Power of Prayer - James 5:13-18

Introduction

Prayer. So often neglected, yet so powerful. It has been said

"You can tell a lot about a Church by observing how many people come to the prayer meeting."

This is a very good comment because if somebody really understand the Gospel and is truly in Christ, prayer will be a priority.

It has also been said that

Prayer is to the Christian life as breathing is to the human life.

This is yet another excellent observation because it highlights just how important prayer is.

Why Should We Pray?

If we take a minute to think about this question, it becomes clear that culture has shaped us more than we realise. Culture tells us that prayer doesn't work, even taking it as far as to say that prayer is pointless. To an extent, we've accepted this. Society sometimes prays when disaster occurs, even if they don't believe in prayer. We must return to Sola Scriptura, the belief that God's Word is enough, that His Word is inerrant, and that it is our only authority for everything in the Christian life. What has Scripture got to say on prayer? A lot. I haven't got the time or space to examine every single passage in great detail, so the focus will be on James 5:13-18.

Scripture says that prayer works. We must believe that prayer works. If we're authentic Christians that understand the Gospel, we know that we simply can't do it alone. We can't do life alone. We can't do life without Christ, and indeed can't do it without close Christian friends. In the context of Paul's thorn in his flesh (we can't be sure what that thorn was), he says this to us, in 1 Corinthians 12:9-10:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Here we see that Paul understands that without Christ he simply can't live the Christian life. Every second of every day we need God. Prayer out of a sincere and humble heart acknowledges that we need God. He uses prayer to draw us into greater dependence on Him alone. Through prayer, God invites us in to what he is doing within us and in the world. Through prayer we develop a better relationship with God.

God is our Heavenly Father. He is our King. He is our Saviour. He is our glorious Prince of peace. He is our mighty God. We want to know God, rather than just know about Him. If we want to know God we must pray. We can't know God if we don't talk to Him and let us talk to Him (through His Word, answers to prayer and other Christians).

God has revealed Himself fully through Jesus Christ, and God reveals Jesus Christ to us through the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. God has taught us how to pray in His Word (Matthew 6, and more), so we should pray. There are many more reasons to pray, I've just mentioned a couple.

James 5:13-18 Summary

Below I've summarised James 5:13-18. Let's remember the context here. James (the most likely author) is the Lord's half brother, and only came to faith when He saw the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The overarching theme of the book of James is 'Moving Toward Spiritual Maturity'. It's clear that James is writing to believers who aren't mature in Christ because of what we read, especially the part about being doers of the Word, not hearers only (James 1:19-27). Let's get stuck into this passage. I'll keep it as brief as possible.

Prayer: Christ Alone

Verses 13-15 teach that we pray to Christ alone, whilst also saying that we can be content and joyful in any and every circumstance. We can pray because of Jesus Christ. Without Jesus we simply couldn't have been reconciled to God, therefore it follows that without Jesus we can't pray. Furthermore, we won't know God apart from His Word, so prayer and the Word of God can't be separated. Despite our circumstances, we can be content because our contentment and our joy is in Christ alone (Philippians 4:10-13). Without Christ, there is no point in prayer. But we are in Christ, therefore it follows that there are many magnificent reasons to pray to Him alone. Let's come boldly before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:14-16) and pray to Christ alone!

Prayer: Mighty Power

Verse 16 shows us that the power of prayer is in God, not us. In Christ we are secure. We're eternally secure. This is not because of anything within our flesh, but purely because of who God is. One of the many awesome attributes of God is His faithfulness. He starts and finishes what He has begun in us (Philippians 1:6 - DO NOT FORGET THE CONTEXT). He is faithful, even when we are not (1 Timothy 2:1-13). How amazing is this?

All of this points to Christ. The power of prayer is in the One we're praying to, not in us. Prayer has mighty power because we pray to Christ alone.

Prayer: God Works

In Verses 17-18 we see that God works when we pray in faith from a sincere heart and in line with His will. God loves to hear us pray. He loves it even more when we have faith in Him, due in no small part to reading His Word and believing it. We must have faith in God if we're to pray sincerely. God always answers prayer, but not always the way we want. He sees the full picture, we don't. His ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). He is good, always. It's important to state that we can't change God's mind through prayer, and we shouldn't want to change His mind. He works all things for our good and His glory (Romans 8:26-30). When we pray, God works.

What Prevents Prayer?

Many things prevent us from praying. Surely two of the most common obstacles are distractions and busyness. I know personally I'm very busy and get easily distracted. The business park that the office is in here in Dublin is right beside the water, looking over Clontarf (northside suburb) promenade. There is a walk around the outside of the business park with lots of trees, hedges and benches. Often, around 16:00 most weekdays, I go a walk and pray. I still myself, forget about work for 20 minutes and just pray. It's beautiful.

I also love to pray when I'm walking. I pray for places I'm walking past and/or through, as well as for lots of friends, and much more.

Many things can stop us from praying, but if we truly understand the Gospel and prayer we will be intentional. If we really want to pray we will pray. You've got to ask the Lord to help you to be self disciplined. Often, when you don't 'feel' like praying, that is when you need it the most.

Conclusion

Prayer has mighty power because it's prayer to Christ and we are in Christ. God works when we pray with a sincere heart. If you don't know how to pray, simply go to Matthew 6 and use the Lord's prayer, or indeed go to any of the prayers in Scripture - also ask God to teach you to pray. Or you can use a Psalm, personally I pray a Psalm often because they're so easy to relate to. You can also use the acronym ACTS - Adore (Christ), Confess (sins), Thank (God) and Supplication (prayer for others).

Let's stop neglecting prayer. Let's commit to prayer and make it a priority because prayer has mighty power and God works when we pray!