Verse 15a
Now what is James saying here? Is he making a promise that if Elders or spiritual leaders pray or anyone praying in faith over someone then the one they are praying for will always be healed? I imagine many of us read verse 15 and we struggle with it because it seems like James is saying if you pray in faith, your prayers will always be answered
The problem with that is that there have been many prayers of faith for those who are sick and the sick person did not recover from the sickness.
Even the apostle Paul was not able to see everyone healed. In 2 Timothy 4:20 Paul wrote, “I left Trophimus…who was ill, at Miletus.” I imagine Paul prayed for Trophimus to be healed and he was still sick. In this verse, Paul doesn’t seem to be addressing his own lack of faith but that his friend is simply sick and he is concerned about him.
Paul spoke several times of people having a lengthy sickness. For Paul, sickness, suffering, trials were just the reality of life and that God in his sovereignty and divine purposes sometimes doesn’t heal people or remove people from trials and suffering. In fact, Paul has a trial in his own life he called a thorn in his flesh and he asked God to remove it and God did not remove it but instead said, “my grace is sufficient for you to live with this trial.”
Paul certainly experienced that the righteous were not exempt from the pain and sickness and sufferings of this world.
I believe James (who was writing these words in verse 15) had many of the same experiences in life that Paul had when it came to sickness and suffering and that James had the same understanding of God—that in his sovereignty he doesn’t always heal every sickness.
One of the major themes of James is the theme of perseverance –- persevering in the midst of suffering that doesn’t go away, persevering in the midst of trials that don’t go away, persevering in the midst of sickness that doesn’t go away.
And so when we come to verse 15, it seems like James is saying there is a way that we can pray that can cause God to act and always heal the one we are praying for and we find ourselves asking the question, “is that what James is really saying?”
When we come to a verse like this that isn’t clear, it is important for us to move to the context of the passage and the context of the book. The context of the passage is depending on God through prayer in all circumstances. And one of the major context of the book is living out our faith (or trusting in God) in the midst of trials.
When James instructs us to pray when we are suffering and when he instructs us ask others to pray for us when we are sick, his purpose in instructing us to go to God in prayer is because God is able to meet our needs.
I believe that is point of verse 15, God is able. God is a healer. God can raise up the one who is sick according to his will. And more specifically we could say that the point of verse 15 is that God, and God alone is able to meet our needs.
When James speaks of “the prayer of faith”, he is not talking about some super hero faith that only a few have. He is talking about a faith that comes before God recognizing that God is able. All things are possible with God. I believe the prayer of faith that James is talking about here is not a faith that says, ‘God, I know you are going to heal this person.’ And so somehow we have to pray with this absolute confidence that God will heal. And if there is any doubt that he is going to heal, then he won’t heal. I don’t believe that is what James is talking about when he talks about “the prayer of faith”.
I believe the type of faith that James is talking about is a faith that says, ‘God, I know you are able. And I know that only you are able. And I know that you hold all things in your hands. And you are sovereign over all things—in life and in death. And so God, I am coming to you and you alone and I am entrusting my whole life to you and I am going to keep trusting in you regardless of the outcome.’
Sometimes we try to make faith something beyond what it is really is. I believe faith at its basic level is saying to God – God, I believe you are who you say you are and I believe that you can do what you say you do. And so I am going to entrust all that I am to you – in every season and in every circumstance.
To help illustrate what I believe James is talking about here in verse 15 I want us to look at a moment in the life of Jesus.
In Mark 9 beginning in verse 14, there was boy who was possessed by a demon and so the boy’s father brought the boy to Jesus’ disciples and they aren’t able to heal the boy. And so the man goes to Jesus and says in verse 18, “I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”
And Jesus responds in an interesting way. He says, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?
When Jesus says, “O” he is expressing frustration. What is the frustration? People not believing that ‘God is who God says he is and that God can do what God says he can do’ and so therefore out of that unbelief people were turning away from God to meet their needs.
And so the dad says to Jesus, “if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus says, ‘IF you can?!” – “If?” You are wondering, IF??’
And then Jesus says, “All things are possible for one who believes.” Believes what? Believes that Jesus is God. Believes that God is who he says he is and can do what God says he can do.
Jesus was not asking the man to believer harder, more passionately or even to believe that Jesus will heal is son. He is asking him to believe that God and God alone is able. And because he is able, he is asking the dad to entrust his son to God.
Jesus came to Israel in a time in their history that God was more a symbol of their religion then a living God who was actively involved in their lives. When Jesus calls them a faithless generation, he was not challenging their belief in the existence of God but he was challenging their faithless lives that were not entrusting themselves lives to God. They were giving lip service to God but then trying to live life in their own power and wisdom.
Jesus heals the boy and then later his disciples asked him, “why couldn’t we heal the boy?”
And Jesus gives a very intriguing answer especially considering James 5:15. He says, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” In other words, men, this is a prayer issue.
I don’t believe the focus is that there was a special kind of demon possession that requires a special kind of prayer. I think the point of Jesus’ words is that you weren’t praying. You weren’t seeking God. You weren’t entrusting the boy to God as the One who heals. You were believing you were able instead of believing that God is able. I believe this response from Jesus was a rebuke. He is saying to disciples, “you neglected to bring God into this situation somehow believing you could handle it on your own.”
And essentially Jesus was saying, ‘you didn’t ask God to heal this boy. You wanted the work of God but you weren’t trusting in God to work.’
James addressed this same issue of wanting something but not getting it when James said in James 4:2, “you do not have because you do not ask.” You desire something , but you have not sought after God concerning this issue.
I believe one the primary reasons that we often don’t seek God is we don’t actually believe that he can help us. We may never verbalize that but sometimes that is what our actions are saying. We can too often pay lips service to a mighty God who can rescue and heal (sing about His greatness on Sunday morning) but when we find ourselves in a difficult situation we quickly turn to our own wisdom. Because sometimes we simply do not believe that God is able. This is why Jesus says, “O faithless generation.” When did you stop believing that God is who God says he is and that God can do what he says he can do.
And so we come back to James chapter 5 and James says are you suffering? Pray to the God is able to give you wisdom and strength in the midst of the suffering. Are you cheerful? Sing praises to the God who you have seen is able to bless you. Are you sick, then invite the Elders who will pray, anointing you with oil in the name of Jesus (meaning according to his will) entrusting yourself to God who is able.
And then we read the phrase, “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick” we can find ourselves focused on the wrong thing. The point is not to say, “God always heals according to the prayers of the faithful” but rather the point is to say that the faithful entrusts themselves to God as the one and only one who is able to heal.
And so whether God responds in a way that we want him to respond (the person is healed) or if he responds in another way (the person remains sick) we are praying with a confidence that God is good, God is compassionate, God is gracious, that God is at work in both life and in death accomplishing his purposes for His glory.
James is calling us not into a one-time act of prayer. He is calling us into a lifestyle of prayer in which we live dependent on God, trusting on God, firmly relying on God as the one who is able. And regardless of the outcome we can come with confidence that in God and God alone through Jesus Christ there is life and hope and freedom.