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. 

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?