SERIES: The Book of James
TEXT: James 5:13-18
MESSAGE: “Prayers for Every Season”

Q: What is James inviting us into when it comes to prayer? He teaches us that prayer is for every season of life and here’s how to live it out — (1. First Priority 2. Holistic Approach 3. Righteous Response)

1. First Priority (v. 13-14)

“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.”

“Prayers are tools, but with this clarification: Prayers are not tools for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.” — Eugene Peterson

“After 20 years of listening to the yearnings of other people’s hearts, I am convinced that human beings have an inborn desire for God. Whether we are consciously religious or not, this desire is our deepest longing and most precious treasure.” — Gerald May

2. Holistic Approach (v. 15-16a)

“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.

“We are only as sick as our secrets.” — AA

“He said a psychosomatic illness is in your body. You have real headaches from the worry. You have real ulcers from the fear. You have real colitis from the anger. Your body is breaking. It’s not in your head. It’s in your colon. It’s in your lungs. It’s in your brain. It’s not just in your mind. Psychosomatic illnesses are not imaginary illnesses. They’re real illnesses, but they’re aggravated and many times absolutely caused by spiritual issues. There is nothing better you can do than get right with God, get at peace with God when you’re sick. There is nothing better than to get your conscience clear, and to see the things that have been too important to you, and to get right with him, and to sense his love again. There is nothing you can do better for your physical healing than to do some spiritual healing. This is profound wisdom. First of all, often the spiritual healing will cause a physical healing. Spiritual and emotional issues very often cause the physical, but in many other cases, the reason you’re sick has nothing to do with your sin. Sometimes sin causes the physical illness or aggravates it, but in other cases, sin is revealed by the physical illness…” — Timothy Keller

• “…Be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:50)

• “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love…” (Romans 12:10)

• “…Honor one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10)

• “Live in harmony with one another…” (Romans 12:16)

• “…Stop passing judgment on one another.” (Romans 14:13)

• “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you…” (Romans 15:7)

• “…Instruct one another.” (Romans 15:14)

3. Righteous Response (v. 16b-18)

“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.”

• “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”— Romans 3:10-11

• But then Paul gives us gospel hope when he says, ^“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…” — Romans 4:5

• ^“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” — 1 Peter 2:24

“James’ example of Elijah in 5:17 points out that our faith must always be in accordance with God’s promises. Everything Elijah did in 1 Kings 17 and 18 was in accordance with God’s Word. God said it would not rain, and it didn’t, and then God said rain was coming, and it did. The beauty is that God used Elijah’s prayer as the means through which His Word was accomplished. Elijah didn’t demand that God do something He was reluctant to do; rather, Elijah prayed in accordance with God’s Word, trusting that God would keep His promises.” — David Platt

“Physical healing paled in comparison to the unthinkable abuse my transgressions heaped on my Lord…for the last 50 years in my wheelchair, I’ve been daily dying to self and rising with Jesus, dying to self and rising with Jesus, dying to self and rising with Jesus. My goal is to mortify my fleshly desires, so I might find myself in Christ. God has been answering my prayer, exposing dark things in my heart, things from which I need to be healed. Does God miraculously heal? Sure, he does. But in this broken world, it’s still the exception, not the rule. A “no” answer to my request for a miraculous physical healing has meant purged sin, a love for the lost, increased compassion, stretched hope, an appetite for grace, an increase of faith, a happy longing for heaven, a desire to serve, a delight in prayer, and a hunger for his Word. Oh, bless the stern schoolmaster that is my wheelchair! It’s all to the praise of deeper healing in Christ.” — Joni Eareckson Tada

Ways to respond:

• Pray privately
• Pray with someone else
• Pray with a prayer team member
• Pray with an elder