The Prayer of Faith
James 5.16-18


In our text we find James continuing to be a faithful pastor to these
saints. He continues to urge them on. In this specific case he calls them to
pray, specifically to pray for each other. We’re going to leave the ‘one
another’ part of our text for next week, D.V. Today, we’re just going to
look at the call to pray. I know that sermons on prayer can be difficult to
hear. All too often all they do is make us feel guilty. I really don’t want
to do that. I know that praying well, that is, establishing and maintaining
a good prayer life, is hard. So, I don’t want to heap on the guilt. That won
’t help. Instead, my goal is to encourage you. It is my hope that you will
leave here with a little better understanding of prayer which will lead to
another step of growth in that area of your life. So, let’s take a look at
James and see what the Spirit will do.

The heart of James’ exhortation is the second half of verse 16 which I first
learned in the old KJV. ‘The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.’ The point of what James is saying here is so down to earth.
Having just called these saints to pray he then gives them a reason why.
‘Your prayers will work.’ Simple yet profound. James is telling these
Christians, just as the Spirit is reminding you, that their prayers are not
a waste of time. Their prayers will work. They will ‘availeth much’. And
then, to drive the point home, he offers Elijah as an example. Now, it is so
very important to notice the details of the Bible. Did you notice how Elijah
is described? It’s not, ‘Elijah, the great prophet’ or ‘Elijah, the man of
God’. Rather, it’s ‘Elijah who was just like us.’ We tend to remember the
high spots of the great saints of the past. We forget that Moses was a
murderer or that Noah got drunk. Elijah had his high spots. One was the
contest he had with the prophets of Baal. If you’re not familiar with that
you really should read it. [1 Kings 18] It’s quite stirring. But what
happens after Elijah miraculously defeats these false prophets? First, there
’s fear. He runs and hides because of the threats of the queen. Then there’s
self-pity. ‘I’m the only faithful one left, Lord.’ And then to top it off,
he gives in to depression. ‘Lord, just kill me. Life is simply too hard.’
So, the next time you do something foolish and then tell yourself that you
are a sorry excuse for a Christian, remember that you’re not alone. Elijah
and the rest of us are right there with you.

So, here’s Elijah, who’s just like us. And what does he do? He prays for a
drought to descend on Israel – and it does. No rain for three and a half
years! And then, he prays again – and it rains! Do you see James’ point?
‘Here’s Elijah – someone just like us – and look what he did. His prayers
worked. They availed much. And what’s true of him is true of you. So, go and
pray.’

It’s here that we have some problems. Some of you might be thinking, ‘I hear
what you’re saying, but I just don’t see it in my life.’ Now, what do we do
with that? Obviously, the Scriptures are true. ‘The effectual fervent
prayers of a righteous man (like the very human Elijah) availeth much.’ The
Spirit doesn’t lie. So, we know that the problem is somehow with us. And
that’s good to know. That gives hope. It’s the ministry of the Spirit to
take the problems of our lives and to fix them. That’s what He’s doing all
the time. You can make it sound fancy by calling it sanctification, but what
it boils down to is the Spirit fixing the problems of our lives. And, God
willing, that’s what He’s going to do now with you.

One way to get at what’s going on is to look at prayer as a work of faith.
James referred to this notion earlier, ‘the prayer of faith will save the
sick’, and he is assuming it here. We need to take another step in
understanding what this means. I have four thoughts about this.

The prayer of faith built on a certain appropriate desperation. Christian
faith says, ‘I know that I am completely without the resources needed to
deal with life. I know that I am an easy prey for the evil one. I also know
that I stumble into problems all the time. So, I know that my only hope is
You, Lord Jesus.’ That’s what I mean by a certain appropriate desperation.
This is built into a prayer of faith. In the face of the overwhelming issues
of my life, there is no hope anywhere – except in Jesus, and the stakes are
life and death. The prayer of faith is convinced of this.

