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James 5:13-18 (HCSB)
Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they should pray over him after anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will restore him to health; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours; yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.
Listen with Me
This whole section is focused on the necessity of prayer for both individuals and for the Church as a whole. Prayers should be central to all that we do. If someone is in trouble, he or she should pray. If they are happy, they should pray, offering songs of praise to God. If they are sick, they should draw others in to offer prayer with them.
The promise contained in this section is most concisely stated in verses 15 to 16: the prayer of faith will bring healing and wholeness, because the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Many times, the prayers of the Church are not effective because they are offered timidly and with doubt, not in powerful faith that God will hear an answer. Or they are not offered by genuinely righteous people, but by those whose lives are more characterized by compromise, or who harbor secret sins in their hearts. Such things will stop the efficacy of prayer in its tracks.
That is the purpose behind James’ pointing out that effective prayers are offered in powerful faith by righteous people. It also underlies his urging to confess our sins one another. Implicit in this confession, not to priests or pastors but simply to each other, is that the confession will include genuine repentance and spiritual restoration to full righteousness so that the prayers we then pray for each other will be powerful and effective.
The example James gives of powerful and effective prayer is Elijah (1 Kings 17-18). It is easy to lift up Elijah as someone who has superhuman, an individual to whose heights mere mortals cannot hope to rise. But James is quick to point out that Elijah was simply a human being like us. But he was righteous and obedient before God. So, when he prayed earnestly for the rain to be withheld, and later for it to start again, his prayers were heard and answered.
Pray with Me
Father, many people try to find the magic key that will unlock the secret to powerful prayers. They try to find the right wording, the most powerful divine titles to use, the right rhythms or intensity with which to speak in order to make their prayers powerful and effective. In essence, they are trying to find a magic spell that will do the trick. But all that is necessary is that our prayers be sincere, offered in genuine faith, and that we keep our live pure and holy, seeking forgiveness immediately if we ever fall or fail. If we do those things consistently and conscientiously, then our prayers will rise to you, they will be answered, and you will be glorified. Thank you, Lord, for making it simple. Amen.