Whispers to God – Pt. 2

Would God’s people please take
their Bibles and turn back again to James, the epistle of James. We’re in chapter five, James
chapter five. We began looking at this very
powerful section last Lord’s Day because it is an echo of
something that Paul said in Romans eight. that we do not know how
to pray. And it’s a statement that not
many believers would argue. It’s a statement that resonates
with us. We know well that we don’t know
how to pray. Paul there, even in Romans 8,
wasn’t suggesting that a Christian is completely ignorant about
what prayer is, how to enter into prayer. We know as soon
as we become a Christian that we need to look up to God and
to cry out to God. But what Paul is saying there
in Romans 8 is that with regard to the particulars of prayer,
especially in particular situations, sometimes our prayer life is
going along just fine and then something happens and we We’re
stuck. We don’t know how to say what
we want to say. We don’t know what is appropriate
in the given situation, how exactly we should pray. We know the basics
of prayer. We know ACTS. We know adoration,
confession, thanksgiving, supplication. We know those things. But when
we hit particular situations, we’re at a loss for words. What Paul acknowledges here when
he says that we do not know how to pray is he speaks of just
the almost speechless bewilderment that a Christian faces when they
come across a particular situation. We began to investigate this
statement a little bit last Lord’s Day. And I suggested to you and
of the one thing that I said last week, this seemed to resonate
with almost everyone. We do not know how to pray. And
the idea that, Lord, we pray for so-and-so is any kind of
a prayer is really a indicative of the fact that we do not know
how to pray. That’s not a prayer. It’s a good start. And so we we need to ponder. We need to ready ourselves. We
need to know what it is we’re going to ask of Almighty God
before we even open our mouths, before we even begin to articulate
our request. We need to know what we’re asking.
Lord, we pray for so-and-so is not a prayer. Lord, we lift up
so-and-so is not a prayer. It’s not complete. And so typically
we pause and we stumble and we we find ourselves at a loss for
word because of the particular situation that we’re facing.
Paul knew it. And he says, because of that,
we do not know how to pray. James knew it. The Lord Jesus
knew it. The Lord Jesus taught his disciples
how to pray in what people typically refer to as the Lord’s Prayer.
Because of our weaknesses, because of our finite understanding,
because of our sinful tendencies, sometimes we don’t think it through.
We just don’t know how to pray.
But not only does Jesus offer help, not only does Paul offer
help, James here in this passage offers very distinctive assistance
to the believer. In a sense, he tells us how to
pray. James chapter 5, and we find
ourselves again in verse 13 through 18. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. Is anyone
among you sick? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith
will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up.
And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore,
confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that
you may be healed. We began to look at this last
week in a passage that I’ve referred to as whispers to God, just different
ways of speaking to God, prayer in its many different shapes. And I kind of liken this to perhaps
a very fancy salad. Most of you who know me know
that I like my salad with all kinds of stuff in it. You can
leave the tomatoes out, but I like it with all kinds of stuff in
it. Bacon bits and cheddar cheese and raisins and all kinds of
stuff thrown into the salad. But essentially what you have
to do with this passage is begin to separate the ingredients to
understand what James is doing here in this particular passage.
You have to pull aside the ingredients into separate piles because through
the course of this prayer, James is going to touch on prayer in
its varied shapes but they overlap with one another.
And it’s beautiful to see on paper. They overlap with one
another so that you have to go in and remove out one set of
ingredients, and you have to go in again and remove out a
second set of ingredients, and then a third, and then a fourth. Look at the first one, circumstantial
prayer. We began this last week. It’s
in verses 13 through 14. What we saw that there are a
variety of circumstances that arise in a believer’s life that
require different kinds of prayer, prayer in different forms, the
first of which is suffering. And we said that if this wasn’t
such a serious subject, this is almost a humorous question.
Is anyone among you suffering? because it’s one of the most
common things that a believer will ever face, is difficulties
in trial, trouble, affliction in this life. But he addresses
circumstances and the second circumstances is cheerfulness. Is anyone happy? Anyone? And that’s about how the question
comes off because what James is doing is taking us from one
extreme, that of affliction, to the other, that of cheerfulness.
And I take that as a rare occasion for the believer. It isn’t how we typically live
and function. Things are not always rosy in
this life. But then he introduces a third,
and this one is perhaps even more rare. Is anyone among you
sick? But it’s interesting in that
verse, verse 14, as we’ve begun to separate the ingredients,
we notice yet a second ingredient that needs to be pulled aside.
