail, too. Paul encourages the Philippians that their prayers are turning out for his deliverance. So, we have examples of prayers for deliverance while also having prayers for endurance. Both are required because both represent faith well. Faith is saying, “God, we need you in anything and everything.” And James says that in the midst of suffering, you lay out your prayers to God – all the various thoughts and struggles and pains and joys – lay them at God’s feet. He will listen. And the prayer of utter dependence on him, he will answer. And he will answer not because you had the magic words. He will answer because he is your Father. As James said in chapter 1, every good and perfect gifts comes from above, from the Father of lights. Is anyone suffering? Let him pray. Entrust yourself to God’s feet.

Now James moves into the second season:

The Season of Cheerfulness

This season is the opposite of suffering. The Scriptures say that in this season, “Let him sing psalms” or “let him sing praises.” The word “psalm” is generally translated praise, and in the New Testament it always relates to singing praise to God.

Now, James writes this phrase in a tense that indicates that James is encouraging someone who is internally joyful to be continually singing praise to God. Why does James do this? It would seem very natural that someone who is joyful to be singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord. But, that isn’t necessarily the case. As James indicates at the beginning of this letter, both poverty and wealth can be a trial in their own right. And, so can both suffering and joyfulness. The person who is suffering desires to be joyful. And, the person who is joyful forgets the One from where the joy comes. And, if we forget God, we then move to becoming the “suffering” Christian.

Think about this a little more. As a younger child, I would ensure that my parents knew what I wanted for my birthdays, and I would look forward to getting that specific thing. As I got older, I started moving towards just wanting money. To this day, I still remember one birthday party I had opened a card, got the money out and then put the money where it needed to go – no regards to what was written in the cards. I remember one of my parents being stern with me about my rudeness. Now, as a child, it’s understandable to be taught in this arena, but I think this attitude continues on into adulthood. With God, we’re in the season of suffering and we cling to God. We pray to God. We feel our need for God. We make promises to God that we’ll do better. Then as soon as God gives relief, what do we do? “Phew, glad that’s over,” and we revert to our own selfish ways. We say things like, “Isn’t God good?” But we don’t grow in our joy in God. We are just overjoyed we got what we wanted.

James says here that if you’re cheerful then you need to direct that cheerfulness to God. You need to sing praise to God! And this isn’t mean of God. Think of it like a parent giving a gift to a child and then the child ignores the parent after getting what he wanted. Did the parent buy a gift to be ignored and snubbed? No, they want their child to know their love for them, and a grateful heart would then express itself in love towards the parent. That’s what James is calling Christians to as well. God gives his kindness to lead us to turn to God and cling to him all the more. Not only does suffering cause us to cling, but kindness should lead us to cling to God with joy! That’s the same point Paul makes in Romans 2, when he says that “. . .God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” Every single drop of God’s kindness should lead you to love and adore him more. It should lead to praise-filled prayer. Ventura, if you are in a time of joy – praise God and praise him often. Look to him and don’t forget that he’s put you in the season you’re in. Use this time for his glory and pray for eyes to see and savor him all the more.

Now James moves back into another trial-laden season:

The Season of Sickness

What is interesting is that this is a season that could actually be termed under suffering. But, James takes the opportunity to pinpoint a specific way that people suffer – maybe even the most common type of suffering: physical sickness. Throughout the ages, you can trace great spiritual heroes who have also undergone immense physical suffering. The Apostle Paul had a “thorn in the flesh.” Timothy had stomach issues. Martin Luther had arthritis, digestive upset and heart problems; John Calvin had kidney stones, nephritis, hemorrhoids, migraine headaches, chronic pulmonary tuberculosis, intestinal parasites, and spastic colon; Charles Spurgeon had chronic inflammation of the kidneys. But these sicknesses aren’t relegated to those individuals. Just look at families here over this past winter. Some of you today feel like sicknesses won’t leave your home. But it seems to be the “sickness” James is talking about here is chronic and persistent leading to a complete weariness. James says to this that prayer is again the answer. If God is who he says he is, then we must go to him – the Creator and Sustainer of life. However, James does get a little specific here. But I hope we all recognize that James is not putting forth some magical formula that guarantees people will “feel better.”

