Chimezie is a tentmaker with over ten years of experience in the marketplace. He was a former associate minister with a Pentecostal church based in Winnipeg, where he provided spiritual direction to the young adult ministry before founding Winning Life Evangelistic Mission.
Now, some of you would have heard of the adage that says, “A problem shared is a problem halved,” which was the result of a study that showed that when people share their worries with others, it can improve their condition. However, let me jokingly add that it depends on whom you share your worries with. I believe this was what Apostle James was trying to get at when after teaching the church about working faith, trials, and suffering, he then signed off with prayer.
So the title of my message today is: “Prayer of Faith Still Prevails,” and the anchor scripture is taken from James 5:13-18. Let us pray.
Reading the anchor text from the English Standard Version (ESV)
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.
The Epistle of James was most likely written by James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ and the leader of the Jerusalem church.
Given the expression, “To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion..” he was probably writing to members of the church who had been dispersed after the persecution that followed Stephen’s martyrdom, although some commentators have argued that such expression could have referred generally to first century Christians. Nevertheless, he was writing from a place of spiritual authority and complete knowledge of their needs.
In the earlier chapters, James touched on trials and tribulations, faith, perseverance, and suffering, and as he got towards the end of the letter, it was time to exhort the church on how they could overcome through prayer. According to O. Hallesby, “to pray is to let Jesus come into our hearts” and all our situations. This was demonstrated by James’ exhortation within the text (or passage) as a way to deal with the various travails and adversities highlighted in the previous chapters. Essentially, James said believers should bring all their situations to Jesus Christ.
An exegesis of the passage shows that James was trying to communicate three subthemes about prayer:
In verse 13, he says people should pray when suffering – i.e., external circumstances such as failures, hardship, trouble, poverty, disappointments, etc. Those going through these situations need to pray not necessarily for deliverance but for the grace to endure.
Beyond external challenges, people can also face diverse internal experiences. If it involves an internal experience like a joyful moment, they are encouraged to pray by singing psalms of praise. In his book, Spirituality of the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann, aside from mentioning Psalms as resources for prayer, also discussed the rhythms of life experience that can move from an orientation towards a joyful experience to disorientation and disequilibrium. So when people face internal experiences of evil and sickness, they are also to pray.
In the case of sickness (vs. 14), the person should call on the church elders, who should be more reliable spiritual leaders with whom people can share their challenges. It is important to note here that the call on the elders is not to demonstrate some form of elitism. However, it is a way to evoke communion in prayer (cf. vs. 16a, Mark 6:13). So, from the individual type of prayer, James starts to move towards corporate prayer. As life experience worsens and people are not strong enough to pray, they must rely on their church family to pray for them. It is not the power of the elders or the anointing oil that saves but the name of Jesus Christ. Aside from the when and what to pray, apostle James also touched on how and why we need to pray.
The prayer must be offered in faith if it would have any effect (vs. 15). According to a commentary, “This is not a ‘hope so’ or ‘maybe’ prayer, but a prayer which shows secure confidence that God will heal because the elders have first listened to God and have received this confidence in their hearts.”
This reminded me of a situation when I had to pray for someone sick in a village where I encouraged everyone in the room to have faith in God. So as we exercised faith and prayed, not too long, the man was relieved. He had been healed! Praise God; prayer changes things!
The prayer of faith must be followed with a confession whenever sin is involved (vs. 16) because sin hinders prayers (Prov. 28:9, 15:8). The prayer must be offered fervently (effective and powerful) as if life depended only on that prayer because prayer gives life and wholeness (vs. 15).
Through prayer, trust is built (vs. 14 and 16), communion is enriched, and healing is experienced. When believers or righteous people pray, God answers. However, what does it mean to be righteous? Does righteousness mean a person has no weakness? Here James presents Elijah as a model of who should pray.
Maybe the question should be, who was Elijah that apostle James has to use him as a model?
Like Elijah, every believer, regardless of the level of their strengths and shortcomings, has a prayer answering God. Furthermore, we must look beyond our weaknesses and have confidence in God and the name of Jesus Christ.
As I wrap up, I would like to pray for someone:
1. Brueggemann, Walter. Spirituality of the Psalms. Fortress Press, 2002.
2. Carpenter, Eugene E. AsburyBible Commentary. Zondervan, 1992.
3. EnglishStandard Version. http://www.biblegateway.com/ (Original workpublished 2001), 2016.
4. Hallesby Ole, and Clarence JohannesCarlsen. Prayer. Augsburg Fortress, 1994.
5. Longman, Tremper, and David E.Garland, eds. The expositor's Bible commentary. Vol. 1. HarperCollins, 2004.
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