The second form that prayer takes is intercessory prayer, prayer
for one another. And he says, if anyone among
you is sick, let him call for the elders of the church. They
are the ones that are supposed to come and to pray over the
sick. Well, intercessory prayer goes
all the way down to verse 16, if you notice. Pray for one another. It’s one of the great privileges.
It’s one of the great blessings of the church. I tell people
all the time, there’s no more encouraging thing that you can
tell me than to tell me that you have lifted me up in prayer. Well, no sooner do we begin to
get those ingredients separated that we’ve begun to notice not
only circumstantial prayer and intercessory prayer, but we notice
there’s another set of ingredients that also need to be pulled aside
if we are to really understand this passage. Not only circumstantial
prayer, not only intercessory prayer, but confessional prayer. This is really a profound point that James makes
here. And it’s going to require some
time when we begin to look at it. Look at the end of verse
15. If he has committed any sins,
what? Who hasn’t? If he has committed
any sins, they will be forgiven him. And there is an element
of intercessory prayer that embraces even going on behalf of a suffering
saint. to utter his confession before
God. Look at verse 16, therefore confess
your sins to one another and pray for one another. There is
an element of prayer called confession, one of the four core pieces of
prayer that we have the privilege of going before God and not informing
him of anything, but confessing to him, agreeing with him. About the nature of our life
and about the sin we’ve committed. But. No sooner do we have that
ingredient separated, we notice a fourth ingredient immediately,
not only circumstantial prayer and intercessory prayer and confessional
prayer, but faithful prayer. Look at verse 15 again. The prayer
offered in faith. will restore the one who is sick.
You have that same sense of faithfulness in verse 16 as well. Pray for
one another, why? So that you may be healed. In
other words, no prayer, no healing. And then this profound sentence
that will probably take at least one message just to begin to
explain this one sentence at the end of verse 16. The effective
prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. And then he
uses an illustration of Elijah. But it’s faithful prayer. It’s
perseverant prayer. It’s prayer that really believes
that God can and will answer the prayer. Well, we’ll come
back to those other ingredients in the weeks to come. But I wanted to look at one this
morning. We’ve looked at circumstantial prayer and we looked at prayer
for the afflicted, prayer when we are afflicted, prayer offered
up to God when we are in the midst of suffering, hardship,
feeling bad, whether it’s physically or mentally or personally or
financially, we are to pray. We are to look up to God and
to call out. We are to make it a practice
and habit of our life Instead of grumbling, instead of complaining,
instead of giving up, we are to turn to God in prayer. The
second circumstance warranting prayer is that of happiness.
And it is admittedly a much less frequent occasion. Not that we
don’t have much for which to praise, but we just find ourselves
typically in a less happy state. And even then we are to pray.
But the prayer takes a different form. The prayer literally takes
the form of singing. And what James introduces is
two contrasting, two parallel opposites. A time of affliction
and a time of great joy. A time of affliction that enters
in with prayer to God and a time of great enthusiasm, great joy
that issues forth in praise. I want to reiterate a part of
a quote that I cited last week that really, I think, touched
well on this blessing of praise. He said, whenever spiritual life is found,
it expresses itself as all manifest revivals of religion. In other
words, he says, you know God is in it. When saints not merely in the
sanctuary, but at home in the family circle or in solitude,
the singing of God’s praise is pleasant and helpful for the
soul. The tones of sacred song are
to the new man of Christ the most natural of all utterances. In other words, like our song
goes, how can we help but singing his praise? And then likely in
order in frequency comes a much less frequent occurrence, that
of sickness. It’s the third form of prayer. the third, rather, occasion for
prayer, the third circumstance that we face that brings about
a need for prayer. And this sickness that we began
to look at last week is not just the common cold. This is the
kind of prayer, this is the kind of situation that issues forth
a need for the second form of prayer, not just circumstantial
prayer, where we individually are able to look up to God But
here in this particular case, he says that we need help. It’s
a bad situation and we need the help of others praying on our
behalf. It’s intercessory prayer. Look
at the passage again, if you would, is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. And so we see that this last
circumstance that James introduces prompts us to pray. That of sickness,
this kind of sickness, almost necessarily leads to this second
form of prayer. The second shape that prayer
takes is that of intercession. And frequently, not always, But
frequently the occasion to intercede on someone’s behalf is that of
sickness. When we hear of someone who is
ailing, some of us, we’ve been there before, we know what they’re
going through. We know exactly how to pray in
that particular setting. And James recognizes this when
he addresses it in verse 14, is anyone among you sick? When we introduced this last
week, we noted that this just isn’t any sickness, not just
a common cold. This is a serious physical ailment. And we should also note that
this is a physical condition. The person is not just depressed
and down in the dumps, not under heavy conviction. This is a physical
ailment that has laid them low. And while it may indeed have
a spiritual root to it, the symptoms are not merely a troubled conscience,
but significant bodily ailments. This becomes evident as soon
as we begin to consider the specific word that James uses here. It’s the same exact word that
John the Apostle used when he recorded, remember, the message
that Mary and Martha sent to Jesus on behalf of Lazarus, their
brother. Lord, behold, he whom you love
is sick. He was really sick. We know very
well that Lazarus was sick, really sick. Sick, in fact, to death. The fact that they sent word
indicates to us, indicates to Jesus and indicates to anyone
else, this wasn’t just some minor sickness. This illness, whatever
it is, whatever it was, was debilitating. It was physically draining. Such a person ailing has been
sapped of energy and strength. And you say, yes, I’ve had that.
