Prayer 2021 - August 6 - What James Had to Say About Prayer pt 1

Scripture For Today:

Colossians 4:3

“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.”

What James Had to Say About Prayer pt 1

For the last several sessions during the past month, we studied what the Apostle Paul taught us about prayer. That does not mean other Disciples did not teach about prayer. I did not want to infer that at all. So, let’s see what some others have taught us in the Word about prayer.  We will start with the Apostle James, the Lord’s brother.

In James 5:13-18, we read:

“Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any Merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? 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. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 

Confess your faults one to another, and pray on for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous availeth much.

 Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth by the space of three years and six months! And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

Notice here, what James had to say about prayer. He asks three separate questions in this passage of scripture.  First, he asks, “Is there any of you afflicted?”  Next, he asks, “Is there any of you that are merry (or happy and blessed)?  Finally, he asks, “Is there any of you that are sick?”

James was talking about three different thing. For example, “afflicted” and “sick” are not the same thing. These two words as used here cannot mean the same thing because James gave two different sets of instructions, one for each of those words. He gave one instruction for the “afflicted” (Let him pray) and a different instruction for someone who was “sick” (call for the elders of the church to pray for him).

The Greek word for “afflicted” in James 5:13 is not referring to illness. It is not referring to, what we call “physical afflictions” at all. “Afflicted” in this verse means “to suffer trouble.” In other words, this type of affliction is a test or trial of your faith. 

James was saying that if YOU, as a believer, are being tested or tried by what we call the “storms of life,” YOU are to do YOUR OWN PRAYING. 

But far too many Christians are so weak knee in their Faith, they call for others to pray for them over every little thing. Most Christians, when they are facing a test or trial of some kind, instead of going straight to the Lord in prayer; instead of taking Spiritual authority over the situation using their own Faith, they call for OTHERS to do their praying FOR THEM!

Notice here, James did not say one word about getting someone else to pray for you if YOU are afflicted, tried or tested. Not ONE WORD AT ALL. 

Did you ever stop to think about that?

I’m going to stop there for today. I want you to ponder – and pray – about what we learned today. This will revolutionize your prayer life!  

As we said before, when you start to pray according to how the BIBLE says we are to pray – you will begin to see the results the Bible says you will have. It’s amazing how that works, right?

Let’s Pray!

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