Today, I’m going to talk about prayer – from the perspective of James. James was the brother of Jude, another writer of the New Testament, and both of them were half-brothers of another prominent New Testament figure – Jesus Christ!

James was the leader of the early Christian church in Jerusalem, and he was known as a prayer warrior. In fact, one historian records that James was on his knees praying so much, that his knees had developed large, thick callouses. The historian notes that James was known as “Camel knees.”

In looking at prayer from James’ point of view, I want to break it down into three parts:

When to Pray
How to Pray
Why Pray

Let’s begin with when to pray:

When to Pray (5:13)

13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them…

James’s first emphasis is on the different of circumstances for prayer. It reflects James’s desire to engage his readers personally, because he wants so much for them to put prayer into practice.

With an almost poetic pattern to his sentence construction, James shows that he intends one point with his three questions: Pray in all circumstances.

Prayer is the right course of action for the full range of life-situations and for any one in these situations.

1. Pray in times of trouble. The kind of trouble is not specified; “Is anyone among you suffering?” (NASB). Like James’s original readers, we might allow the fact of trouble to suggest that God is uncaring or unknowing or unable to help, and so we would pray less. The biblical instruction is the opposite: pray more. Trouble is the very time to pray.

2. Pray in times of happiness. No single cause for happiness is specified; “Is anyone cheerful” (NASB) or encouraged? Like James’s original readers, we might allow times of happiness to make us complacent, and so we would pray less. The biblical instruction is again the opposite: pray more. Happiness is the very time to sing songs of praise.

3. Pray in times of sickness. No particular disease is identified; James uses a general word meaning to be weak or sick. Like James’s original readers, we easily feel defeated in times of sickness. Weakness makes us feel hopeless, as if there were nothing to do. The biblical outlook is the opposite: there is something very significant to do, namely, to pray. Weakness is the very time for prayer. One of the great teachers on prayer, wrote, “Your helplessness is your best prayer.” In other words, pray in all kinds of circumstances. One theologian put it this way, “the habit of prayer should be, and indeed is, one of the most obvious features which differentiates a Christian from other people.”

Next, let’s look at how to pray:

How to Pray (5:14-16)

14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them 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 them up. If they have sinned, they 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 person is powerful and effective.

James proceeds to instruct his readers in how to pray. His purpose is still to motivate them to pray, but now he encourages prayer by his vision of how he expects prayer to operate in the church. The meaning of the verses can be seen by isolating the four practices which are pictured here for an effective prayer life.

1. We should call upon the elders of the church for prayer. The fact that the sick person calls out is an expression of faith, which is one condition for effective prayer. The fact that the elders are the ones called is an expression of submission and unity in the church, which are additional conditions for powerful praying. James envisions a spiritual power available to the church and exercised through the elders. This is not at all to diminish the importance of personal prayer by each Christian. It is to affirm the value of agreement by the church, for Jesus Himself promised that agreement among Christians would unleash power for answered prayer.

2. We are to pray in the name of the Lord. If the first practice expressed submission to each other in the church, this second practice expresses submission to the Lord himself. It is not just a formula for pray, but a state in which to be praying – pray in union with Christ. Similarly, when James instructs his readers to anoint . . . with oil, it is not the oil that heals. Most of the stories of healing by Jesus and his disciples have no mention of oil, and James’s emphasis here is certainly on the power of the Lord rather than any power in the oil. The promises of Jesus give basis for expecting great power as we practice the principle of praying in his name. These promises apparently led the early church from its very beginning to practice a deliberate calling upon the name of the Lord in the context of baptizing, healing and casting out demons. The phrase in the name of the Lord means that the power comes from God and that the one praying acts in union with Christ to call upon that power of God.

3. We are to offer prayer in faith. This phrase is James’s explicit return to his underlying theme as he concludes his letter, and all he has said about faith is the background for his meaning here. In 1:6 he told the person needing wisdom to ask “in faith”, not doubting. He has spent this letter exhorting his readers about the goodness and purity of God, showing their selfish fighting to be a lack of faith, both unnecessary and evil. Now he refers to the prayer “of faith” and would again expect his readers to cast out unbelief as they pray.

4. The fourth principle for effective praying is to pray united as repentant sinners; we should confess . . . sins to each other and pray for each other. James introduces the mention of sin at the end of Verse 15 in the context of praying for a sick person: If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. It is a conditional clause (“and if”); the connection between sin and illness is a possibility, but certainly not a necessity in every case. The implication here is that the physical (or sometimes, mental) illness and the guilt may be interwoven, and the cure promised in Verse 16 seems to encompass both physical and spiritual healing. We are to pray as repentant sinners asking for a comprehensive healing of our lives.