We don’t know what it is exactly, what it was that Lazarus had. We don’t know what Lazarus had.
And you know what? We don’t know what Paul’s fellow
worker Epaphroditus had, but he had a similar strain. He too was sick unto death. Same
exact word. He was so sick, in fact, that
he caused an absolute panic to race through the Philippian church
because they feared that he had already died. And so they send
a note to Paul wondering about his state. Paul writes about
it in Philippians chapter two. The Philippians were beside themselves,
knowing that Epaphroditus, their friend, by now may well be dead. That’s how sick he was. Paul
acknowledges it in chapter 2, verse 27. He was sick, same word
as ours, to the point of death. And it was only the mercy of
God that brought him through. We don’t know what Lazarus or
Epaphroditus had. But others had the same form
of this sickness, some form, the same degree of sickness.
Remember the royal official’s son in John chapter five? He
had the same thing, sick unto death. And it doesn’t stop there
either, does it? And since we’ve all had a form
of this sickness at one point in our lives, haven’t we? Where
we at least feel like we got hit by a truck, Some of us more recently than
others, it just wipes us out. It just lays us low. And we should observe that a
great many times that this word is used, it’s translated as weak. This is a weakening illness. This is the kind of illness that
wipes you out and you’re fatigued just to get up and walk across
the room. When Paul uses it in Acts chapter 20 verse 35, he
urges the Ephesian elders to lean into their shepherding ministry,
to come alongside and to help those who are weak. In Paul’s
case there, he uses that term in a much more broad based sense,
help the weak, help those who are weakened by sickness, help
those who are weak in their faith. But Paul basically says here
that the elders should provide practical care of those who cannot
take care of themselves because of their physical suffering.
Whatever help they need. But James says here the bare
minimum is prayer, the bare minimum. And by the way, Paul uses this
word. It’s clear that it isn’t just physical weakness, like
I pointed out with Acts. He speaks of the spiritual weak
in Romans 14 and many other places. It’s there’s all kinds of nuance
attached to this idea of weakness, spiritual, physical, emotional.
But clearly, James here has physical weakness in mind. physical weakness
because of sickness. James calls attention to those
who are worn out to the point of exhaustion, weary, fatigued,
wiped out. They’ve been to the doctor and
they’re probably already on the meds, antibiotics or whatever. What they need now, what they
need most is prayer. Plain and simple, they need prayer.
Look at verse 14. Is anyone among you sick? Let
him call for the elders of the church. And so James, in a sense,
blows the horn for the cavalry here. He instructs those weakened
by sickness to do something. He instructs them to call for
action. He tells them to notify the elders. As James is one of the earliest
New Testament books written, this is very likely one of the
very first mentions of this New Testament office called Elder. But it’s the elders. After all,
these are the spiritual leaders of the church. These are the
shepherds of the church. These are the very ones tasked
with the care of the saints of Christ’s church. It’s only reasonable
that you would call the elders. Please acknowledge this. James
isn’t here forbidding. a visit to the doctor or to the
hospital. In that sense, perhaps the doctor
should be your first call. And in that sense, the elder
should be your second call. But as Paul admonishes the Ephesian
elders, the elders have the specific responsibility to care for, to
attend to, specifically to pray for the weak and the suffering
in the church. If they weren’t responsible,
who could be? This was their duty, but it’s a duty that is
immersed in joy. It is the elder’s privilege and
right and responsibility to come alongside those who are hurting.
