In James 5:13-18 he is going to give us some great instructions and some wonderful promises about prayer. He begins by saying prayer should be our first response to any problems we face. If there’s a difficulty or issue confronting us we should pray. Ask God for guidance. Ask Him for help. Ask Him for relief.
But we can’t just pray when we need something. James says that when we’re happy we should pray singing praises to God for his goodness. If you’re a parent you understand this. We don’t want to only hear from our kids when they need something-we want to have conversations all the time.
Then James talks specifically about illnesses. He says if you’re sick you should not only pray but have others in the church pray for you. God will hear those prayers and heal us physically. But more than that, James promises us that our earnest prayers will be heard by God and He will heal us spiritually. He’ll forgive our sins—and that’s a great promise.
James 5:16 is a powerful verse and one we should remember.
“The fervent prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective.”
Then he gives an example of an amazing prayer by Elijah. He prayed for a drought and it didn’t rain for 3 1/2 years. Then he prayed for rain and God sent a downpour.
Elijah was praying as God’s representative for something that God wanted to use to demonstrate His power and sovereignty to the people. James says we have the same connection to God that Elijah had. We have a great weapon at our disposal—prayer! We just have to use it.
