Lesson 15 James 5:12-20 NIV

12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And 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. 16 Therefore confess 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.

17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

 First Impression?

• One of the many foundational concepts of who I am. I pray as a continual conversation with God asking for guidance for every step, or at least when I am doing as I should.

Swear? What is swearing and why does it condemn you?

• Swearing in my mind is trying to control the future as if I were God. ‘I will do this; I will do that’. I cannot control anything; I have no business swearing. In the past? I try not to doubt myself too much, but my memory is fallible, and I cannot swear to anything as I might not remember correctly.

Why does James say above all? What am I missing?

• People still walk away trying to do it all themselves and falling short. God did not make us to be perfect. We can only reach our potential when walking in relationship with Him.

Trouble: Pray. Happy: Sing. I’ve heard a couple songs about people praying when they don’t have one (a prayer i.e. a chance). How do you juxtapose the two phrases in this verse?

• I can no longer remember where I heard this word or why I used it, but my brain works these as ‘pray when you need help’ and ‘thank God after you get it’. Joy comes from God, from my salvation. Happiness comes from God, my blessings here on earth.

Praying for the sick. This feels like a magic formula kinda thing. What is the difference between the power of this promise and the times when this magical formula does not come out the way you want?

• I was trying to explain the basics of driving to the little kid before she starts learning how. I asked her what rule number 1 was. She replied with something like follow the law. I responded with no. You are to get out alive. Following the law is important, but you break a law when you have to do so to save yourself. Your life is more important than some random law about safety and courtesy.

Or does this verse apply not to the illness I think of but to the sickness of sin and really just tell us that if we have faith, we will be forgiven?

• This is my guess, but it is hard to see how it can be a promise if sometimes it does not work.

Confess, pray for each other, powerful and effective. I would propose that James is telling us that prayer has power over sin more so than power over the body. If this were an either or, which side would you be on and why?

• I would be on the sin side. God is always against sin, but only sometimes against physical death.

Elijah. I have this deep impression that Elijah did not do anything without asking God first. Therefore, everything he did worked, or at least the way God wanted. The prophets were constantly being asked to do things that got the attention of those around them, from shouting on the streets to running naked through them. How crazy are you prepared to be?

• Not very. I am weak. I do not really want to blend in with the crowd of the world, but I do not want to jump up and down yelling at them either.

One aspect of this last piece is once saved always saved, but how about this whole idea of covering sin? Who’s sin? How much? Why does our walk have so much to do with fear rather than joy at the outcome?

• Christ paid the price for all sin forever. No sin was too great and there were not too many. We should be full of joy that so great a price was paid. Fear of hell should pale compared to the joy of going to heaven.

James has an honorable reputation based on his actions and this book. We have studied it for a while and I have walked through it assuming James knew a lot more than me and was of course guiding by God in what he wrote, but he was just writing a letter to people and not trying to write the Bible. How often do we integrate the Biblical in our daily moment to moment tasks? Could a letter we wrote be used by others to learn about God? Why not?

• The biggest way to implement the Bible in moment-to-moment tasks is to use its principles to pick the things we are doing. Getting drunk at a party – no. Inviting friends to dinner – yes. I do not write a ton of letters (in this electronic age), but if I do, I sure want something about Jesus to be in it. All these blogs: my goal is to share Jesus and glorify God, so I hope each one has had at least a little bit to help others. Again, if it isn’t about God, why be doing it.