And please note that while it’s the elder’s duty to care for
and pray for the Saints. Look at this. It’s the Saints
responsibility. Even the sick person’s responsibility,
weak as he is to notify the pastors to call for the elders of the
church. See all this. Even the sick. Even the sick member has a duty. It’s the duty to inform, the
duty to notify, the duty to pick up the phone. I’m not trying
to be harsh or unfeeling here because of course there are times
when somebody is so weakened by sickness. They’re in such
a bad state. They’re so debilitated by this
illness that they cannot even reach over to the night table
for the phone. which probably has a dead batter
anyway. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? The last thing you want to do
is talk on the phone. But the point is, and I’m thankful,
I’m very thankful for this little sentence. Because an elder, a
pastor, no matter how loving and faithful he is, he cannot
help, he cannot pray for what he does not know. Elders aren’t tasked with a door-to-door
prayer healing ministry. Knock, knock. Anybody sick in
there? Unless someone, even the ailing
brother calls, a pastor may never know. And it’s hard. I would suggest
to you that it’s perhaps one of the hardest things in ministry.
to find out about something, some sickness, some suffering,
some trouble, some hurting brother or sister in Christ to hear about
it after the fact. And so James says. Notify the
elders, please. Call your shepherds. And he isn’t
suggesting that they are to be notified because they are miracle
workers, they’re faithful brothers who can in Christ come alongside
and pray. Look at verse 14 again. Is anyone
among you sick? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let them pray over him. It’s a beautiful image. James urges that this prayer
is the main purpose of the visit. It isn’t a social call. It isn’t
about light conversation, passing the time. I would suggest to
you that it is not a time necessarily for words of encouragement. Because
in times of great spiritual or physical pain, I’ve come to learn,
and at times I’ve come to learn the hard way, that words are
cheap. Platitudes are empty. I’m thankful that as a young
seminarian, a faithful pastor took me under his wing and he
showed me how to do a hospital visitation. It isn’t a social
call. You don’t sit down on the edge
of the bed. You don’t stay the entire afternoon. You don’t play doctor. You read
the Bible and you pray. And you leave. That’s it. Go home. The primary thing is
prayer. We’ll get to this in a moment.
The primary thing is prayer, not anointing with oil even.
Nor is this sick visit necessarily for counsel, although that may
unfold during your brief visit. The main function is prayer. And note this, I love the graphic
simplicity of this little statement, pray over him. We can see this,
can’t we? The situation unfolds in our
imaginations. Here is the shepherd or several
of them standing around this brother on his sickbed, standing
over them, praying over him. And I know the man is sick, but
this is a beautiful picture, isn’t it? Where you have your
brothers come alongside, stand over you and pray. I’ve said it many times, there’s
almost nothing more poignant or powerful than to be in prayer
for this one at this moment, only to have them depart for
glory a few moments later. Well, what about the oil? Yes, the oil. Look at the passage. Is anyone among you sick? Let
him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. I think I’ve told you that I preached
this passage 20 years ago. I didn’t quite have it figured
out then. I don’t necessarily have it all
figured out now. To a degree, I’ve already given
you my thoughts on this. Prayer is the main purpose of
this whole section. It’s the main function of the
visit. The oil is secondary, and it’s a distant second, I
will tell you. The whole purpose of the visit is prayer, that
the elder or elders may pray for, pray over this saint. But James adds this statement,
anointing him in oil in the name of the Lord, And my interpretation
or perhaps even my failure to interpret this difficult statement
may already be well known. Many of you have had the experience
of having me stand over you, over your hospital bed or sick
bed, and none of you can report that I completed my visit by
an anointing with oil. I’ve never done it. The meaning of the word anointing
is simple enough. It means to dip or to dab or
to rub with oil. James here, and really scripture
here, says very little about it. This is it. And because of that, much embellishment
has come to this passage, even outright confusion over this
practice. Even the kind of oil is undefined. In all likelihood, it was probably
olive oil, very prevalent in that day and age, very common,
very available. I don’t want to be very upfront
here. There was a very prevalent belief that olive oil had medicinal
qualities. In that sense, it was the original
essential oil. these medicinal benefits were
not on the level of magic. It wasn’t as if it was used as
a fail-safe cure-all. But we do have the account, a
parable, a story. The parable of the Good Samaritan,
and there in that parable we see a fair use common to the
day. Luke records that Jesus, teaching in that particular form
of a parable, told about a Samaritan who was on a journey, came upon
this poor, half beaten, half dead man. When he saw him, he
felt compassion. He came to him, bandaged up his
wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. It was a common way
to dress a wound. He was playing doctor. He was
at least playing medic. Some people have seen in this
passage in James a parallel to one passage in Mark used of the
apostles’ practice, Mark 6, 13. In Mark 6, 13, it says that the
apostles were casting out many demons and were anointing with
oil many sick people and healing them. I would tell you the apostles
employment of oil here in Mark 6 could not have been medicinal. There weren’t enough healing
properties of olive oil. Otherwise, it would be all we
need today. And it would have undermined
the very purpose of the miracles that the apostles were performing.