There are a couple of viewpoints people have on this verse.

When we pray for someone who is sick, God will answer it by giving physical and/or spiritual healing. If the person were to die, then God gave them the ultimate healing.

There is another interpretation that can mix with the one above, but maybe a little bit different. It references the oil as being of medicinal purposes. Oil, in that day, was used much for use in helping to heal people. Therefore, it wouldn’t be totally unreasonable for James to be saying that the elders should go to the house with oil to help the sick person. Meet their physical needs and also pray for them. And, then God will bring healing.

Now, either of those could be the case, but I’m going to take this third stance. James is talking of a definitive physical healing for a physically sick person. This is potentially the most difficult position to describe, but it might be the easiest to defend within the reading of the text.

James first says that there are elders in the church. The word “church” refers to the local gathering of believers. These are your elders. These aren’t elders of another church of the elders of the universal church. These are the pastors of the local church with which you’re committed and to whom you’ve submitted according to Hebrews 13. Apparently this person is sick enough that he or she cannot make it to church. So, they need the elders to come to them. The phrase “over him” also could potentially signify (given the context) that the person was sick enough to have to be lying down. So, the elders were over this person. Finally they anoint him with oil.

What is the oil? Personally, I don’t believe this is medicinal oil. James is talking generically and this “oil” could have only potentially helped to heal a limited number of diseases. In addition, if this is medicine, then we’d have to say that God commands pastors to also have a license to practice medicine (or at least carry around aspirins with them when they visit the sick). To me, that’s a precarious interpretation.

According to the words and phrases that James uses in the following verse, I think we can confidently see that James is saying that the “anointing of oil” is something that is a physical action symbolizing consecration. In the Scriptures, this is what anointing refers to, and it would be odd that James would use the word anoint to refer to something different than this.

So, now the question is this, “If all someone has to do is call the elders and the person will be healed, why don’t we see more people being healed in our day?” Well, my first response is, “You’re missing the point.” James’ main concern in this text is learning how to deal with life rightly – being mature. And, he says that prayer is the powerful weapon. If we get stuck on the anointing of oil and the elders, we’re missing something.

Look. James moves on to the important reality. The prayer of faith saves this person, and the Lord will raise the person up. It is not uncommon in the Scriptures for the word “saves” to refer to physical healing. And the phrase “raise the person up” is definitely talking about a physical healing. So, here James says that there are situations where people are physically healed. But, it’s through prayer. But, what type of prayer? Answer: the prayer of faith.

Now, this is the passage that has had many people confused. You’ve probably seen on television those people who go around and claim to be “healers.” They go from country to country healing sickness and diseases. They’re called “faith-healers.” But, you may not have seen the shows where they expose a “faith-healer.” Where they show a child who went on stage and the person said they were healed. But the child goes on in sickness. Or you hear of others who weren’t healed and the response is, “You didn’t have enough faith.” To me, that’s an angering response. And, personally, you can’t use this passage to make that excuse. James talks about the elders faith and not the faith of the sick person. So, it would be the faith-healer’s fault for the person not being healed.

But, we’ll let that go for now. The question is, “What does ‘prayer of faith’ mean?” Certainly God doesn’t ordain that every believer be healed. Again, Paul had a thorn in the flesh that he prayed would be taken away. Paul also mentions that he “left Trophimus sick in Miletus” (Titus 3:20). So, it is clear that Scripture acknowledges sickness as a way of life for some individuals. But, what about this individual that James mentions? This verse is similar to those verses in the gospels where Jesus says something like, “Ask anything in my name, and I will give it to you.” The point is that Jesus says “in my name.” That seems to be similar to the meaning of what James is saying here about “of faith.” Sometimes as we journey in our Christian walk, God not only grants us the pleasure to pray for the needs around us, but he also gives us assurance that those prayers are going to be answered specifically the way we ask because they are in his name. In other words, praying in Jesus’ name means praying on the basis of Jesus’ glory and for his glory.