We are reading James’s concluding remarks here; he would expect us to recall what he has been saying in the course of the letter. He is writing to people struggling in hardship. In urging them to pray, James is allowing for a positive response to hardship, instead of advocating a stoic or impassive response to adversity. But it is more than that. These verses, coming as the conclusion to all James has addressed in his readers’ lives, describe a healing of their relationships with God and with each other.

Their relationships need healing. As a first result of their hardships, their relationship with God has been suffering. They are falling into temptation to doubt God, to blame God and to bargain with God. James is directing them back to God in faith with a reliance on him in prayer.

A second result of their adversities is that their relationships with each other have been suffering. James has had to warn them against the evils of playing favorites with each other, verbally attacking each other, fighting with each other, slandering each other and judging each other. Now he points out the oneness we have with each other because of our common need for forgiveness. If we consciously stand together before God as sinners needing grace and wanting righteousness, that stance has compelling application to our relationships. Instead of judging each other, we will be driven to confess to each other. Instead of desiring to place guilt on each other, we will become eager to forgive each other. Instead of moving to criticize, we will move to intercede for each other. A spirit of reconciliation will pervade the church. This, too, James learned from his half-brother, Jesus.

Picture this happening in modern churches, and you have something of James’s vision: elders leading worship with a spiritual authority in the name of Jesus; Christians praising God joyfully, confessing their sins openly and praying for each other lovingly; the church together experiencing spiritual cleansing and physical healing. This is the exciting power of prayer.

Finally, let’s look at why to pray:

Why Pray (5:15-18)

15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they 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 person is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. 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.

I remember a sign that read, “A funny thing happens when you don’t pray,” followed by a large, nearly empty space carrying just one word in small print: “(nothing).” James is certainly convinced that prayer brings results. Therefore, his final way to encourage his readers to pray is to describe the effectiveness of prayer.

The results. The conviction that prayer will bring results was implied in Verses 13-14. It becomes explicit in Verses 15-16 with James’s assurance of four results. The prayer will make the sick person well . . . the Lord will raise him up . . . he will be forgiven . . . so that you may be healed.

make well – implies healing or physical well-being
will raise up – implies physical or mental restoration
will be forgiven – implies that the emphasis is on God as the one answering prayer.
be healed – implies physical healing, although James recognizes in Verse 15 a possible combination of illness and sin.

The vision he is sharing with his readers is for both physical and spiritual healing of their lives.

The principle: The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Here James reveals the expectation that God dynamically answers prayer. James begins by showing how so much can be accomplished through prayer – its power and its effectiveness. He is speaking of the sort of prayer his readers would be doing because of their trials and persecutions. Then the person praying is designated as righteous, even though righteousness has not been mentioned thus far in the passage. To pray as repentant sinners is what James commanded at the beginning of Verse 16. This is the stance Jesus taught his followers to take. But it is not a position of despair; Jesus also provided his followers the hope of becoming righteous. Within the Sermon on the Mount Jesus describes that progression from being spiritually poor to hungering for righteousness and finally becoming so righteous that one would be persecuted for it. James now affirms that hope to be righteous and applies it as an encouragement for praying.

The example: Elijah. This power of prayer is further emphasized by an Old Testament figure known for his miracle-producing prayers. The story in 1 Kings 17 and 18 begins directly with Elijah’s declaration to King Ahab that it would not rain again except at Elijah’s word. The chapters include the miracles done by Elijah when continuous food was provided for the widow at Zarephath during the drought, and when Elijah prayed earnestly for the widow’s dead son – and he was restored to life. The climax was the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, in which Elijah prayed earnestly again and God answered dramatically with fire upon the water-drenched altar and then with rain upon the drought-stricken land.

James chose this illustration not only because it is prominent and familiar from Old Testament history, but because it also clearly supports the point he wishes to make. The miracles in 1 Kings 17 and 18 were undeniably beyond Elijah’s human power. They were divine answers to prayer. With his concern for his readers to have faith instead of doubt, James may also be remembering that when Jesus’ power to do miracles was hindered by people’s unbelief in Nazareth, Jesus himself drew attention to Elijah’s powerful praying over the rain.

As I shared my sermon notes with Pastor Bill, he said to be sure and emphasize that he stands ready at any time to pray. He also said I can make the offer of prayer involving the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. Bill takes prayer very seriously. As a church, we should too.

In closing, I love the way Verse 16b is rendered in the King James version:

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Isn’t that a wonderful promise?

Are we, as Five Rivers Church, ready to adopt the prayer life described by James?

I know that if we will do that, we can “availeth much.”

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – AMEN.