If that was the case, there would have been a run on olive oil. Not the gospel, but it was just
the opposite. The apostles going about healing
said that their message was from God. Likewise, the oil here is
secondary. It is an afterthought almost
for James. The whole point of the passage
is about the effectiveness, not of oil. olive oil or any other
kind of oil. It’s about the effectiveness
of prayer. But in what sense does James
suggest this be practiced? There are different kinds of
anointing in scripture. There was, of course, those religious
or dedicatory rites that included anointing with oil. Oil was used
to consecrate both things and people. Jacob, you remember,
anointed the pile of stones that he called Bethel. The tabernacle
was dedicated with a sprinkling of oil. Both priests and kings
were consecrated by being anointed by oil. But the anointing here
in James cannot possibly be dedicatory in that sense. There are no properties. There are no real commands that
would support that. So if the oil wasn’t medicinal
and it wasn’t dedicatory, what is the purpose? It’s a passing interest to some
of you to note that here it’s from here in this passage that
Rome, that is the Roman Catholic Church, developed the so-called
sacrament of extreme unction. Better known to us as last rites. The first suggestion of this
was in 8526 and didn’t take its current form until nearly the
12th century. Lorraine Bettner describes extreme
unction as the anointing by priests of those in danger of death and
sickness, death by sickness, with holy oil accompanied by
special prayer and accompanying Latin prayer formula with offsets
the sins committed by those members of the body. We’ll digest that one for a moment. Because in the first place, we
would have to acknowledge that there’s no such thing, nothing
we know of, nothing that scripture speaks of, that anything like
holy oil or holy water. And certainly we would not acknowledge
any kind of prayer, any kind of prayer formula, whether it’s
in Latin or any other language, that absolves another individual
of their sin. And James’s whole point here
is not that the prayer is to prepare a man for salvation after
death, like in the case of last rites. Rather, this prayer is
a prayer for healing. It’s a prayer for restoration
to life. And so we certainly do not see
here the prayer of last rites. And so the only remaining possibility,
or at least the best one that I can see, is to refer to it
as symbolic. It’s symbolic and therefore not
obligatory. It doesn’t necessarily do anything. Wouldn’t you know it, there’s
several different ways of understanding and applying this symbolic act. One very respected author, and shepherds suggest that it’s
likely that the anointing with oil was meant to aid the prayer
for the sick by tangibly dedicating the sick person to the Lord’s
special attention and care. Well, if it’s an aid to the prayer,
it’s more than just symbolic. Another scholar came closer when
he said that the anointing with oil is an outward and physically
perceptible sign of the power of prayer. And I suppose that
in that sense, it might be considered akin to believer’s baptism, an
outward sign. John Stone, one of my heroes,
referred to it as having a symbolic, and sacred character emblematic
of divine influence. It was a sign and nothing more.
Thomas Manton arguably presents the clearest and most palatable
explanation to me. He said oil among the Hebrews
was a usual symbol for the divine grace. Oil was not used as an
instrument, but a symbol of the cure. And so the oil was symbolic
and nothing more. It wasn’t dedicatory. It wasn’t
medicinal. It wasn’t a seal on someone’s
salvation. It was a symbol and nothing more.
In fact, Manton goes even further to suggest that since this practice
was not instituted by Christ himself, it was likely connected
with the apostolic gift of healing. And in his words, the right ceased
when the gift ceased. And so this cannot be understood
as a command from James as an apostle to institute some perpetual
Christian practice. It was not instituted as a standing
practice for the church. James, in this particular moment,
is standing between two worlds, the Jewish religious world and
the new, the Church of Christ. And so when all is said and done,
Prayer is the most important part of this passage. Not anointing,
not oil. It’s not magic. It cannot be
necessary. And if it’s not necessary, it
cannot be mandatory. Prayer is commanded. Anointing
with oil is not. We’re still considering intercessory
prayer. And not only is it mentioned
in verse 14, it’s mentioned in verse 15. Look just briefly at
verse 15, the prayer will restore the one who is sick. The Lord
will raise him up. This is on behalf of the brothers
coming to his bedside and praying over him. It’s a good thing that
it wasn’t last rites because this poor guy rallies, right?