We learn in Scriptures that Jesus through Jesus’ death, he’s torn down the wall between us and God, and now we can ask anything on the basis of him. God hears us because of Jesus. Because Jesus was rejected, we’re accepted. Now we can ask anything in Jesus’ name, and he will hear. God wants to answer our prayers in such a way that it will bring maximal glory to Jesus. He wants his gospel to be known. He wants Jesus’ power to be seen even within the local church context with a sick believer. Now, please hear me, when James says “and the prayer of faith will save,” I don’t think James is saying “and every time the prayer of faith will save. . . .” But he is saying that there are times where it does, and the elders of a local church are responsible to pray in dependence on Jesus over those who ask! God wants Jesus’ glory to be known.

While difficulties come in this life, God also designs to relieve us of those at times, and sometimes even through the prayer of spiritual leaders. Ultimately though, James is concerned that a person’s sins are forgiven. If that person is sick because of sin, then they will be forgiven, too. And, that could completely heal that sickness. Sin affects the body. Worry, fear, anxiety affects the body. Guilt affects the body. David said his bones wasted away. So, if that person brings their sins to light instead of hiding, there is freedom! Prayer affects our hearts. God works through prayer to bring about his will. God even leads spiritual leaders to his throne through the sicknesses of others!

But then James moves on to emphasize not only our individual praying or our prayers with elders. He involves the community of believers in our lives.

The Community of Believers are to Pray (v. 16).

James isn’t only concerned with individual Christians being mature. Jesus’ goal is that the entire church of Christ would be whole in their commitment to him, and that they wouldn’t fall into sin that leads to sickness. James connects the preceding verses when he says “that you may be healed.” How can each of us be healed spiritually and be kept from going on a downward path? Confess.

You might respond, “I do that all the time in my prayer closet.” But James isn’t talking about personal individual confession. In this passage, James is talking about a confession amongst the believers with which you are committed. Now I know there’s some debate over this. I recall reading one commentary from a couple hundred years ago and the pastor said “Clearly this isn’t talking about confessing your sins with other believers, but instead talking about confessing to those you’ve sinned again. While I understand that point, it doesn’t fit the context. James’ context is “Confess to elders, and don’t stop there.” There wasn’t necessarily sin against the elders. So, this confession isn’t “confession of personal sin against the elder or congregation.”

The word “confess” means to agree with God about the weights and sins in your life. In this context, James says we are to do this with other believers. As a result, we then have believers help to “bear our burdens.” Practically speaking, how can we “edify” or “exhort” one another if we don’t know where we’re really at? How do we grow in maturity, if we don’t let our immaturity out? I recognize this means being vulnerable, and I also know that there are churches that abuse people, but I pray that we wouldn’t allow the sinful examples to keep us from the biblical call. The apostle Paul says we can’t say we don’t need one another. God ministers grace to believers through believers.

But what does this have to do with prayer? Just as the elders are to pray, so I believe the congregation is to truly pray for one another. It’s not that someone tells us their weakness and then we gossip under the guise of saying, “You need to pray for so-and-so.” That’s wicked! We need biblical confidentiality and care. We need real love that says I’m truly and really and sincerely praying for you!

When you share your burdens with other believers, it allow them the privilege and calls them into God’s throne room, too! I think this is what James wants us to see because he ties all of what he’s said together nicely with his final example:

The Example of Prayer (vv. 17-18).

We’re weak, and we need God. And James says God works through prayer. If we want to be whole and complete people, following after God’s commands, we need to breathe prayer. And, the encouragement James gives here, bolsters our faith in praying. He concludes his book giving us a steadfast reason why we should never be doubters in the ministry of prayer.

Prayer has inherent power.

The phrase “avails much” refers to “great power.” One commentator put it this way, “In human terms, we say that ‘the situation produces the person’ when, in a given set of circumstances, hitherto unsuspected funds of wisdom, leadership, strength of character and purpose come to light. So it is with prayer. It looks unimpressive and it is easy to despise; but it has great resources waiting to be tapped, a huge potency.” But, in addition to the inherent power to prayer, it is also “effectual, fervent.” These words again define what prayer is like. Other translations say, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” The “as it is working” is another translation of “effectual, fervent.”

