What prayer has to do with our spiritual growth...

This week, we are looking a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called 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 the timeless and true principle that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer.

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. 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.

 

Then, Wednesday, James revealed for us the reality that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer because prayer provides the opportunity for healing. When we pray we are creating space to engage God in a way that provides the opportunity for God to bring healing in our lives as a result of the difficult circumstances that are causing suffering in our lives, whether that suffering is physical, emotional, or spiritual.

 

And we are creating space to engage God in a way that confidently trusts in God’s ability to heal and that trusts in God’s will to either bring us out of or through the suffering that we are experiencing, whether that suffering is physical, emotional, or spiritual in nature. Today, we will see James reveal a third way that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer in James 5:16:

 

 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

 

Here we see James command followers of Jesus to confess your sins to one another. Now to confess is to make an admission of wrongdoing. And what we are to admit to one another are our sins. As we have discovered earlier in this series, the word sin refers to acts of omission or commission against God and others that flow from our selfishness and rebellion against God.

 

Now a natural question that arises here is “Why would James command us to confess our sins to one another?” That’s a great question. You see, so often we tend to think of confession of our selfishness and rebellion as being strictly a vertical endeavor. In other words, we view confession as something between us and God so that we can receive forgiveness from God.

 

However, when we view confession solely in this manner we miss a powerful truth. And that powerful truth is that secret sin holds great power in our lives. And while we may confess our secret sin to God, we can still attempt to tame and hide our secret sin from others. However, when we confess our sins to others, that secret sin loses its power.

 

And when we confess our sins to others, we are forced to change, because our secret sin is no longer secret. And because our secret sin is no longer secret, we are forced to be held accountable for our selfishness and rebellion that leads to that sin. And as we confess our sins to one another and are held accountable to change, the Spirit of God uses that confession and accountability as the means to make us more like Jesus.

 

And it is here that we see James reveal for us the reality that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer because prayer provides the opportunity for spiritual growth. You see to confess is to change because confession places us in a position where we are encouraged to change by those around us. And when we pray we are creating space to engage God and those around us in a way that is praying for life change. Confession is connected to life change and confession is connected to prayer. Prayer to God and prayer for one another for God’s transformational power to be at work in their lives.

 

That is what James is referring to when he uses the phrase so that you may be healed. This phrase refers to a person being delivered from something, in this case selfishness, sin, and rebellion. There is something powerful that occurs when followers of Jesus pray for one another in community with one another as they open up about the areas of selfishness and rebellion that they are struggling with.

 

It is prayer surrounding confession, in community with one another, that releases a person from the power of secret sin and that empowers a person to become more like Jesus as they experience the encouragement and support of prayer in community with others. James then reveals a fourth way that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer in the second half of James 5:16:

 

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

 

Here we see James point the readers of his letter, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to a section of a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of 1 Kings that involves a man named Elijah. Now Elijah was a prophet who was a spokesman for God who proclaimed God’s message to the Jewish people during the reign of a King named Ahab. King Ahab ruled the Northern Kingdom of Israel from 874-853 B.C. James begins by explaining that the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. James point here is that the prayer of a man who lives in a right relationship with God has the power to do great things. 

 

Now at this point, it would be easy to conclude that James here is referring to the prayers of super-Christians like Elijah and not ordinary Christians like you and me. However, that is not James point here. And we know that it is not James point here because of what James says in the first part of verse 17:  "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours”. Now what is so interesting here is that this phrase, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to experience a similarity in feelings or circumstances.

 

Now a natural objection that could arise at this point is “Well Dave, how could James say that Elijah experienced a similarity and feelings and circumstances to me? After all Elijah was a super prophet of God and I am here just struggling to follow Jesus.” To understand why James would point to Elijah, we fist need to understand the whole story of Elijah.

 

We meet Elijah in 1 Kings 17 after Elijah, as God’s spokesperson, predicted, proclaimed and prayed for a drought to encompass the nation of Israel. And in 1 Kings 17, we see Elijah perform a miracle to provide food for himself, along with a widow and her son. Then after the widow’s son died, we see Elijah pray to God to miraculously heal her son. And God answered her prayer by miraculously bringing him back to life.

 

Then, after 3 ½ years of drought, in 1 Kings 18, we see Elijah confront the wicked King Ahab and 450 prophets of the false God Baal.  We see Elijah courageously call the false prophets of Baal to a contest in front of Jewish nation to prove who the One True God was. We see Elijah boldly and sarcastically mock the false prophets of Baal, whose god would not answer their prayer. We see Elijah boldly pray to God to answer his prayer. And God answered his prayer. We see Elijah lead the Jewish people to destroy all of the false prophets of Baal. We see Elijah pray for rain after 3 ½ years of no rain. And God answered his prayer and provided a monsoon storm. We see Elijah outrun the king’s chariot back into the city.

 

Can you imagine being Elijah? Can you imagine praying such prayers and seeing God miraculously answer your prayers? Can you imagine how pumped Elijah must have been about God? Can you imagine how much Elijah must have trusted in God?  Really?

 

Because in 1 Kings 19, we see Elijah, after all of his amazing prayers; after witnessing all of God’s miraculous activity in his life, run with his tail between his legs in fear of his life after he was threatened by King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. And after running from Jezebel, we see Elijah whine and complain to God in 1 Kings 19:14:

 

“"I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."

 

So what happened to super Christian Elijah? What happened to Mr. the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much Elijah? You see, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. Elijah was a man who experienced the same ups and downs that we do as he attempted to follow Jesus. Elijah was a man who experienced the same mountain tops and valleys that we do when it came to how he trusted and followed God.

 

You see, James points followers of Jesus to Elijah not because he was a super Christian who prayed super prayers. Instead James points us to Elijah because James wanted to reveal for us the reality that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer because prayer provides the opportunity to overcome our weaknesses. James pointed to Elijah because when we pray we are creating space to engage God in a way that provides the opportunity for God to help us to see things from His eternal perspective and not our temporary perspective. We see God give Elijah the true perspective of what was happening just a few verses later in 1 Kings 19:18:

 

"Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him."

 

You see, James pointed to Elijah because when we pray we are creating space to engage God in a way that provides the opportunity for God to overcome our flaws and failings to accomplish His kingdom mission. James pointed to Elijah because when we pray we are creating space to engage God in a way that provides the opportunity for God to overcome our weaknesses in a way that points to the greatness and glory of God’s activity in and through us.

 

So here is a question to consider: How do you view prayer? And how are you embracing and engaging in prayer? Is prayer still mysterious and intimidating to you?  Are you avoiding prayer as something that is only for super Christians? Or are you embracing prayer?

 

Because the timeless reality is that the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer. The faith that works embraces and engages in prayer because prayer provides the opportunity to engage God. The faith that works embraces and engages in prayer because prayer provides the opportunity for healing. The faith that works embraces and engages in prayer because prayer provides the opportunity for spiritual growth. And the faith that works embraces and engages in prayer because prayer provides the opportunity to overcome our weaknesses.