Living a Faith that can be Seen - James 5:13-18
PRAYING THE PRAYER OF FAITH
Praying the “prayer of faith.” That sounds a little redundant, doesn’t it? Isn’t every prayer prayed by faith, in faith, or out of faith? Praying requires some measure of faith that there is a God who hears and responds to our requests. What’s the difference between simple prayer and the prayer of faith?
If we consider the context of James 5:13-18 we may assume that the “prayer of faith” has more to do with asking God for healing. That’s a big “ask” and we would further assume that this request would require greater faith than many of us possess. I first encountered a request for healing as a 20-year-old preacher at a nursing home. After delivering my message on prayer, an elderly resident approached me meekly and asked that I lay my hand on her head and pray that God would take away her pain. I nervously muttered a prayer, but having never prayed for healing before, I wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen. Did I blow it by not praying a prayer of faith? I don’t think so.
Perhaps the prayer of faith is more than healing and less than we think. What if the prayer of faith has more to do with believing that when we pray, God will actually answer? A friend of mine went hiking in the high country of Vancouver Island. Knowing his trek would be a long, lonely path, he brought some food with him. When he stopped to cook his food, he suddenly realized that he didn’t bring matches. So, he thanked God for his lunch and added that it would have been nice to have a hot meal. For some reason he gathered some sticks together and made a pile to burn. As he was reaching under a pine bough, he found a lighter. He was able to light the kindling and cook his sausage. What are the chances of finding a lighter in the wilderness where few had hiked and that he would put his hand out and find someone’s lost lighter?
James concludes his very practical letter with an all-encompassing invitation to pray believing that God powerfully answers us when we pray in faith.
Pray in all Circumstances (5:13)
Jesus taught a lot about prayer. One thing he impressed on his disciples was to come often and pester God, to knock on his door at any hour, to pray about everything. We see this in the parable of the friend at midnight (Luke 11:5ff). The friend comes to his neighbor at midnight because a late-night guest has arrived, and he has nothing to feed the guest. But the neighbor doesn’t want to get up and refuses him. The short answer is: God isn’t like that neighbor.
James reflects on the attitude of prayer that Jesus taught and in short staccato phrases urges us to pray always. “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise,” (13).
What other conditions are there in life? When you boil life down to the basics you are either some form of happy or a version of sad. In short, pray to the Lord in good times and in bad times. Nothing is too insignificant. Are you suffering? Pray. What kind of suffering? Doesn’t matter. Knowing that God cares, we know that we can bring all our cares to him. Sometimes we slip into humanizing God and think that we are annoying him with our constant requests. But we honor God by going to him with every concern.
And not only concerns, James tells us that when we are happy, we ought to sing to God. The word for “sing praise” in Greek comes from a word similar to “psalms.” These are songs, but they are also prayers. There is a lot to sing praise about when you stop and soak in the beauty of our world.
The poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins said, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” When we wake up and the sun is shining and the air is crisp and the coffee is good and the day is open and available and we get to do meaningful work and our heart swells with the good things, what do we do with that gratitude? (David McLemore). Praise God. We cry with our hearts to our Creator, “Thank you, God.” As Paul said, “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing…” (1 Thess. 5:16-17).
Praying for the Sick (5:14-15a)
James moves from the general to the specific regarding what we pray about. This is where it gets difficult to interpret and to apply this invitation. “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,” (14).
There are several details to unpack in this one verse, so let’s begin with a few observations and then some questions:
1. The elders are called to the sick person. Whereas James urged those who were suffering to pray themselves, this person is so sick that he or she needs help expressing need.
2. The elders do all the praying. Notice that they are not called “healers” but “elders.” They are the shepherds of the community of faith. Nothing is mentioned about any of them having the gift of healing. In fact, as some scholars explain it, no one person has that gift, but the gifts of healings are given in specific cases (1 Cor. 12:9).
3. The person is called “worn out” or “exhausted” in v. 15. This explains the need for assistance.
4. The faith is that of the elders, not the sick person. Often, the pressure is laid on the sick person to have faith to get well. Yet here we see that the elders pray the prayer of faith.
5. The elders pray “over” the person as if that person were confined to bed. What is not mentioned is the laying on of hands on the sick person. It seems to be implied. Jesus regularly healed the sick by the laying on of hands. Luke observes that Jesus was surrounded by the sick and demon-possessed at Simon’s house “and he laid hands on every one of them and healed them,” (Luke 4:40). The laying on of hands is a way of identifying with the person in one sense, but in another it is symbolic of acting on behalf of Christ.
Why are we supposed to anoint the sick person with oil? This is a physical action with symbolic significance. There is no special healing power in oil. It is not medicinal in nature, though the ancients used to think there was some healing power in it. The oil represents the Holy Spirit, and by applying it to the sick person, that person is set apart for God’s special attention and care.
I was ambushed in my office at Crestview by some deacons who wanted me to anoint one of our congregants. She was suffering depression and requested prayer. I had no idea what to do with the oil when it was handed to me. I made the sign of the cross on her forehead and we prayed. It was later reported to me that the woman came out of her darkness.
This brings on a question from the text: What kind of sickness does James refer to in this practice? Christians debate this more than you would think. Paul uses the same word “sick” for those who are spiritually sick because of sin. But the same word is used throughout the NT for physical sickness. So, some would say that we are not being asked to pray over physical sickness but over sin, while others think we ought to pray for healing of all diseases.
Then James says, “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up,” (15a). This is the big question: What is the prayer of faith? Some people have used it as God’s promise that all who pray the “prayer of faith” will be healed. So, when a person isn’t healed it’s blamed on a lack of faith. This view is not only false but cruel. If this were true, no faithful believer should ever get sick or die. Do we see that kind of teaching in the NT? Not at all. We know that Paul was not healed of the thorn in his flesh (2 Cor. 12:7-10), that Paul did not heal Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25-30) or Trophimus (2 Tim. 4:20).
I return to my original proposition in answer to this question. Every prayer should be a prayer of faith because we should not ask anything of God unless we believe that he is able to grant it (see Js. 1:6-8 “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting…”; Heb. 11:6). And healing is a gift, not a reward for how faithful we are. We believe God can heal; we submit ourselves to him; then we leave ourselves in his hands.
God can heal despite our doubting. It’s not the strength of our faith that matters. What matters is the One in whom we have faith. Our job is to ask; his job is to answer as he sees fit.
The Condition for Answered Prayer (15b-16a)
When people ask for healing, pastors will often ask if there is anything that the sick person wants to confess regarding sin in their lives. James indicates that unconfessed sins may be a reason for the illness or unanswered prayer. He counsels, “And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
There is a spiritual dimension to healing. Confession of sin heals. But I want to caution us here, not every sickness is the result of sin. On the one hand, Jesus healed the paralytic by saying his sins were forgiven (Mk. 2:5), but then says that the man born blind was not blind because of sin (John 9:1-3). Paul also told the Corinthians they were getting sick because they abused the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:30). We should not assume sickness is due to sin, yet we need to be honest with ourselves about outstanding sinful behavior.
Consider a person who is addicted to pornography and prays for healing or an answer to prayer. Can we say that the person is praying a prayer of faith if they feel no sorrow over this egregious sin in their life? As the writer of Hebrews said, “Without faith it is impossible to please (God)…” Believing God means acknowledging our sin before him (1 Jn 1:10).
James says that the church ought to confess our sins to one another. I don’t think I have ever witnessed this in the church. Unless you consider Randy’s confession last Sunday. Confession of sin makes you vulnerable. And what sins do you confess?
I have often wondered what confession would look like in a Sunday morning service. Some of your sins and my sins are best not shared and only confessed to God, for the sake of the body. But where we have sinned against the body there may be a place for admitting this.
If we do confess to one another, James calls us to pray for each other. This leads to healing in the congregation.
Who can Pray? (16b-18)
When you read this next verse, you may count yourself out. James says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working,” (16b). Who is a righteous person? Not me, you say.
James gives us an example of a righteous person: Elijah. Elijah was a legend by the time of James. The stories of his adventures are amazing. In 1 Kings we read how he marched right into King Ahab’s court and announced that it would only rain when Elijah said it would. The drought lasted 3 ½ years. During that drought, he was fed by ravens; he then moved into the widow of Zarephath’s house, and the flour never ran out; he raised her son from the dead; he called down fire from heaven to consume a water-logged sacrifice in front of 400 prophets of Baal (remember the drought).
This is the example we are given. Talk about high standards for righteousness. But then James makes a remarkable statement: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours…” (17a). If you have ever read the story of Elijah, you will find that behind God’s miraculous intervention, Elijah was often afraid, and he doubted. I discovered that if Elijah visited a 21stcentury physician, he would be diagnosed as clinically depressed, even bipolar (according to NIMH). In other words, he was just a man. He had ups and downs, but he prayed, and God answered.
Elijah prayed because God had spoken. We pray because God has spoken. Prayer is not a string of empty words to a transcendent God way up there, but an earnest plea to a speaking Savior who has been where we are. We pray not because it’s a feel-good thing to do, like some kind of self-talk therapy, but because God has chosen to work through our prayers to bring about his purposes.
Who can pray?
Muslims pray five times a day. Buddhists pray three times a day. Hindus pray at least once a day. But the Bible calls Christians to pray without ceasing. Why? Because the God we serve is near. Through Jesus Christ we have confidence to draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Heb. 4:16).
James invites us to pray to our Lord at all times. I want to echo that invitation. Pray! If you can’t find the words to pray, let us help you. If you need healing, let us pray for you. If you are carrying a broken heart, let us pray for you. If you are suffering the dark night of the soul (depression), let us pray for you. If you are struggling to find answers from God, let us carry that burden with you, and pray with you. I will anoint you with oil and the leaders of this congregation will pray with you.
Let us pray the prayer of faith. Sometimes we pray and walk away expecting…nothing. Let us pray with great expectation, believing that God will do something, even something better than we dream up. Like my friend who gathered sticks with no matches, pray in faith.
I have grown to love the song by Colton Dixon, “Build a Boat.” He sings,
I will build a boat in the sand where they say it never rains
I will stand up in faith, I'll do anything it takes
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I'll build a boat in the desert place
And when the flood and the water starts to rise, yeah
I'll ride the storm 'cause I got You by my side
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I'll build a boat, so let it rain.
Finally, as Paul says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you,” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).
AMEN
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