Pray, Praise, Anoint and Confess

-


Scripture:

James 5:13 ¶ Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
James 5:14 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.
James 5:15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

Observation:

We find in this Scripture a pattern for our spiritual growth and development.  First of all, there will be suffering among those who are followers of Jesus Christ.  If we are to be like him, then we will also suffer as he suffered.  How did Jesus respond to suffering?  He prayed!  He spent time talking with the Father and we are to do the same.  In the midst of the difficulties that life sends our way we are to spend time with the Father.  We are to pray and to bring to him our needs and our requests.  Jesus was not alone in the garden of Gethsemane, instead he brought his burdened heart and laid it before the Father from whom he received strength and power to move forward and fulfill the purpose for which he had been sent. 

What about those who are cheerful?  There are times in life when things are good and we are experiencing God’s joy, peace and love.  Yes, things can be good and there are times that we need to simply embrace this as a gift from the Lord.  In the midst of the good take time to “sing songs of praise.”  Praise God and allow him to shine through in the good.  Don’t think that you have simply accomplished this on your own, but rather, rejoice and embrace what God is doing in and through you.  Be cheerful and let the music roll!

But what happens when someone becomes ill?  They are to call together the leaders of the church who are to “pray over them” and anoint “them with oil in the name of the Lord.”  This is the community of faith coming together, uniting in prayer over the needs of one who is ill.  Something synergistic happens when God’s people get together to pray.  Not just synergistic, but also exponential and therefore the community is called together, to be a united front in praying for the healing of the sick.  The anointing oil is symbolic, but may also be a form of treatment.  Ointments and balms were often used as medical techniques for healing.  Could it be that here we see the community coming together to pray while applying the necessary medical treatment and God used the two to bring about healing from ailments. 

Miracles would be witnessed by those who prayed.  There would be those who would be healed of their sicknesses both physically and spiritually.  Again this was something that was happening within the community of faith.  The elders were laying hands on those who were sick and the forgiveness of sin was occurring when there were those willing to confess their sins to one another.  It was accountability within the community of faith that led to a time of prayer and those leading the prayers were righteous.  This is why they saw the results that they did, the powerful and effective prayers of a community of faith.   They prayed, they praised, they anointed and the confessed and the result was “powerful and effective.”

Application:

This is certainly a pattern which should be emulated today.  Unfortunately I’m not sure that we place enough emphasis on our need for corporate prayer.  There are times that I attend a worship service and no time whatsoever is given to corporate prayer.  Are we really too busy to plan to pray together? 

I’m guessing that many who read this portion of Scripture would be concerned that we don’t see many of these kinds of miracles these days.  Why would that be?  Could it be because we are not practicing prayer, praise, anointing and confessing on a regular basis within our communities of faith?  Could it be that we are not genuine “communities,” but rather, individuals who gather together on a Sunday morning to worship but are not genuinely interconnected throughout the week — or throughout life?  These instructions are to be lived out within the community of believers.  In this we find support and accountability which leads to a powerful and effective prayer life.

Prayer:

Lord, please help me to live out this life faithfully within the community you have provided for me.  Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a ti...
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her ...
Read more

On Grief and A Flute Player

-
Scripture: Matt. 9:23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, Matt. 9:24 he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Matt. 9:25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. Matt. 9:26 And the report of this spread throughout that district. Observation: This is a simple story which we have heard or read numerous times. Jesus heals the little girl and the people rejoice. But at the moment in which he arrives at the home he encounters the professional mourners. These are the flute players, the ones who have come to make a great noise about the child’s death. It is the flute player that testifies to the fact that she is truly dead. Also, flutes were generally employed when it came to the death of a child. The whole community would therefore understand that it is a child who has died in this home. The flute player is doing the job they have ...
Read more