James worksheet 11
Confession of sin and answered prayer

Teaching video James 5:13-20

Bible text (NIV)
James 5:13-20 says ¹³Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them

. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to

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over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore

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your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. ¹⁷Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed

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that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. ¹⁹My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, ²⁰remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a

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of sins.

Bible text (NKJV)
James 5:13-20 says ¹³Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him,

him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will

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him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶

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your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be

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. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ¹⁷Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Bring Back the Erring One

¹⁹Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, ²⁰let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

Salvation is a work of God in each individual person. Our faith is an expression of individuals in community.

Q1 The same is told to the suffering and the cheerful: take it to the Lord in prayer and praise (verses 13-14)! The praise in the original text is public worship with musical instruments. The individual sick should take the initiative to call elders to come and pray for the sick. This assumes that the sick are members of a church. What to do if you are not a church member, but still involved in a believer’s group?

Why anointing the sick with oil? In the Old Testament, oil is a symbol of the power of the Holy Spirit when it was poured on the head of a person. Today it’s used by pastors/elders of the church; just a little bit on the forehead of a sick person. Anointing with was also used as a medicinal practice of massage in the ancient world
(Luke 10:24).

Q2 In verse 15, James seems to guarantee that the sick people will be healed and the Lord will raise him up and they will be forgiven. Or is referred to the ultimate resurrection, (spiritually) saving him and raising him up from the sick bed? James does not exclude physical healing. Do you agree that we should pray for sick people in faith? And do you also agree that we let the healing up to God; whether He does it immediately, or at the time of our resurrection?

Q3 Verse 16 focuses on spiritual healing. When we have secretly sinned/trespassed we may become prisoners of it. Therefore, mutual confession is added to the prayer, so that healing would occur. Fervent prayer is a strong prayer. Explain the result of it, below in the blue box.

Major revivals and awakenings often have started with mutual confession.
Acts 19:17-20 says ¹⁷When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. ¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. ¹⁹A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. ²⁰In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

Q4 Why would Elijah pray that it wouldn’t rain? In the time of James, people would pray to the false weather God Baal. Verses 17 and 18 are about the results of the consequent fervent and righteous prayer. Tell what happened.

Q5 James concludes with a warning not to casually turn away from God. He says: let another brother help him to turn around, back to God. Back to a living faith. Experience with this?

Q6 Describe in your own words what verse 20 promises. A small or a huge reward? And a person restored from a multitude of sins?

Conclude by writing what you have learnt from the study series of the book of James.