Pray When You're Suffering
James 5:13 “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.”
There are three types of people that James outlines in this section, and a larger group of people in all of chapter five. Remember verses 1-7, we talked about the rich and poor, and then 8-12 talks about patient and impatient people, now James is talking about suffering people. James as the pastor is writing a letter to the church, but don’t think he wrote this and then went on his merry way. I’m confident these ended up as notes for a sermon.
As a pastor, I can look out and know some of your stories and know some of you are suffering, sick, or cheerful right now. So James as the pastor is dealing with everybody in the church. He’s trying to see the church as a whole, because as soon as he hones in on one group, he excludes everyone else. You ever feel like the pastor is just helping one group of people and leaving you out? James is trying to cover the whole church, so he’s addressing everyone and entering into their situation emotionally. He’s doing his best to feel what they feel, to see what they see, to hurt how they hurt, because then he knows how to pray. Welcome to a roller coaster!
Just in the last three weeks, I was called in to pray over a mother who was headed into way pre-term labor, after I’d just left a celebration and hanging out with friends and cutting up, the jokes were coming then the call came and I had to change immediately because this was literally a life and death situation. Then after that, I got to go do something else.
Ministry begins with God’s heart for God’s people. It’s not projecting a given scenario across the whole, but it’s recognizing individual hurts and individual needs as best as you can. That’s what James is doing, trying to be a pastor. This is not a self-gratifying statement, but Church you need to be praying for your pastors. Pray for our marriages, pray for our kids, because it’s a roller coaster. Nici and I were talking last night about a couple we know who just told us that they no longer need a pastor. They feel they have reached a point where they are spiritually mature enough to care for themselves, and all I could think was that they needed a pastor more than anyone. And if they really are that mature, they need to be praying for their pastor! Pray for pastors in general, because of what James is trying to do here: If anyone is suffering, let them pray. Now, who’s cheerful?! Pray for your pastor!!
If ministry begins with God’s heart for God’s people, then we need to be teaching, we need to be praying, that’s church leadership 101. What kind of suffering could we be dealing with? Emotional suffering: feeling just bummed, or struggling with depression or grief, or going through mourning? Who is suffering physically right now, a disability or an injury that just won’t go away, maybe something you’ve dealt with since birth, or maybe like me you thought you could go out and play basketball with a bunch of teenagers and you’re feeling the effects of it! That’s included in suffering, you can pray for that. Who’s suffering spiritually, trying to figure out which way is up, who is God, is He real, what is He doing in my life, where is He, why isn’t he doing what I need him to do in my life? Are you suffering financially, trying to figure out if you shove this back a couple of days into its grace period so you can pay that, and then if you get this one paid you’ll get a chance to get to the other one before time runs out…and I think I can make it work. We’re all there. We also suffer relationally, we get hurt by someone, or we hurt someone, and you’re trying to figure out how to even approach them, what to say. Your relationship with your spouse, kids, parents, friends, family, or boss is suffering right now. Have I captured everybody? Is anyone among you suffering? It’s a dark, dreary season for you, you’ve hit a rough patch in your life and you’re suffering. What do you do? Pray. “Well, there’s got to be more to it than that.” No. James says, “Pray.” Are you suffering, pray.
If you’re suffering, we have this book in the Bible, about the middle, called Psalms. If you read them in order, you’ll feel like you just got off a roller coaster of emotion. Psalm 22 asks why God has forsaken the author, why he is so far away. That sounds heavy, right? David is going through a rough patch. Then Psalm 23 says God is his shepherd and he won’t be in want. Chapter 24 is full of praise for God, the King of Glory. How do you get from chapter 22 to chapter 24?? Because that’s life! That’s the way it is. One day you’re on the mountaintop and life is good, things are good, relationships are good, the bills are paid, there’s food in the fridge, clothes in the closet, the kids are happy, everyone’s healthy, and life is good. And then you get one phone call and your world changes. That’s life, right? Is anyone among you suffering, what do you do? Pray.
Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was suffering. If you know his story, the Garden of Gethsemane was just before he was given up to the Roman authorities, just before he was betrayed, and he knew it was coming, He knew what he was going into. He was so intense, so full of suffering that he was sweating drops of blood. Physical drops of blood coming out of his brow! That’s how intense he was! Some of us have gone through anxiety attacks or panic attacks – this is so far beyond that. Scientifically, it is possible for this to happen. You and I have never experienced suffering like this. First thing Jesus asks is that God would take this away from him. He didn’t want to go through it, he knew it was going to be horrible. Is it okay to ask God to take your suffering away? Yes or no? YES, Jesus did! But then what else did he say? “Not my will. Not my desires. Not my wants. I don’t want to do this! But not what I want, Lord may you get what You want. Not my will but Your will be done.”
We think we have it figured out and know what we need, and what will get us there, so we ask God to give us this thing that it’ll take for us to get from A to B and then we’ll be fine from then on. We try to manipulate God. Prayer moves us from getting God to agree with us toward helping us learn to agree with God. Prayer isn’t to get God to change his mind. Prayer is to allow God to change our minds. That’s what prayer is. How do you know it’s working? How do I know when I’m allowing God to change my mind? When you don’t get what you want, but you get what God wants for you and you’re glad about it. Does that make sense? Who’s on the throne? Are you putting yourself there or are you allowing God to be on the throne and make the call? If you’re suffering, pray.
It is your responsibility to pray. If you are suffering, it is on you to start praying. Here’s what I don’t want to hear: Nobody came by, nobody called me, nobody texted me, the prayer team should be gathered around me, knowing what’s going on. Have you started praying first? Are you already praying, and then and only then have you included others? If you’re not praying, if you’re waiting on someone else to know and take action, you’re missing the boat. This says if anyone is suffering, let HIM pray. Let the one who is suffering begin praying, and then others will gather around you. There’s an order to that, so don’t get upset when someone hasn’t’ called you or checked on you – are you praying? That’s your priority. Once you’re praying, then you invite others in.
