James–Part 28

Sometimes we pray for a loved one who is ill and the person gets better. Other times we pray and things get worse. It seems that God grants some prayer requests and ignores others. Why? James has already mentioned one reason: “when you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (4:3). Our requests are sometimes denied because our intentions are selfish. God does not simply hear our pleas; he considers our motives. James revisits the subject at the end of his letter and gives us the dual key to an effective prayer life: righteousness and persistence.

Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will make the sick well, and the Lord will raise them up. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being just like us, and yet when he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, no rain fell for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky sent down rain and the earth produced its crops.
James 5:14-18

The specific application here is to prayers for healing, but the principles of persistence and righteousness are relevant to all prayers. James uses Elijah, one of the most powerful prophets of the Old Testament, as his example. The Book of Kings recounts how Elijah defeated the king of Israel with one weapon–prayer. He told King Ahab, “there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word,” and there was drought for three and a half years. The prophet’s attitude toward prayer is revealed after the Lord instructed him to tell the king the drought would soon end. Ahab went out to celebrate, but Elijah got on his knees and continued to pray. Time and again he sent his servant to check the sky for clouds, and when none were reported, Elijah went right back to praying. After seven prayer sessions, the prophet’s perseverance was rewarded and God sent the rain.

James points to Elijah and encourages us to be persistent. Then he mentions the second component of effective prayer–righteousness. Verse 16 says it is the prayer of a “righteous person” that is “powerful and effective.” James uses the same prophet as his example, and Elijah helps us understand what it means to be “righteous.” On the one hand, Elijah did some amazing things. 1 Kings 17–19 gives us the backstory: the prophet prays over a dead child and the child revives; he rebukes the king to his face; he prays for drought, and it stops raining for more than three years; he defeats 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and calls down fire from heaven; he prays again and ends the drought; and last but not least, he never dies–a fiery chariot drops from heaven and whisks him away to eternity.

It is easy to read stories like those and come away thinking people like Elijah are superhuman. But James, knowing our tendency to put our heroes on pedestals, reminds us in verse 17, “Elijah was a human being just like us.” The Book of 1 Kings not only recounts the heroic deeds of Elijah; it also narrates his failures. After the prophet destroyed the Baal worshippers on Mount Carmel, he ran away in fear of Queen Jezebel. Why? Because he was human, just like us. Elijah fled into the wilderness, became discouraged, and pleaded with God to kill him. Why? Because he was human, just like us. But God didn’t kill Elijah; he fed and encouraged him. And did Elijah did go forward with renewed dedication? No, he bragged to God about his faithfulness and had a pity party. “I’m the only faithful prophet left,” he whined. “And now they’re trying to kill me, too!” Why was he complaining and fearful? Because Elijah, despite all his heroic deeds, was human, just like us. He was susceptible to the same fears, shortcomings, and lapses of faith. Yet James uses this far-from-perfect prophet as his example of a righteous person whose prayers were powerful and effective.

The lesson for apprentices of Jesus is both obvious and encouraging–we don’t have to be perfect in order to be righteous and pray effectively. God does not demand perfection; he looks for faithfulness and a willingness to turn away from sin. “Righteousness” is relying on God in any and all circumstances. It is to “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). It basically comes down to having a godly attitude. In Psalm 66:18, David confesses, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened to my prayer.” It’s one thing to sin (we all do that), but it’s an entirely different thing to “cherish” sin. What closes God’s ears is not the depth of our sin, but our secret desire to repeat it again and again.

Spend some time this week reflecting on your prayer life. How effective is it? David said he had not cherished sin in his heart. What about you? Is there a cherished sin that is getting in the way of your relationship with Jesus?

Next: when a believer wanders away from God

James–Part 27

There is a lot of confusion about the relationship between prayer and healing. The Bible teaches us that all illnesses are a result of sin, but some sicknesses are purposeful. Sometimes the purpose is discipline (1 Corinthians 11:27-32), and sometimes the purpose is to reveal God’s glory (John 9:1–3; 11:4). There is nothing terribly complicated about this, but Christians have developed very opposing attitudes about healing:

• Some cite Jesus’s words (“ask and you shall receive”) and conclude prayer obligates God to give us what we want.

• Others are convinced that divine healing was operational only during apostolic times and is no longer happening.

• And some of us can’t find support in the Bible for either of these positions. We recognize two facts: fact #1 is God still heals people today, but fact #2 is that not everyone gets healed.

James helps us sort through the confusion, and he says the key lies in our relationships:

Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will make the sick well, and the Lord will raise them up. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
James 5:14–16a

James’s prescription is relational: we are to pray for ourselves, we are to pray for one another, and we are to call on our spiritual leaders to help. Verse 14 encourages us to enlist the elders of the church–not televangelists who claim to have healing power and not traveling faith healers–we are to call the pastors of the church we attend (“elder” and “pastor” are synonymous terms that refer to different aspects of the office).

Bible scholars disagree about the purpose of the oil. Some point to its medicinal use and conclude God wants us to use both prayer and medicine when we are ill. Others point to oil’s figurative meaning and understand the anointing to be sacramental and/or symbolic. Theologians disagree about the function of the oil, but one thing is certain in the text: ultimately, it is “the prayer of faith” that is the remedy, and this is not something that happens in a vacuum. We need people around us to facilitate the healing. This is why James encourages us to confess our sins.

It is good and necessary to confess our sins to God, but it is also necessary to confess our sins to others. As a pastor, I have counseled many troubled souls, and I am always happy to hear, “I want to tell you something I’ve never told anyone.” I get excited because I know they are near a breakthrough. When we find the courage to tell others about our sin, we will often find release.