He gets better. To use the language of the passage,
he is restored. The word is used many times to
refer to literal salvation. He’s saved in a physical sense. So it’s best to take these two
verbs, the second and explanatory of
one another. The second verb echoes the first,
the Lord will raise him up. James isn’t talking here about
literal salvation and literal resurrection. He’s not talking
about that. No prayer of any person will
ever save another. The poor guy is on his sickbed,
not his deathbed, and James isn’t bestowing the very powers of
God Almighty Himself on even the most faithful pastors. the
ability to eternally save some person. He’s referring to that in the second bed to the very
graphic raising up off of the bed of sickness. This man is going to sit up and
then he’s going to get up. You know what else we should
note here is that it’s the Lord, not the oil that restores the
man. And we’re a little surprised
at this passage, aren’t we? We’re even startled at the definitiveness
of the promise here. Listen to the progression. Anyone
sick? Call for the elders, let them
pray, and the prayer will restore, will raise up. The Lord will
raise him up. The Lord will hear the prayer
and will do what the elders asked. The progression and especially
the result, especially the result produces quite a question. Are
the physically sick healed in every case? We know that not
to be true. The difficulty lies in the very
universal sounding results that are stated here. If you pray,
he will be healed. We would simply have to back
up and look at this through the lens of all of God’s promises. I love the way one commentator
put it. James leaves it to the thought
and experience of Christians to find the limitations. to these
promises, he leaves it to the common sense and Christian submission
of his readers to understand that the elders have no power
to cancel the sentence of death. In other words, if the Lord wills. That’s the backdrop of any prayer
request that we make to the Lord, healing or otherwise. We’re still
considering intercessory prayer, and there’s a third indication
of it in verse 16. Look and briefly. Pray for one
another. So that you may be healed. Here,
James notes the great blessing of intercessory prayer, it works. No wonder one seasoned pastor
of bygone days called intercessory prayer one of the sweetest and
most profitable of all of our spiritual duties and privileges.
Don’t you count it a blessing to know that saints have prayed
for you? Absolutely. To think that God
in his good providence has thrown open the access to heaven itself,
to the very throne of grace, that He’s not just allowed us,
but He’s commanded us to come before the throne to present
some particular need of His grace, it’s utterly astounding, isn’t
it? And to think that God in His good providence somehow utilizes
the prayers of His saints, offered on behalf of their friends in
Christ, it sends shivers up our spines, doesn’t it? It should. God uses us. He wants to use
us. He tells us to come. He tells
us to ask. And he says that when we do,
he answers. And sometimes he answers by granting
the very favor for which we’ve asked, physical healing of our
friend. And the more thrilling thing
is that God also attends to our requests regarding spiritual
needs. We saw earlier that there’s nothing wrong with our friend
calling the doctor or going to the ER. And many times that’s
the wisest place to start. But there is never an inappropriate
time to prayer. I read a story this past week.
About a doctor. Doctor named Andrew Clark, a
very famous physician, evidently in his day. Two days before his
death. Someone asked him an odd little
question. So doctor, do you put no value
in prayer? To which the sick man replied,
not value prayers? Prayer is that which moves more
than medicine. Prayer is all powerful. It is
the basis of love. Pray for me always. Well, James
says here, prayer works. Prayer is or can be used by God. The whole purpose of praying
over others is honored. Healing is granted, not always.
But the fact that it ever happens should be a constant motivation
for us to engage in prayer. Do we grasp this? James is urging
God’s people to pray for one another in the course of sickness,
to search their hearts, confess any known sins, and to pray for
one another for the enjoyment of spiritual healing, physical
healing. Well, and that leads to the whole
conundrum of confessional prayer. We certainly are not going to
go on behalf of anybody else and confess their sins. But we
do confess to one another. And we’ll take up that great
subject next Lord’s Day. Would you examine your heart
in light of this passage on intercessional prayer? Let’s pray. Our merciful King, we do humble
ourselves before you. And Lord, we thank you for those
who so faithfully and selflessly take up our cause and pray for
us to go before the throne of grace and bring up our pressing
needs, whether it’s physical or financial or emotional. But
here in this passage, Father, we see a brother laid low with
sickness. Lord, we are called and commanded
to pray, to come before the very throne of grace and to ask, merciful
God, what a privilege to us. Lord, we pray as your disciples
said, teach us to pray. It’s in Jesus’ name that we ask,
amen.