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.

As we continue to look at praying in Times of Trouble we come to the challenging question, “how should we pray when we are experiencing affliction?” We should pray like Jesus did. We are all very familiar with Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was betrayed and led off to be crucified. We’re all familiar with the fact that Jesus prayed for the cup of suffering to pass from Him but not if it went against God’s Will. But do we remember what Jesus prayed before He went to the garden? It’s recorded in John 17 where we see how Jesus prayed when the pressure was on and persecution was knocking at the door. Your homework this week is to study this chapter on your own. Right now I am going to give you an outline of how Jesus prayed when He went through the Affliction Test. 

• In verses 1-5 He begins His prayer by focusing on the glory of God. He focuses on the Almighty not the affliction. Are you giving priority to the problems or the Provider? When you focus on the groaning you lose sight of God’s glory. 
• Then, in verses 6-19, Jesus prays about how his suffering will glorify God in the lives of those closest to Him. He is concerned about the disciples and how they will respond to His suffering. Once again, Jesus’ focus isn’t on Himself. His primary focus is that His suffering will glorify God in the lives of the disciples. That His affliction would cause God to be magnified in their lives. If we are not careful we can let suffering cause us to focus on self instead of serving.  
• In verses 20-24, Jesus prays that His suffering will glorify God in the life of all believers, the church. He prayed that through His suffering, the church would glorify God in their unity. 
• Finally, in verses 25-26, Jesus prays that His suffering will glorify God in all the world. 

Now, I want you to notice something about Jesus prayer during this time of terrible affliction that His focus was not on the groining but on the glory of God. The affliction that we will endure is just a small part of what our Savior went through on the cross of Calvary. And Jesus reveals the answer to affliction, don’t lose sight of the goal, the glory of God. Focus on the Almighty not the affliction. As Peter teaches us in 1 Peter 4:16 Christian Standard Bible (CSB) ¹⁶ But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in having that name.  What if we would not only learn to, but yearn to pray like Jesus when we experience affliction. “God right now, I am in pain but I’m asking that your name be glorified through this pain that I’m going through. May your name be glorified in the lives of those closest to me. May your name be glorified in the life of this church. Even if you won’t take the pain away, may your name be glorified in the world because of my affliction.” But that’s not how we pray. Instead we make it about our groaning instead of God’s glory. So, we see anything less than the removal of our pains and problems as a God who doesn’t love us. Prayer has the power to change our perspective. Are you giving priority to the problems or to prayer? Our first response to affliction is to seek the Almighty. So where do you turn to in times of tribulation, social media or the Savior? 

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.

Now the first key to passing the affliction test, is the individual key this is the key that is yours and yours alone. It is the key that you have to use by exercising the responsibilities that James reveals here.

1. Seasons of Prayer – Vs 13

Your first individual responsibility is to pray. A mother invited a group of her lady friends over to the house for lunch one day. She just about worked herself to death doing everything up right. When all the other ladies got there, they sat down to tea and cakes and sandwiches and all the stuff the mother worked so hard on. When they sat down, the mother looked at her 6-year old daughter and asked her to say the blessing. The little girl got all shy and embarrassed. She said, “Mommy, I don’t know what to say.” Her mom looked at her with that comforting, reassuring mom look and said, “Honey, just say what you hear Mommy say to the Lord.” The little girl bowed her head. With all the seriousness and sincerity she could come up with, she said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people over today?” Our personal prayers take all kinds of shapes, don’t they? They can be formal or casual, long or short. Often, they are fueled by and filled with all the things we want God to do for us. Especially when we’re dealing with some sort of affliction. Suffering can cause us to focus on self and our prayers become about us. James tells us to pray in the form of a couple of commands. This is not a suggestion we can take or leave, it’s a matter of obedience or disobedience. The first command in verse 13 is, “If any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. It’s here that we see our first season of prayer:

1. In Times of Trouble

These are times of tribulation and testing, it could be something physical or spiritual that is causing us distress? But what James is referring to here is the inner experience of having to endure misfortune rather than a specific problem. Our circumstances may create problems for us, but the real pain and turmoil is the inner struggle we face as we deal with things. Our reaction to the problem rather than the reason for the problem. I know from personal experience that when we are going through the pain Its easy to complain. Or to strike out or participate in self-pity and submit to our situation. James reminds us that all of these responses are wrong because they don’t involve prayer. Prayer reveals that our trust is in God, are you focusing on who you trust or what is causing the trouble? Prayer is not just talking to God its trusting God. Its asking God to help us with the trouble and then trusting that He will. While He may not always remove the problem, He will transform us if we respond rightly to the trial. 

God’s goal is to grow us not to baby us. And I am thankful that God cares enough not to coddle us but to cultivate our character so that we look more and more like Christ.