But what does it mean to confess my sin? Should I start blabbing to everyone I meet? No. Who you admit your sin to will depend on the circumstances. I once heard a principle called “The Circle of Confession” that helps me decide who to talk to–I should only confess to the people involved:

• When my sin is against God alone, then I just need to admit my sin to him.

• When my sin is against another person, I need to confess both to God and to the person I sinned against.

• When my sin is public knowledge, I need to confess to God, the church, and everyone involved.

The brief instruction in James 5 about the relationship between prayer and healing answers some, but not all, of our questions. One often-asked question is not addressed directly by James. Perhaps you have asked it: “If God can heal any illness, why are there faithful, God-fearing folks who pray but remain unhealed?”

I don’t have a complete answer to that question, but a passage in 2 Corinthians has given me a partial reply. God taught Paul some amazing truths, but he also allowed the apostle to suffer physically. Paul, reflecting on his ailments, came to the conclusion that while it is always within God’s power to heal, it is not always within his purpose. Paul explains:

To keep me from becoming conceited because of the wonderful revelations I received from God, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10

When someone asks me why a loved one has not been healed, the best answer I can come up with is, “Sometimes God has a greater purpose in view than our physical healing.” I realize that is a woefully inadequate response, but in times like these, all I can pray is, “Heavenly Father, heal your child if that is your will. And if it isn’t, give me the grace to accept your decision, even when I can’t understand what you are doing.”

Next: how to pray effectively.

Most of us, when faced with a big decision, find it difficult to hear God counsel. We pray and ask God’s blessings but hear nothing. Perhaps we can’t hear God because we suffer from the spiritual equivalent of ear wax–primarily because we have ignored God’s counsel to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry” (James 1:19). Thankfully the passage in James tells us how we can hear God: we are to “get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:21-22).

James says that the remedy to our inability to listen is to allow God’s Word to remove whatever is hindering us. And just in case anyone wants to translate that to mean we have no part in the process (we are to just “let go and let God”), James emphasizes the key part we play: we must put the truth we learn into practice in our daily life. We must be “doers” of the word, participating with God in the cleansing process.

But what does it mean to be a “doer” of the Word when it comes to listening? Well, it starts with our relationship with Jesus. When Christ is not central to our thinking about life, our mind will naturally fill up with all sorts of thoughts–many very dark. These thoughts stir up poisonous feelings and our heart becomes filled with toxic attitudes and fears. These feelings, in turn, cause us to speak harshly and do hurtful things. And often it is not until after we have said or done the hurtful thing that we even realize we hurt someone!

This spiritual dirt has been so ground into us that we sometimes mistake the dirt for our true nature. Ephesians 5 says we regularly need “washing with water through the word.” This spiritual cleansing is not complicated and is clearly explained in Philippians 4. We are told that it starts with a willingness on our part to rejoice and not worry. Instead, we are to simply make our requests known to God and be thankful for whatever he does. This releases our spirit and allows us to experience the kind of supernatural peace that only God can supply.

The key, we are told in Philippians 4, is our relationship with Jesus. “Rejoice in the Lord always,” Paul says. “I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Our intimacy with Jesus deepens the same way as in any other relationship deepens and develops: by spending time together. This is an obvious truth–which is perhaps why so many of us miss it.

Next week we will look at what Philippians 4 tells us is the key to developing what Paul calls, “the peace of God that transcends all understanding.”

I sometimes tell myself I am becoming spiritually deaf, but I suspect that my ears work perfectly and my trouble hearing God is due to the spiritual equivalent of ear wax. All the noise and demands of the world around me seem to produce a kind of sludge that clogs my mind and dulls my ability to hear God’s will. For that, there is only one solution: I need to get clean, and it starts with allowing Jesus to wash the dirt from my soul. Ephesians 5:25 tells us that Christ loves the church (his apprentices) and gave himself to make us holy, cleansing us with God’s Word.

Jesus “washes away” the dirt, some of which has been deeply ground into our soul. Some examples of the dirt we live in:

• At an early age we learn the reward/punishment process. We are taught how to put the carrot on the stick, and how, if that doesn’t work, threats and punishment are the best ways to get others to do what we want. Yet this was not the way of Jesus.
• We are also big believers in the notion that, “If I don’t take care of myself, no one else will.” Jesus, however, said the opposite was true: “those who want to save their life must lose it.”
• We are convinced that the way to gain is by grabbing and holding, but Jesus taught, “Give, and it will be given to you.”

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the foolish and false notions we have bought into as a culture. If you want a tool that can help you see how deeply you have been influenced by the spiritual grime of the world around you, here are five questions you can ask yourself:

1. When things go wrong in my life, how long does it take me to remember to pray and thank God that he knows better than I what needs to happen?

1. When someone hurts me, how long is it before my negative thoughts are replaced with prayer? How long before I can pray for the person who harmed me?

1. When I visit or have a meeting with someone, do I pray before it happens, asking God to give me ears to hear and love to share?

1. When I’m alone, how often am I consciously aware that I am never really alone, but that God is always with me wherever I go?

1. When my mind is not focused on a task and has some down time, where does it go? Does my mind spontaneously return to God like the needle of a compass moves back to north when free from magnetic sources? Or does my mind fall into worries about the future or regrets about the past?

Honest answers to questions like these can tell us how much we have been influenced by the world. The good news is that God has provided a way that will allow us to hear him above all the clamor. More about that next week.