Now, let’s add a second aspect to this. Let’s add an interesting thought
from Hebrews 11 about people who have a true, Christian faith. ‘And without
faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God
must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.’
[Hebrews 11:6] First, if there’s no faith you can’t please God. And so, what
is true faith, according to this verse? True faith believes that God is and
it also believes that He rewards those who seek Him. The prayer of faith
knows that God will respond. Better, the Christian offering a prayer of
faith knows, ‘God will reward me for what I am now doing’. Put the first
aspect of prayer, an appropriate desperation, together with this second
aspect, a confidence that God will respond. What have you got? You’ve got
Jacob’s almost defiant declaration as he wrestles with God. ‘I will not let
You go unless You bless me!’ Jacob has that appropriate desperation.
Remember this wrestling match occurs just before Jacob is to be confronted
by his brother Esau, who promised to kill him. He needed God’s help. No one
else could help. And Jacob was assured that God would respond and reward his
faith. He knew that God could and would bless. Now, that’s what’s going on
in a prayer of faith. It may not always be as intense as in Jacob’s
situation, but this kind of attitude is always there to some degree.
Anything less just won’t work.

There’s a third aspect. The prayer of faith is always a response to God as
He reveals Himself in the Word. Jesus doesn’t promise to grant any and every
request that we may throw at Him. If truth be known, so many prayers that
are offered these days are a variation on, ‘Dear Jesus, make my life nice,
or at least not too hard.’ The prayer of faith has a different priority. It
ponders the questions, ‘How can the name of Jesus be honored? How might His
desires for this world be advanced?’ And how do you get an answer to those
questions. The answer is always to be found in the Word. Informed by the
Word, the prayer of faith knows, ‘In this situation, this is what Jesus
wants.’ Christian faith is always a response to the Bible, a response to
who our God is and what He is doing as those things are revealed in the
Scriptures. So, a growing prayer life requires a growing understanding of
your God. And at the heart of that is a growing knowledge of the Bible.
Elijah understood this. That’s why he could pray for the rain to complete
cease. He asked himself, ‘What is God up to with Israel? What aspect of His
character is coming into play at this point?’ And then, because he knew God,
he answered those questions correctly. And it showed in his prayers. Sadly,
too many Christians today do not know their God very well. And it shows in
what they pray for and in the paltry results of their prayers. The need of
the day is the knowledge of God. So, if you want to grow in your knowledge
of God, then come to worship prepared to meet with Him. Corporate worship is
the best place to get to know God.

Now, one last thought. The prayer of faith is patiently persistent. Because
it knows what God is up to and it is praying for that with an assurance that
God will respond, the prayer of faith will not quit until its requests are
granted. Let’s go back to Elijah. It’s time to pray for an end to the
drought. ‘And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed
himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. And he said
to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." And he went up and looked
and said, "There is nothing." And he said, "Go again," seven times. And at
the seventh time he said, "Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is
rising from the sea." And he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Prepare your
chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.' And in a little while the
heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain." [1
Kings 18:42-45] If I were Elijah’s servant I probably could hang in there
for four times. But the fifth time that Elijah said, ‘Go, see if there are
any rain clouds’ I think that I would say, ‘Look, Elijah, it isn’t going to
rain. Give it up!’ My faith would quit. Elijah’s didn’t. He knew what God
was up to. He knew that it was time for rain to return. And so, he prayed
until it rained. Patient persistence.

I’ve mentioned four things about the prayer of faith. Now, what do I want
you to do with these four things? I want you to pray about them. Ask the
Spirit to show you how you’re doing. He’s going to tell you that there’s
room for improvement and He’ll be specific as to where. In effect, He’ll
tell you, ‘Let’s work on this next.’ Now, don’t despair at this. This is
good. It means that you are doing some things right. There is evidence of
true faith. Don’t lament that the glass is half empty. Rejoice that the
Spirit has filled it as much as He has over the years and proceed from there
in the hope that He’ll fill it some more. So, take what I’ve told you and
pray as well as you can. And then watch and see what the Spirit will do
next.