SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE:
https://youtu.be/cOuLm8LGV5g
James talked about 4 times we need to be praying. Life’s struggles, good times, sickness and times of sin. Which areas are easiest or hardest for you to continue to have earnest prayer?
I am curious to see responses to this question to see if there is a consistent pattern among us. Do many of us find it easier or harder to pray during a certain circumstance of life?
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Do you struggle with believing God will answer your prayers?
Life’s Struggles: for me, this is my best times of prayer. I pray deeper and longer when life is hard than when everything is going well.
My prayers are more focus and heart-felt when I am feeling the pressures of life.
In general, I think earnest prayer is hard for many Christians. We are either too busy, or something to really pray to God like we should. Most of us do not spend long periods of time praying. If we get to 5 minutes, that’s a long prayer for us.
Some people are incredible prayer people, but more are not.
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Why do you think it’s hard to have a good prayer life when everything is going well?
I think the hardest time to pray in a deep and meaningful way is when life is going well for us. It’s just human nature, I believe. Just look at our nation. When everything is humming along well, we don’t give God a second thought, but when things like this virus, 9-11, wars and such happen our nation starts to look at God again.
Christians are better about it, but we still struggle with that prayer life during good times.
Sometimes I think we believe that God is responsible for the bad times in life and we’re responsible for the good time. What do you think about that?
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How do you tend to be like the Christians I talked about in Acts 12?
They didn’t believe their prayers were really being answered, even though they were praying earnestly. Let me read that passage to you again while you answer the question.
In vs 1-11 it tells how peter was deep in a prison, lock up, shacked to 2 guards and had 2 guards outside the door. An angel frees him and walks him out of the prison. Peter knows that more than likely his fellow believers would be at John Mark’s house, so he heads there.
Acts 12:12–16 (ESV) — 12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” 16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.
How long was he standing there beating on the door while they had that conversation? It’s really an amazing story of earnest prayer and struggling to believe God would actually answer their prayer.
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How does having someone pray for you when you’re sick encourage you?
Sickness is an interesting phenomenon for people. It brings out our best and worst in us. I’ve found that when I am sick, I don’t particularly want people around me. Others want someone there every moment that they can get. We all have different ways of responding.
In America we have been programmed to using this passage in the wrong context. We have made the preacher the pastor. Or elder and he represents the church rather than the actual elders.
God points out that our spiritual leaders, elders and minister, should represent the church when ministering to people.
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Do you think this passage is more about physical sickness or spiritual and why?
When you read this passage, you think about physical sickness. In English that is what seems to be the translation. However, if you do a study of the original language, or have access to resources that study the original language like I do, you realize there is a lot of uncertainty about this part of James.
One thing that make this hard is the original language doesn’t use punctuation so there is quite a bit of disagreement about whether this is a question or a statement. If you look at various translations, you will see some of them have it as a question and others as a statement.
Then you have to deal with the word “sick”. The Greek literally says without strength. Is that physical or spiritual? Why the elders and anointing with oil if it is physical?
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Do you think elders’ prayers are effectual today?
I will admit that is a little hard for me to fully understand. It’s an easy passage to pass over and relegate it to only biblical times, but is that correct? Did only biblical elders have the ability to pray in faith for healing? This seems too general of a statement to be just a biblical setting.
If you understand this in the spiritual sense, who better than the elders to be praying over you.
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If it is physical, what happens when you AREN’T healed? Share your thoughts on that.
If I have the elders pray for me, I have faith and they have faith, shouldn’t I be healed?
Remember, when you read James, he is referring to THEIR faith in the prayer, not yours.
So, was the faith not strong enough? Is God a liar?
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What do you think “confess your sins to one another” means? How far do we take that?
I have seen this practiced in many ways. In Africa they actually come forward and confess each specific sin to the entire congregation. That sin is recorded in a book.
Other places, they practice confessing to one another in a far more general sense. People confess they have sinned and those that are aware of the sin, understand what is being confessed.
Some places use accountability groups or a partner.
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James talks about the importance of praying from the heart. Why is that important to fully grasp?
One of the things I dislike is prayer without thought. I understand that when we begin to pray and are learning how, wrote prayers help, but at some point, we have to move into real discussion with God in our prayer life.
How can your faith really grow if all your prayer are thank you for this food at your meals and that’s all there is to your prayer life? It simply cannot grow.
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What does vs 19-20 look like in life of a church?
James 5:19–20 (ESV) — 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.
I have been told far too many times to keep my nose in my own business. It’s not my job or anyone else’s to tell someone they are living a sinful life. I am being completely honest about this. People have really gotten mad at me and the elders for talking to someone about how they are living.
I am always baffled at this because this James passage is just one of many telling us that is exactly what needs to be done.
What we can discuss and look at more deeply sometime is HOW do we EFFECTIVELY practice passages like this.
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Let’s end here. Let me know if having a video sermon was more helpful to you.