Pray, Christian! Pray!

10th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/28/13
James 5:13-18


Pray, Christian! Pray!
I. In every situation of life
II. With faith-filled confidence


Have you tried to accomplish some task, overcome some challenge, solve a certain problem and all the while you are forgetting that you already possess just the thing you need to get it done?

It’s happened to me before, more than once. I was doing some mechanical work on my car and I couldn’t seem to get at that hard-to-reach bolt. Frustrated, I quit and later called a friend and asked him what to do. He told me, “I gave you that special wrench attachment the last time we worked on your car together. Do you still have it?” So I pulled out my tool box and, sure enough, there it was in the bottom of the box.

Has that ever happened to you? Maybe you were trying in vain to glue together a couple pieces of a glass decoration that had broken apart. You tried various glues on hand, to no avail. A few days later you mentioned it to your spouse and she tells you, “I bought special glue for repairing glass a couple years ago. It’s on the shelf in the closet.” You had forgotten that it’s been there all that time.

This morning I don’t mean to speak to you about mechanic’s tools or the latest wonder glue. I want to speak with you about prayer. Next to a Savior, God’s Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, prayer is one of the most important and powerful gifts our God has given us.

But we forget that we have it. We forget how to use it. We doubt that it even works. We wonder if God hears us and cares about us.

And so I don’t intend to tell you anything new this morning. Instead, I want to encourage you to do what you already know you should do and that’s pray. That’s exactly what our God encourages us to do in these words from his servant James, the brother of our Lord Jesus. In these 6 verses of our text James mentions prayer 7 times. Obviously, it’s important. So pray Christian! Pray! May the Holy Spirit use his word to lead us to do just that!

Part I.

I just spoke about the fact that we often forget that we have the gift of prayer. I’m willing to bet, though, that doesn’t happen when we face a tragedy! If someone’s life is on the line, if you’re facing a terrible tragedy, if your heart is broken, if you’re filled with fear and trepidation, then we fall on our knees—sometimes literally, often figuratively—in prayer. Then we pray and pray and pray. We’re deeply affected and prayer is a tremendous help in dealing with it.

But James doesn’t list experiencing tragedy as one of the times in your life to pray. Listen to what he says, “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James lists several situations in life as appropriate times to pray. Let’s take a closer look.

He first asks if any one of you is in trouble. The words James originally wrote are a little more specific. They carry the connotation of suffering trouble. He’s not necessarily talking about times when you’re in trouble with the law or your boss or your parents or your teachers. He’s talking about anything and everything that trouble you in life. You may have caused that trouble. It might also be no fault of your own; it’s one of the many results of living in a sinful world. If you’re suffering trouble, pray about it, Christian!

James then shifts completely around from trouble and asks if anyone is happy. His advice is to sing praises. While he doesn’t mention praying about it, praising God is one aspect of a God-pleasing prayer. We tell our God how wonderful he is for all the spiritual and physical blessings he has showered upon us. Those blessings fill us with happiness.

What James says next piques our interest. He asks if any one is sick and then instructs the elders to pray over him and anoint him with oil. We understand praying over a sick person. We do it all the time. But anointing with oil is not on our Lutheran radar screen. Why does James mention it? It’s important to know that he is not indicating that this anointing with oil is a sacrament, as some Christians believe. There are three good explanations for what James means. First, the oil could have been meant to have medicinal purposes. We hear about that very thing in Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan. Second, it could be a physical indicator that a miracle was going to take place, as Jesus often did with his touching of the sick person and once even using his own spit. Perhaps the best explanation is that James wrote these words to Jewish Christians who were very familiar with the Old Testament practice of anointing people and things. It was a physical way of representing that spiritual blessings were taking place because God promised to give them. That what our praying over a sick person is. We ask God to bless them spiritually with his promises of his comfort and presence and we ask him to provide physical healing according to his will.

Finally, James speaks about praying along with confessing sins. Again, that’s exactly what we do. Our confession of sins takes the form of a prayer which we conclude by begging God for his mercy. God always hears that prayer. He always bestows his mercy on the repentant sinner. He always forgives. He heals.

While James here speaks about four general prayer situations in life, another writer, the Apostle Paul, once encouraged God’s people to pray continually. That’s what our God wants from his people. He wants us to be in constant conversation with him throughout our day. If you only spoke to your spouse when you were experiencing a tragedy and begged him or her for help, we’d all agree that you’re not doing what you should do in your spousal relationship. So why would it be any different when it comes to a much higher relationship—your relationship with the God who loves you, who has rescued you and made you his own child, who wants to be a part of every day of your life?

Pray Christian! Pray in every situation of life.

I’ve got a confession to make. I don’t pray as I should. I forget to use this amazing gift that God has given me. I forget to pray for you. I forget to pray for our missionaries, our schools, our government officials. I forget to pray about what’s going on in our world. When I’m miserable, I’d rather host a pity party than pray. When I’m happy, I’m too busy enjoying myself to offer God a prayer of thanks. I’m guessing those descriptions could fit just about any of us. Sad, isn’t it? God wants us to speak to him in prayer but we’re either too busy or too forgetful. But there was one perfect Pray-er. He showed it in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed for his Father to take this cup of suffering from him, but only if it was his Father’s will. And then he went and drank that cup of suffering—every drop of it—so that you and I and every sinner could be forgiven. By faith in Jesus you have that forgiveness and a restored relationship with your God. So pray to him! Pray in every situation of life.

Part II.

I once had an agnostic person tell me that prayer was useless. He said the likelihood of my prayer being answered was directly tied to how likely it would naturally occur without my prayer. I didn’t agree with him. I’m sure you wouldn’t have either.

Instead, we know and believe that prayer is powerful and effective. How do we know that? Because our God tells us so. He tells us through James, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” A righteous person is someone who has been cleansed of sin by faith in Jesus. That’s you. So when you pray to God, that prayer is powerful and effective.

James offers an example of just how powerful and effective such a person’s prayers are. He recalls the great Old Testament prophet Elijah. Elijah prayed for God to send no rain as a testimony of his power to wicked King Ahab who worshipped the false god Baal. Ahab believed Baal made it rain and made his crops grow. For three years it didn’t rain and Ahab should have learned that only the true God makes it rain. And then Elijah prayed for rain and God made that happen, too.

So, why can’t we do the same thing regarding rain and everything else in our lives?

We can, and we do. You see, God’s intent is that we participate with him in carrying out his divine activities. God used Elijah and his prayers to do just that. Our prayers do the very same thing. When we pray and our prayer is in keeping with what God wants for us and for others, then he acts, then he directs things, then he blesses. Amazing, isn’t it? So pray, Christian! Pray with faith-filled confidence that your prayer is powerful and effective.

But that’s not so easy. I pray but I don’t see God act. What’s wrong? Doesn’t he care? Doesn’t he know? Doesn’t he see things my way? If he doesn’t act right away to do what I ask, things are going to get worse. There isn’t much faith-filled confidence in any of those questions or my attitude. Don’t pray God into a corner. Pray with the willingness—better, the confidence—to let God be God, to be who he is. He is the One who sacrificed his only Son for you out of love for you. He desperately desires you to speak to him in prayer. Do just that and then let him continue acting in that love for you and others. What an awesome privilege to go to a God like that in prayer and know that he always hears us and always answers us in a way that is best for us and all others in his kingdom.

Pray Christian! Pray! Amen.