Prayer

James 5.13-18

‘Prayer is the soul’s greatest privilege, its hardest labor, its purest joy.’ That was printed on a card that was given to me some time ago, when I committed myself to pray for some missionaries. And over the years I have found that it is so very true: greatest privilege, hardest labor, purest joy. James closes out his letter by writing about prayer. He does this in the hope that his readers will be encouraged in this exalted, though difficult, calling of every Christian. It is my hope that, as we look at what he has to say, you will also be encouraged in your prayers.

Did you notice how James begins? ‘Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.’ He covers both ends of the spectrum, bad times and good. And at both ends he calls us to pray, either by offering up our requests or by responding with praise. By pointing at the two ends, James also includes the middle, everything else in our lives. This is his version of Paul’s famous command, ‘Pray without ceasing.’ In every situation, we are to pray. The content, tone and emotions of those prayers will be different. Sometimes we will feel up and sometimes down. There will be times that our prayers will express our gratitude because we have finally come to understand what our God has been doing, and it is so good. But there will also be times that our prayers will express our confusion and pain because we have no idea why He is doing the hard things that He does. But whatever the situation, we are called to pray. Prayer is a key ingredient to our lives, and that’s why James calls us to prayer.

Some of prayers will be scheduled. This follows biblical examples. Daniel prayed three times each day. Peter and John went up to the Temple at the ninth hour because it was the hour of prayer. And I’m guessing that Jesus normally got up early each day to be alone to pray just as He did that morning recorded in Mark 1. A theme of Scripture is that are to lead disciplined lives as we follow Jesus. And part of that discipline is a regular time for prayer each day. For some that will be the first thing in the morning. For others it will be at a different time. When you pray each day is unimportant. How long you pray each day is unimportant. But that you pray each day is crucial. This is when you respond to the hard times as well as to give thanks for the good times. This is the time each day when you interact with your God. It is hard to overemphasize your daily time for prayer. And this is a cumulative thing. Each day’s time with God builds on the previous day’s. It is only as you get to know your God better by daily prayer that you will be able to deal with this life and all its surprises and troubles. You prepare for the crisis that awaits you five years down the pike by spending time with God in prayer today and tomorrow and the next day and the next. So many Christians just fall apart when the crisis comes because they have failed in this daily discipline. Is it any wonder that the world is not impressed with us?

But prayer isn’t only for the scheduled times. There will be other times for prayer, times when life happens, and you are thrust into some situation. So, we find Nehemiah being asked a probing question by his king. Before he responds, he offers up a quick prayer for a wise answer. This spur of the moment prayer reflects our awareness of our weakness in the face of daily surprises. This is another way in which it is clear that prayer is an essential ingredient of our lives.

Having said all of that, it is clear that many Christians have a problem with prayer. And there are lots of reasons for this. Let me mention one. We struggle with prayer because we misunderstand the purpose of prayer. Too many Christians think of prayer in terms of its benefits for us. The focus is on me and mine. Now, it’s true that there is great benefit to us when we pray. But that isn’t its focus. That’s not what’s primary. The purpose of our prayers is tied to the purpose for our existence. Let me repeat, slightly tweaked, something that I said the last time I spoke to you. I exist to make Jesus look good. And so do you. And that says a great deal about our prayers. If I think that my prayers are primarily about me and the benefits that I can receive, then that affects my opinion of the importance of my praying. What if, with a bit of hard work, I’m getting by relatively well? One thing that that means is that I don’t really need to pray. My own abilities are providing enough benefit for me. In fact, taking the time to pray cuts into my resources and will put me behind in making life work well enough. If prayer is focused on my benefit, making my life work adequately well, then I won’t be praying unless I come to a place where my own efforts aren’t quite enough. It’s that assumption – that prayer is about my benefit – that creates a large obstacle to the faithful habit of prayer. What a difference when we see that prayer, like everything else in our lives, is about making Jesus look good. You are to pray with Jesus as the focus. You are to pray so that He looks good. And so, do you see that praylessness, lacking the discipline of prayer, is a great sin? It results in a failure to fulfill the reason for your very existence. So, James calls us to pray.

James also deals with a second problem when it comes to prayer. The first was the wrong focus. This second has to do with low expectations of prayer. What is one thing that people pray about? Health problems. Someone is going to have surgery and what happens? The call goes out to pray that all goes well. And later, everyone is happy to find that it did turn out well. But what about the patient in the bed next to our ailing friend? He had the same problem and the same surgery. And everything turned out well for him also. But no one prayed about his situation. And everyone knows that. I’m thinking that on some level that leads to some questions. Did the praying actually do any good? Did it make a difference? It’s like someone with a head cold. His mother tells him that it’s time to take some of grandma’s special soup so that he will feel better. He listens to his mother and in a few days he does feel better. But so does his co-worker who skipped the soup and just drank lots of fluids. Of course, having the soup doesn’t hurt, but did it actually help? Is prayer something like that? Do we pray because we are convinced that it will really make a difference? Or is it a matter of thinking, ‘Well, it can’t hurt’? Now, I’m not saying that we should stop praying about things like health problems. My point though is that there will be little zeal for prayer if expectations are low. Paul wrote, ‘Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think …’ Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus able to exceed your requests? How does that show in your prayers? If we had larger expectations of prayer we’d have a different attitude toward prayer. And as we see those large expectations met and exceeded by Jesus we’d be encouraged to more prayer with even larger expectations. And little prayers don’t make Jesus look all that good, not as good as larger prayers do.

This leads to James’ example of Elijah. Elijah was a prophet of God after Israel split into two nations. Elijah ministered among the ten northern tribes during a time of great unfaithfulness. Idolatry was on the rise. James refers to one event within that ministry. Elijah prayed that it would not rain, and it didn’t rain for three and a half years. Then, he prayed that it would rain, and it did. Now, these are large requests, and they were intended to make God look good. Can we follow his lead? Can we make large requests like Elijah did? Some folk say no. ‘Well, you need to understand that he was a prophet. And doing such dramatic things isn’t for our day. All of that was for a former time. We can’t do anything like that today.’ Really? But then, why did James use Elijah and this prayer of his as an example for us? He even wrote, ‘Elijah was a man with a nature like ours…’ He was a regular guy just like the rest of us. But Elijah had large expectations of his God and, as a result, offered large prayers, very large prayers. And there were large answers to his prayers. He made God look really good. I think that the Spirit put this example in His Book not to tell us that we should pray like he did, but to tell us that we can. Are there some large requests that you’ve been afraid to offer to your God?

Here’s the sermon in a sentence. We really need to pray but we have problems with our prayers because our focus is on the wrong person and because our expectations are too small. Now, what are you going to do with what I’ve said? The right answer is actually very simple. You’re going to pray. For some of you, the sermon has simply been an encouragement to continue what you’ve already been doing. The habit of pray is fairly well established. You understand that Jesus is the primary focus of your prayers. And you’re working on praying larger prayers. If that’s you, great! But if that’s not you, don’t get down. Even if you’ve sinned badly in this area, don’t give up hope. Remember the Gospel. Repent of your sins and come again to Jesus for forgiveness and for change. Part of the repentance is to work at praying. And that begins by praying something as simple as this: ‘Lord Jesus, help me to pray.’ And if that’s all you’re able to pray each day, don’t worry because I know that your Lord will answer that prayer. And before you know it, you’ll be praying large prayers like Elijah. And you will be making Jesus look so very good.