MOMENTUM – Part 12 – The Momentum of Prayer

Passage:
“Is there anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 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. 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. Therefore, confess yours 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. 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. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
The first thing that James tells us here is WHEN to pray – he gives us scenarios for when to pray –
“Is there anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.
  • He says, is anyone going through suffering right now? Is anyone waiting – like we talked about last week. Is anyone suffering? Let him pray. Bring those concerns – bring them before a God who cares

    • Psalm 55 says, “Give your worries to the Lord, for he will take care of you.”
      • when you are suffering God wants you to bring those things to him –
But it’s not just those in suffering are we supposed to pray he goes on to say –
Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
  • Is anyone doing well? Is anyone celebrating the fact that God is up to a lot of good stuff in their lives let them sing praises.
So in a sense here – he says wherever you find yourself on the spectrum of life’s circumstances – whether you are on the mountaintop or you are in the deepest valley that you could be – we are called to pray.
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. 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.  Therefore, confess yours sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
Now this might be only two verses – but there is a LOT slammed into this little section – so I want to break it down piece by piece here –
  • Is anyone among you sick?
      • the word here for sick is really interesting – we see sick and we think physical sickness
    • But the word here is MUCH more broad – it literally means “to be weary” like so weary you cannot get out of bed –
      • it can refer to physical sickness, spiritual sickness, emotional weariness,
    • It gives the picture of someone who is so weak they can’t get up – physical, mentally, spiritually.
  • So while physically sick is part of the meaning here maybe a large part of the meaning – it is likely wider.
  •  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. 
The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 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. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
  • If you remember last week – at the very end of the sermon when we were talking about the importance of patience – and we talked about the importance of patience in suffering and patience in ministry, he gave us examples.
    • for patience in ministry – he said, be like the prophets
    • for patience in suffering – he said, be like Job.
  • In this section he says, prayer is powerful, and God answers the prayers of normal people – be like Elijah.
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”.
  •  does your faith affect your life?
    • does your faith affect your prayer?
    • does your faith affect how you suffer
    • does your faith affect how you live?

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