James ch. 5, vs. 16b. The prayer of faith

Our most powerful weapon

I have been writing a lot about James in this blog(I’m talking about the epistle). Tradition tells us that James spent a lot of his waking hours on his knees in prayer to God. Prayer is putting faith into action; prayer can be a lot of work sometimes…it requires human effort. Romans 8:26,27 lets us know that the Holy Spirit will help us pray…”Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
The King James calls it “groanings which cannot be uttered”
Groaning in the Spirit….I think that is what James is referring to when he said “the effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much”……ch. 5 vs. 16b.
That is the greatest and most effective thing we can do in our churches, reestablish the prayer room. I’m talking about the kind of prayer that gets heaven’s attention…the kind of prayer, faith believing prayer that moves the hand of God.
Oh’ you say a person needs to be quiet before the Lord Do you think Elijah was quiet when he called down fire from heaven and God answered with fire? I’ll bet there was a lot of shouting , in fact the Bible says that there was a lot of shouting as the Israelites saw what God was doing . They were shouting aloud, “The Lord He is God…the Lord, He is God.” In the early days of Pentecost in our city, meetings were marked with shouts of victory and folks prayed aloud in effectual fervent praying; faith believing praying. Even years later, it was like that.Yes, there is always a time to be quiet before the Lord but I think our prayers have been silenced long enough, let’s return to that fervency that James refers to in his letter to the twelve tribes scattered abroad.

Righteousness; the fruit

"Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace, James 3:18. In the 4th. chapter of James epistle he is talking about wars and fights. Now it is important to remember that the people that he is addressing are primarily Christians, and yet he speaks of wars and fights coming from among them. Look at these verses and consider where you are today. Consider the church today in North America, perhaps the one you attend. Verse 1 says these wars and fights come from within, that is from our own desires for pleasure and in verses 2&3 we see James describing a deplorable condition that existed, one of lust and murder and asking amiss(not in the will of God) and verse #4 just gets worse naming some as adulterers and adultresses. He concludes this by saying that friendship with the world is to be an enemy of God.
I started this entry by quoting from verse 18 of chapter 3, "Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." Backing up just a little to verse 16, "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there."Direct opposites, the fruit of righteousness and envy and self-seeking. The fruit of righteousness is sown; it has to be planted first, that's how you grow things; perhaps I should say that is how God grows things, we sow the seed and He does the growing. We sow seeds of peace and He grows the fruit of righteousness in us. To sow something, in this instance seeds of peace requires work, "faith without works is dead." Jesus said in John's gospel, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Christianity is not passive, grace is not passive, you must ask for His grace and it is power, power to live an effective Christian life. Keep on believing and be encouraged to walk close to Him at all times.

Looking at James and Salvation by works

You may think that my title contradicts what I have said in past blogs, that being salvation is through grace and grace alone, not of works says the apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians.. Those verses are found in Ephesians 2:8,9:” For by grace are you saved through faith, and that (faith) not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, 9/ not of works lest anyone should boast.” My title therefore is some what misleading because I for one do believe that salvation is a free gift of God bought for me “by the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish “
But is James really saying that we are saved by works or is he in agreement with all the other Bible writers who say that we are saved by faith and His marvelous grace? James is talking to Christians already saved and he is essentially telling them the same thing as Paul tells the Philippians in chapter 2:12-17
Philippians 2:12-17 (New Living Translation)
Shine Brightly for Christ
12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. 16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. 17 But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God,[a] just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy.
Pretty well says it all, don’t you think? Not much I can add except that James and Paul are both talking to Christians(as one lady said in Bible study the other night, “Christian is the key word), people who are already saved and working because they want to, because of their love for Jesus. That is what James means when he says “faith without works is dead because it is inactive.(my word)
Haven’t heard from that many people of late via comments in the blog space, although folks have e-mailed and told med personally that they read the blog and get something from it however I would encourage you to offer a comment.
Salutations…..RC