You are invited to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and pray. (8:30 PM EST Wed., Mar. 7, 2001)

Note time change from 7:00 PM LHF time to 8:30 PM EST (Please also note the change from LHF time to Eastern Standard time. Also, Bill Rankin will be leading the meetings and will be talking about other topics than James. I have one more message from James.)

Dean

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."

"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise." Strictly speaking, prayer is making a request. If you look up the English word "pray" in the dictionary, it says that it means to beg. In Greek, it means to make a request or a vow to God (or a god). God the Holy Spirit, speaking through James, is telling us that if we have any kind of problem, we should tell God about it. And if we are happy, we should tell God about it and praise him. Why should we pray? It's because God wants us to pray. We have examples of prayer and praise from one end of the Bible to the other.

When God presented Eve to Adam, he said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." Who do you think Adam was talking to? -- and do you think he was happy or sad? He was praising God.

The last words in the English Bible are: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. -- The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen" And right in the middle of the Bible are the Psalms which are full of prayer and praise from beginning to end.

In the New Testament we have Jesus's teaching on prayer and examples of his prayer. We have the apostles teachings on prayer and the examples of their prayer. We also have the example of the believers prayer in Acts 4:23-30. We have all kinds of examples of prayer, praise and thanksgiving. Simply, we can only conclude that God wants us to talk to him in all situations

In today's passage we have one more teaching on prayer: If anyone is sick he should call on the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil. (For those of you who are interested in what elders do, this is one of the things they do.) I'll repeat what James says: If you are sick, God says to you, "Call on the elders of the church to pray over you and anoint you with oil." Then what?

This is what happens next: The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well! The Lord will raise him up. Also, if he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Have you prayed for a sick person to get well and he didn't get well? Have you prayed for anything and God didn't give it to you. I know that the elders of this church have prayed for people (and anointed them with oil) and they didn't get well. Why not? This is the word of God. Does God fail to honor his word?

Well, you may have noticed that there's a qualification. It says, "the prayer offered in faith -- the prayer offered in faith." What does that mean?

You believe the sun is going to come up tomorrow because you've seen that it has come up every day for as long as you can remember. Even when it's cloudy, you see the light and know that it's there. But if the sun only rose on random days about one out of ten times, on any given day you wouldn't have much confidence that it would come up. And if the rising of the sun depended on your faith, it might never rise again! So how can you have faith that God will answer your prayer unless you see him answer your prayers most of the time? How can you make yourself have faith?

There have been times when I have prayed and really had confidence that God would answer my prayer. It was like he was saying to me, "Pray this and I will do it." And I prayed and he did it. But this doesn't happen too often, at least with me. My conclusion is that there are times when God encourages you to ask for certain things and also encourages you to believe that you will receive them. (Jesus said, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." - Mark 11:24) As I said, this doesn't happen too often with me (maybe more often with other people). So what about the other times?

Well, I have assumed the common understanding of faith -- you see something happen consistently and believe it will happen again under the same circumstances. God is certainly consistent in all that he does, but he also knows all of the circumstances completely and we don't. I think our problem may be that our assumption about the meaning of faith is not biblical. For example, the apostle Paul says that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:24 - NASB). Paul does not say that faith comes from seeing the same thing happen repeatedly. As a matter of fact Paul contrasts faith and sight when he says in 2 Cor. 5:7, "We live by faith and not by sight."

One thing I have noticed about the word 'faith' is that in the New Testament it is the same word as faithfulness. In other words, the fruit of the Spirit could just as well be 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control' as 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.' (Gal. 5:22,23) The translators decide which word to use according to what they think is appropriate to the context. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and teachers of the law as hypocrites because they tithed a tenth of there garden herbs but neglected the more important matters of the law -- justice, mercy and faithfulness. Or is it 'justice mercy and faith?' The word that is translated 'faith' or 'faithfulness' also means 'trusting' and 'believing'. Obviously, faith and faithfulness, in the language of the New Testament, are very closely connected together -- and they are in English too. Faithfulness comes from trust.

"The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

At first glance the instruction to be clear minded and self-controlled so the you can pray seems to be disconnected from what comes after it -- just a list of commands for you to obey. But everything that comes after 'be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray' is about the faithfulness to God and to other believers that comes from trusting God. Love each other deeply. Offer hospitality to each other without grumbling. Serve faithfully with the gift God has given you. Speak as speaking the very words of God. These things can only be done if you trust God. They are done by faith. If you do them you are faithful.

Also, Peter says in 1 Peter 3:7, "Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers." Here Peter is telling us that if you don't treat your wife properly, your prayers will be hindered.

Even Mark 11:24 that I quoted earlier where Jesus said, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours," shows that what you do affects your prayers. Look at the next verse immediately after it. Immediately after saying, "Believe that you have received it, and it will be yours," Jesus said, "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." Do you think unforgiveness hinders your prayers? It does!

Now let's get back to today's passage. James concludes that we must confess our sins to each other and pray for each other. He says that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Now we know that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7,9) But we also know that Abraham believed God when God promised him a son, Isaac, through whom his offspring would be reckoned and his belief was credited to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6, Jas. 2:23) and that by faith (or faithfulness) Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. Because Abraham believed God that his descendants would be reckoned through Isaac, he was able to offer him on the altar in obedience to him. He knew that God could raise Isaac from the dead (see Heb. 11:17-19). The hymn says, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way..."

As the clincher, James gives the example of Elijah. He says that Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed for it not to rain and it didn't rain for three and a half years. Then he prayed again and it rained and the earth produced its crops. Was Elijah really a man just like us? He had a body -- arms, hands, legs, feet, a head, eyes, ears and so forth, just as we do. But he was also a prophet. God spoke to him directly and told him exactly what to do. He was obedient and did it. God blessed his prayers. How easy it would be if God spoke to each of us the way he did to Elijah. We would know exactly what to do. But he does speak to us. He's speaking right now through his written word and he is explaining it through his Holy Spirit. He may not tell you whether to buy a Quarter-pounder or a Big Mac, but when it comes to righteousness, he tells you and you know it. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Praise God that he loves us and is teaching us to persevere in everything. He has saved us through the precious blood of Jesus, his Son and is nourishing us and bringing us up as his children. He is refining our faith, which he considers very precious, through various trials. And the result will be praise, glory and honor when Jesus is revealed. We will be with him forever.

Come and let's pray for each other as well as for the whole church. Come and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Love them.

PS: If you absolutely can't make it to the prayer meeting, send your prayer requests back to me by e-mail and we'll pray for them.