James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 5:13-15

¹³ Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. ¹⁴ Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

The second season of prayer is during:  

• Times of Triumph – 13b Praise 

The second command in verse 13 is, Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Now we need to be careful that we don’t misunderstand the word happy here. Remember context is critical as we learned last time, A Text without Context is a pretext. James is not referring to happy times verse hard times, remember James is preaching to persecuted believers. They really don’t have anything to be happy about because happiness depends on your happenings. So how does this fit into the affliction test? It fits when you understand that the word translated happy here is the exact same word that’s used in Acts 27:22, 25. There, the King James translates it, “be of good cheer.” Do you remember what was happening in Acts 27? Paul was a prisoner on board a ship on his way to Rome. But it wasn’t just a typical boat ride. They were in the midst of a terrible typhoon type of storm. Everyone on board thought they were going to die, except Paul. And Paul the prisoner told the crew to “be of good cheer” because they weren’t going to die. They were going to have to endure a shipwreck and everything they owned would be lost. But be of good cheer, in spite of the storm and the shipwreck and the affliction you’re going to have to endure. James says, are you “of good cheer” as you are enduring your affliction? Suffering can sour our spirit. But praise protects us from the pity party. We need both the prayers of petition as well as the prayers of praise. Don’t let suffering stifle your spirit, stay sweet don’t succumb to the sour. Life is a lot like Chinese food, it is sweet and sour in every bite, savor the sweet and don’t get stuck on the sour. Are you giving priority to the problems or praise to the provider? The key is Don’t get hung up on the season hold on to the Savior.