I always used to think that “effectual, fervent prayer” was referring to how we should pray. We should be fervent. And while that may be true, that’s not James’ point here. He is saying that prayer is so powerful that it must gain a response from God. In a sense, prayer is like a missile which has a target in view. They must go towards that target. You can shoot them from any location, but they will go to where they have been sent. And where is prayer’s target? The throne room of God. Prayer always makes it to God!

To me, this is very encouraging because even if my prayers are “off” in what I should be asking, God is still hearing me and will answer exceeding abundantly above all that I ask or think. Why? Because he’s designed to work that way through prayer. So, how could we be double-minded in our prayers if we can be confident that God is going to answer in greater ways than we could imagine? And, how can we be worried - God is going to answer our prayer because our prayers power doesn’t come from us, but really in the nature of prayer itself – which is embedded in God’s character? Why would we not go to elders or even ask other believers to pray when God answers prayer? But this leads to a second point.

Prayer proceeds from a righteous person.

If you refuse to entrust your life to Jesus and won’t go to him for forgiveness of sins, you don’t know the full blessings of prayer. He says that the prayers of a righteous person avail much. Now, hear me carefully, the point is not our performance. The point is our standing. By Scriptures standards, a person is righteous when Christ is their Savior and Lord. If we move into the example that James gives in Elijah, we know that Elijah was righteous yet he struggled with sin like we do. He had highs and lows. Sometimes he was strong in faith, other times he was depressed. Sometimes he was resolute and other times he would flee for his life. All that said, Elijah was righteous. So, we echo Motyer when he says, “Those who by grace have been given the status of righteousness in God’s sight have been brought into the realm where effective prayer operates and have been given the right to exercise a ministry of prayer.” It’s not on the basis of works. It’s on the basis of grace that you can pray! Are you a child of God? Whoa! God answers your prayers! You and Elijah are on the same solid rock – God himself because of Jesus! This leads us to the last point.

Prayer has amazing results.

Elijah was an extraordinary prophet and was known for his prayers. Prayers that God would rain down fire from heaven. Elijah was a man who is mentioned as praying in Scripture; so, James uses him as an example. And, while we might say, “Wow, he was an amazing guy who did amazing things,” James responds by saying that he was an ordinary man.

Do you realize that? Each person in the Scriptures are just ordinary people. It’s their God who is extraordinary. Why would Elijah need to pray if he was so awesome in and of himself? That’s just it. It was through the means of prayer that Elijah did so many great and wonderful miracles, and James says that it’s the same way today. You want to experience wholeness and completeness? You want to see this church grow in maturity? We must be a praying people!

But, your response is, “I just don’t know how to pray.” I hear about people who pray a lot and I’m usually done in five minutes or less. Or maybe for you, you say, “I’m done in thirty.” Whatever you feel like is a short amount of time, I want to give you some encouragement here. In the Greek, it literally says, “with prayer he prayed.” This could be an added emphasis for James or it could simply mean this, “he just prayed.” All Elijah could do was pray. You think of praying without ceasing and wonder, “How can I do that?” The people who prayed, just prayed. And then prayed and then prayed because we grow in realizing our need for God and his great goodness!

James gives this example to emphasize that we must live out our wholeness in Christ. And we can’t live it out on our own. We must be a praying people. We must be a people who pray when we are suffering, and praise when we are joyful. We need to be a people who seek the prayers of spiritual leaders when we’re physically sick, and we need to be seeking the prayers of others around us when we’re spiritually sick – struggling with sin.

As we live this way, we confess that we believe the gospel – that message that says through Jesus’ rejection, torment, pain that we deserved, we’ve now been given access to God so that he will hear and answer us. As we live as a body of praying believers we confess our yearning for greater growth in godliness while also confessing that our God is the One rescuing and strengthening us! And as we pray in Jesus’ name, we say “God, you are so glorious we want you to work in such way that we and the world will see Jesus’ magnificence!” God will answer the dependent prayers of his righteous children!

So, like children, let’s cry out for the Lord to carry up, help us, strengthen us. He listens and answers in his goodness and greatness. Let’s pray.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Jas 5:13–18.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Php 4:5–6.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ro 2:4.