Pastors Dave & Cheryl Koop
Follow us: @davidkkoop @koopcheryl
June 27, 2021
Text: James 5:13-20
1. Pray when in trouble. Verse 13
a. Go to our prayer closet first.
“But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” - Matthew 6:6
b. We all have trouble! It can be a troubling conversation, a troubling, unexpected bill, a troubling health issue or a troubling interruption. This verse is a great reminder of verse 9. In order to have a breakthrough, we don’t grumble against one another. We pray!
- God never asks us to do something He hasn’t given us the strength to fulfil
- John 14:27, John 16:33, Romans 12:10-12
2. Ask others to pray for you. Verse 14
a. In taking the initiative to ask for prayer, it takes humility.
3. The Power of the Prayer of Faith. Verse 15
a. Faith is trust. It’s more than hoping that this might work. Faith is knowing that your situation is being placed into the hands of your Heavenly Father
b. Sin and sickness can be connected. The word ‘sick’ in verse 14 and then verse 15 includes ‘diseased’ as well as ‘weary after a lot of work’. Despite our ‘sickness’, God wants us to know that He has us covered!
“Have faith in God. When you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you’re your trespasses” - Mark 11:22
“So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” - Romans 10:17
4. Pray for One Another. Verse 16
a. Confessing our sins to those we trust dispels satans lies and brings mental healing as well.
“Finally brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you” - 2 Corinthians 13:11 NIV
- 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (NKJV)
b. Worship in spirit and in truth.
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” - John 4:24
- When we pray one for another, it’s recognizing God is the One who is all powerful (Omnipotent), all present (Omnipresent), and all knowing (Omniscient). Humbling ourselves together in praying for each other gives us an opportunity to bow before the King of Kings to intervene in every type of struggle.
“For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” - 2 Corinthians 13:8
5. Earnest Prayer for a Cause. Verses 17, 18
a. Earnest prayer is not only a position of the heart, it is also a physical location that has been set apart or suited for prayer. We position ourselves to not be distracted from seeing with our eye of faith. We must SEE before we see.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1
6. Prayer keeps a heart for the welfare of others. Verses 19, 20
- As we walk in truth, we recognize when others have wandered away. How?
- The way they talk.
- Where and who they find themselves comfortable with.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. - Psalm 1:1-3
Matt 7:24-27
This Psalm tells us that in order to be blessed and keep a heart for others, we cannot follow the regression of listening to ungodly counsel, then beginning to go down that path and eventually it’s the place of comfort.
a. walk in the counsel of the ungodly
b. stand in the path of sinners
c. sit in the seat of scornfulJames is telling us that when we are earnestly praying in the righteousness of Christ, our heart is to reach out to others and seeing them saved!