Moments in the life of a Pastor

James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 5:15-18

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. ¹⁶ Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. ¹⁷ Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! ¹⁸ Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

After seeing the passion of the petitioner next, we see the:

• Piety of the Petitioner – “Righteous person”

We need to consider the character of the petitioner. James reminds us that the prayers that receive answers are from “a righteous person.” One who because they totally trust God live their life according to His Word and doing what is right. 1 Peter 3:12 says, “The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.” Many prayers go unanswered because the petitioners pray without faith. 

• Power of passionate prayer – “has great power” no rain for 3½ years

The power was not in the person who prayed or even in the lack of rain or the provision of rain. Those were a display of power but no the source. The power was in the One in whom Elijah prayed to, God. The false prophets prayed but their prayers we rooted in religion not in a relationship with Jesus. But what is the purpose of the power, to point people to God. It’s about God’s glory not ours.

• The Promise to the Petitioner – “produces wonderful results” – 

James concludes his instruction on prayer by affirming that this type of prayer “produces wonderful results. It is the same greek word that Paul uses in (Philippians 4:13), “I can do (ischuo) all things through Christ which strengthens me.” It’s here that we see the produce of prayer, the dry dusting ground received the life giving rain and producing a harvest. God rained down blessing, on all, a righteous person prays prayers that serve more than just self. But prayers that bring blessing to those around them. Elijah prayed a corporate prayer and God gave a corporate answer. So how do you handle your personal affliction? Do you see it as an opportunity to focus in only on yourself and your wants and needs? Or do you see it as an opportunity to pray that God be glorified in your affliction? As part of a body of believers, how do we see the affliction of one of our members? Do we see it only as their problem, or do we see it as a call to prayer?  Do we see their affliction only as an interruption to the easy life that God’s supposed to give us? Like some sort of inconvenience? Or do we see it for what it can be. Do we see affliction the way that Elijah did? Do we see it as a way that God’s glory can be magnified through our lives, individually and corporately?  God gave us each other because we need each other. We need each other just like one part of our human body needs the other parts. We need each other for accountability. And we need each other for prayer. And when we do those things, all the false prophets of the world will fall before us. Why? Because when we hold each other accountable and pray for each other, God is glorified. The name of Jesus is lifted up before a watching world. Sometimes suffering is the result of sin and sometimes it’s a gift that lets us give glory to God. There is nothing more powerful than a saint shining for Jesus in the midst of suffering. 

James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 5:15-18

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. ¹⁶ Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. ¹⁷ Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! ¹⁸ Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.å

The first step is corporate confession and the second step is:

2. Corporate prayer – Vs 16-18

Once again, this is a corporate command, its for the whole body. When we have someone in our midst who is going through affliction, we are called to pray for them. But how do we pray for them? Well, James is a pastor gives us a powerful picture of prayer here. He gives us the illustration of Elijah from 1 Kings 17-18. Our verse in James describes Elijah as being human as we are. Not only did James church need that reminder but so do we. Because while they didn’t have comic book heroes like Superman and Batman back in James’ day. What they did do was to make heroes of the men of the Old Testament. The problem with that is that they tended to look at them the same way we look a Superman. They were mythical, superhuman people. But James refutes that rational. He says that Elijah was just an ordinary man with an extraordinary God and an extraordinary burden, His call from God. He was a prophet in Israel during a time when it seemed as if everybody else in the nation worshipped other gods. Including King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. So, in the face of that kind of affliction, what did Elijah do? He prayed. It’s here that James reveals several powerful principles when it comes to prayer: 

1. Passion of the Petitioner – “The earnest prayer”

Elijah was so passionate for God’s people to turn back to God that he was willing to pray a prayer that would cause him to have to personally suffer. He didn’t pray that everything would go well for Israel in order for them to turn to God. He prayed that it would stop raining, and it did for three and ½ years. But as you go through 1 Kings 17-18, you will discover that the lack of rain also brought hardship for Elijah. He had to get food from ravens and water from the trickle of a stream. When that ran out, he had to depend on the faith of a poor widow woman. Elijah’s effectual fervent prayer didn’t make life easy for him. That’s not what it was designed for. It was designed for the benefit of the whole nation. It was designed to show God’s power and glory to Israel so they would turn back to Him. And, for an ever so brief moment in their history, that’s what happened. You know the story of what happened on Mount Carmel. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to see whose God could consume the offering. The false prophets of Baal spent all day crying out to their gods, even cutting themselves so that their blood poured out. But there was no response. Then it was Elijah’s turn. He rebuilt the altar of the Lord and placed the sacrifice on it according to the requirements of the Law. And then he soaked it with water three times. This was not a waste of water in a time of drought but an offering of what was precious and rare. And then he prayed. This is his prayer in 1 Kings 18:36-37: “Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. ³⁷ O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.” A simple, two sentence prayer. And look what happened in verses 38-39: “Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! ³⁹ And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”God was glorified. What about you, is that the passionate cry of your prayer life, God be Glorified, it was Jesus prayer in John 17. Elijah prayed, not for his personal comfort. He prayed that God would be magnified, no matter what. And guess what? God was magnified. Unlike the prosperity preacher Elijah had a passion for holiness over happiness. He was willing to be homeless so others would know God’s holiness.