The faith that works embraces and engages in prayer...

At the church where I serve, we have been spending our time together looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of James. James was the half brother of Jesus who repeatedly doubted Jesus claim to be God, but became a follower of Jesus who was the pastor at the church in Jerusalem and who was ultimately killed for believing that Jesus was God. James turned from being a doubter in Jesus to being a pastor of Jesus church and an author of this letter that is recorded for us in the Bible after seeing Jesus after He was raised from the dead.

And as we look at this letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus, our hope and our prayer is that we would be able to wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around several timeless truths that occur in a life of faith that works itself out in a way that results in us living lives that look like Jesus. This week, I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. As we have talked about throughout this series, the problem with the book of James is not that the book of James is difficult to understand. Instead, the problem with the book of James is that it is not difficult to understand and we have to do something with what it says.

However, as we jump into the next section of the book of James, we will be jumping into a section of the book of James that is viewed as a little more difficult to understand. And it is in this section of this letter that we see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to the faith that works.  So let’s discover that timeless truth together beginning in James 5:13:

Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.

James begins this section of his letter to early followers of Jesus with a question: “Is anyone among you suffering?” Now this word suffering literally means to suffer misfortune that produces spiritual or emotional distress. James here is referring to a person who is suffering emotionally or spiritually as a result of circumstances that have come upon them.

As we discovered last week, there were followers of Jesus who were being exploited and dragged into court by those who were rich and who arrogantly believed that they were in control of their future. And James had commanded these followers of Jesus to remain calm and to remain faithful as they endured the difficult circumstances that they were facing.

James then answers his own question by commanding those who were suffering and enduring difficult circumstances to pray in light of their difficult circumstances that they were suffering through. James commanded those who were suffering to pray for the strength to endure the suffering they were experiencing in a way that revealed and reflected Jesus.

James then asks a second question: “Is anyone cheerful?” This word again concerns an emotional response to a circumstance that one was facing. James here is referring to the person who is in a circumstance that produces and promotes happiness and joy. James then answers his own question by giving a second command: “He is to sing praises.”

James here is commanding those who were experiencing happiness and joy as a result of the circumstances that they were facing to give praise to God for the circumstances that they were facing. And it is here, in these questions and commands, that we see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to the faith that works. And that timeless and true principle is this: The faith that works embraces and engages in prayer.

Just as it was for followers of Jesus in James day; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer. However, to fully understand this timeless and true principle, we first need to understand what prayer is. Prayer, simply put, is entering into communion and communication with God. Prayer is creating space to enter into God’s personal presence and spend time with God.

You see, one of the common misconceptions about prayer is that prayer only involves asking things from God. But the reality is that the point of prayer is not to get answers from God. Answers to prayer are secondary. The main function of prayer is a growing and continual communion with God on the deepest possible level.

Prayer was divinely designed as an opportunity to spend time with God. Prayer is divinely designed to be the vehicle by which we experience life with Jesus and life change by Jesus. You see, to pray is to change because prayer is the central avenue that God uses to change and transform us. The closer we come to the heartbeat of Jesus, the more we will see our need and the more we will desire to be more like Jesus. If we are unwilling to change, we will give up on and avoid prayer, because when we pray, God reveals to us who we are and what needs to change.

And in James 5:13-18, we see James reveal for us four different ways that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer. First, in James 5:13, we see that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer because prayer provides the opportunity to engage God. When we pray we are creating space to engage God. We are creating space where we can engage God with the difficult circumstances that are causing suffering in our lives. And we are creating space to engage God by praising Him for that happiness and joy that we may be experiencing as a result of our circumstances.

Prayer is about engaging God in a way that results in us experiencing God’s presence in the midst of whatever circumstances that we find ourselves in. Prayer is about experiencing God’s presence, whether God chooses to take us out of our circumstances or whether He chooses to take us through our circumstances. Tomorrow, we will see James reveal a second way that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer...