james.bible/james-5-13Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 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. 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. 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.-James 5:13-16
James was the brother of Jesus, so he knew the power that effective prayer has. He saw his brother Jesus perform miracle after miracle, but it took him a while to understand that Jesus wasn’t just another prophet or just another “faith healer”, but instead Jesus had something that none of the prophets really had and no “faith healer” at that time had. Jesus as God’s one and only Son has direct access to God the Father. And with Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection we now have direct access to God the Father through him. That is why James wrote “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray”. James knew that the key to overcoming whatever problems that life throws your way is through prayer. James saw it first hand in the life of his brother Jesus Christ, and he saw if first hand in the life’s of the first church that he had the privilege to be one of the leaders of. So are you in trouble, are you hurting or are you broken? Then take your problems to God in prayer and he will provide you with the answers and with the solutions.