James 5:16-20
What a great journey it’s been going through the book of James one verse at a time this month! Our heart is that you will join and share the conversation about His Word as we grow in our understanding together.
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.
Tradition has an amazing nickname for James. James is often referred to as “Camel Knees” because of how much he prayed! Coming to the end of the book, we can see how much emphasis James puts on prayer. Tradition also tells us that when James was martyred in 62 A.D he was praying for his persecutors.
The first part of this verse is about us confessing sins to one another. There’s so many different ways to live this out. I think its important to find a person / persons that you trust to confess, but it’s also important that we don’t just confess to each other, but we also confess our sins to God—who is the ultimate forgiver of our sins.
I love how James places an emphasis on the righteous person’s prayer. The way we live matters. Have you ever tried to pray, operate in a spiritual gift when living in blatant sin? It feels weird. Not that God can’t use us in our sin, but how much more effective are we spiritually when our lives honor the Lord.
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.
Here’s the deal: We’re no different than Elijah! The same spirit that was with Elijah dwells in us! The outward expression of God’s power may look different, but the power is still with us. James is using Elijah here to illustrate the point of how the fervent prayers from a righteous person is heard by our God.
The story of Elijah: 1 Kings 17-22.
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.
This reminds me of the parable Jesus shares in Luke 15 about the lost sheep. We all know someone who used to proclaim Jesus’ name. Someone who was active in the church, and for whatever reason, they have wandered. James is encouraging us to go after those people.
My prayer today is that we would be inspired and be given the boldness to reach out to anyone that we know that has wandered away from the truth. That we would pursue them regardless of how awkward it might be because as James instructs we are being used by God to save them.
Photography: @brandon_nalley