13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
In this last portion of the letter, James closed what he had began (that we may face trials of various kinds) with an exhortation on prayer. James made two points about prayer – that we should pray all the time and that every kind of person could pray.
First, James encouraged his audience to pray all the time – when we are suffering, we pray, when we are cheerful, we sing praises to God, when we are sick, we are instructed to call on the elders of the church to pray over us and to anoint us with oil. Whether we are in life’s valleys or on the mountaintops, we are asked to pray and to look towards God, and to persist in our prayers. Just like how we are reminded in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to rejoice always, to pray unceasingly and to give thanks in all circumstances, here, we too are being reminded that prayer is our active response to life. Above everything, and every situation in life, we MUST pray.
Second, James appealed to all to be praying – the individuals, the elders, people who consider themselves friends and companions to one another, and the righteous man who is committed to doing God’s will. That would be just about everybody, you and me, who had been encouraged to pray. We all MUST pray.
In his final conclusion, James reminded us to not just look inward, but to also look outward, to be responsible in our care for one another. In particular, he reminded us of God’s desire for us to love those who had wandered from the faith, to pursue them with truth and grace, and to be the bridge to bring those who are lost into reconciliation with God.
Dear brothers and sisters, are your shoulders heavy from the responsibilities of life? Are your hearts heavy from the emotional baggage you are carrying? Or are you feeling light because of many good things that had happened? Are you feeling joyful? Regardless of your situation today, would you come before the Lord and pray? As you pray, would you submit all that is happening in your life to God and give praises to Him, acknowledging that He reigns in your life? Dear brothers and sisters, let us not just look at ourselves, but also at those around us. Is there someone who has not been to church for a long time? Is there someone who needs to hear the gospel? Send them a text with Scripture, ask to meet for a meal, and pray for them continually. Let us wait actively upon the Lord in prayer.