As a pastor, I can look out and know some of your stories and know some of you are suffering, sick, or cheerful right now. So James as the pastor is dealing with everybody in the church. He’s trying to see the church as a whole, because as soon as he hones in on one group, he excludes everyone else. You ever feel like the pastor is just helping one group of people and leaving you out? James is trying to cover the whole church, so he’s addressing everyone and entering into their situation emotionally. He’s doing his best to feel what they feel, to see what they see, to hurt how they hurt, because then he knows how to pray. Welcome to a roller coaster!
Just in the last three weeks, I was called in to pray over a mother who was headed into way pre-term labor, after I’d just left a celebration and hanging out with friends and cutting up, the jokes were coming then the call came and I had to change immediately because this was literally a life and death situation. Then after that, I got to go do something else.
Ministry begins with God’s heart for God’s people. It’s not projecting a given scenario across the whole, but it’s recognizing individual hurts and individual needs as best as you can. That’s what James is doing, trying to be a pastor. This is not a self-gratifying statement, but Church you need to be praying for your pastors. Pray for our marriages, pray for our kids, because it’s a roller coaster. Nici and I were talking last night about a couple we know who just told us that they no longer need a pastor. They feel they have reached a point where they are spiritually mature enough to care for themselves, and all I could think was that they needed a pastor more than anyone. And if they really are that mature, they need to be praying for their pastor! Pray for pastors in general, because of what James is trying to do here: If anyone is suffering, let them pray. Now, who’s cheerful?! Pray for your pastor!!
If ministry begins with God’s heart for God’s people, then we need to be teaching, we need to be praying, that’s church leadership 101. What kind of suffering could we be dealing with? Emotional suffering: feeling just bummed, or struggling with depression or grief, or going through mourning? Who is suffering physically right now, a disability or an injury that just won’t go away, maybe something you’ve dealt with since birth, or maybe like me you thought you could go out and play basketball with a bunch of teenagers and you’re feeling the effects of it! That’s included in suffering, you can pray for that. Who’s suffering spiritually, trying to figure out which way is up, who is God, is He real, what is He doing in my life, where is He, why isn’t he doing what I need him to do in my life? Are you suffering financially, trying to figure out if you shove this back a couple of days into its grace period so you can pay that, and then if you get this one paid you’ll get a chance to get to the other one before time runs out…and I think I can make it work. We’re all there. We also suffer relationally, we get hurt by someone, or we hurt someone, and you’re trying to figure out how to even approach them, what to say. Your relationship with your spouse, kids, parents, friends, family, or boss is suffering right now. Have I captured everybody? Is anyone among you suffering? It’s a dark, dreary season for you, you’ve hit a rough patch in your life and you’re suffering. What do you do? Pray. “Well, there’s got to be more to it than that.” No. James says, “Pray.” Are you suffering, pray.
If you’re suffering, we have this book in the Bible, about the middle, called Psalms. If you read them in order, you’ll feel like you just got off a roller coaster of emotion. Psalm 22 asks why God has forsaken the author, why he is so far away. That sounds heavy, right? David is going through a rough patch. Then Psalm 23 says God is his shepherd and he won’t be in want. Chapter 24 is full of praise for God, the King of Glory. How do you get from chapter 22 to chapter 24?? Because that’s life! That’s the way it is. One day you’re on the mountaintop and life is good, things are good, relationships are good, the bills are paid, there’s food in the fridge, clothes in the closet, the kids are happy, everyone’s healthy, and life is good. And then you get one phone call and your world changes. That’s life, right? Is anyone among you suffering, what do you do? Pray.
Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was suffering. If you know his story, the Garden of Gethsemane was just before he was given up to the Roman authorities, just before he was betrayed, and he knew it was coming, He knew what he was going into. He was so intense, so full of suffering that he was sweating drops of blood. Physical drops of blood coming out of his brow! That’s how intense he was! Some of us have gone through anxiety attacks or panic attacks – this is so far beyond that. Scientifically, it is possible for this to happen. You and I have never experienced suffering like this. First thing Jesus asks is that God would take this away from him. He didn’t want to go through it, he knew it was going to be horrible. Is it okay to ask God to take your suffering away? Yes or no? YES, Jesus did! But then what else did he say? “Not my will. Not my desires. Not my wants. I don’t want to do this! But not what I want, Lord may you get what You want. Not my will but Your will be done.”
We think we have it figured out and know what we need, and what will get us there, so we ask God to give us this thing that it’ll take for us to get from A to B and then we’ll be fine from then on. We try to manipulate God. Prayer moves us from getting God to agree with us toward helping us learn to agree with God. Prayer isn’t to get God to change his mind. Prayer is to allow God to change our minds. That’s what prayer is. How do you know it’s working? How do I know when I’m allowing God to change my mind? When you don’t get what you want, but you get what God wants for you and you’re glad about it. Does that make sense? Who’s on the throne? Are you putting yourself there or are you allowing God to be on the throne and make the call? If you’re suffering, pray.
It is your responsibility to pray. If you are suffering, it is on you to start praying. Here’s what I don’t want to hear: Nobody came by, nobody called me, nobody texted me, the prayer team should be gathered around me, knowing what’s going on. Have you started praying first? Are you already praying, and then and only then have you included others? If you’re not praying, if you’re waiting on someone else to know and take action, you’re missing the boat. This says if anyone is suffering, let HIM pray. Let the one who is suffering begin praying, and then others will gather around you. There’s an order to that, so don’t get upset when someone hasn’t’ called you or checked on you – are you praying? That’s your priority. Once you’re praying, then you invite others in.