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James 5:13-20 Praying for Specific Needs

James is a practical book which speaks of a living, active faith which includes praying for specific needs. How do you respond when you are suffering? Do you pray and how do you pray? How do you respond to the Lord when you are cheerful? Do you sing a prayer of praise? How does your faith in the Lord affect what you do when you are ‘sick’? If you have committed sins, how do you turn to the Lord and seek forgiveness? If someone wanders from the truth, do you pray for them and lovingly turn them back? James mentions prayer seven times in these eight verses, showing us how to pray and respond to specific needs.

Praying for specific needs

Many will be familiar with the old hymn ‘What a friend we have in Jesus,’ written by Joseph Scriven but there is a moving testimony behind that hymn. Joseph Scriven wrote that hymn from heartfelt experience, great personal pain and tremendous sorrow. As a young man with a seemingly bright future ahead of him, he was engaged and eagerly looking forward to being married soon. But the night before the wedding his fiancé travelled along the river to meet him and was tragically drowned.

Scriven left Ireland and started afresh in Canada. He settled in Port Hope, Ontario. In the spring of 1854, he was due to marry again. This time his fiancé fell ill with pneumonia aged 23. Yet how did Scriven respond? He sought the God of all comfort and found refuge in Him. He tirelessly devoted his time helping others, especially those in need who could never repay him. Scriven could often be found preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus in the open air.

In 1857, Scriven discovered his mother in Ireland was ill and he could not be with her. He sent her his song accompanied by the words, “pray without ceasing” from 1 Thessalonians 5:17. The song was never intended for publication, although his friend Jack Saville discovered it 30 years later. This song points us to the Scriptures which lead us to the God of all comfort. This passage shows us how to pray and to respond to specific needs in a God honouring way.

When we are suffering, we may not feel like praying, though it is a mercy of God that we are able to. There will be times for whatever reason we do not feel like going to the prayer meeting. But how many times has it happened, that we have made the effort to go along and the Lord has sustained and strengthened us? Praying is scriptural, it is a blessing, a means by which we communicate with God and praying increases our reliance upon Him. Humanly speaking, prayer may not appear effective or even practical, but more far more importantly, the Lord expects us to pray and answers prayer. The Lord knows our every weakness and we can bring everything to Him in prayer.

Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. It is a great blessing to sing psalms of prayer and praise. We were created by God, for God, to praise, worship, glorify and serve Him. But what will singing psalms achieve? It will fulfil God-given desires to worship our Creator and Redeemer and to glorify Him with praise due to His name. Remember Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns at midnight, even in the Philippian jail (Acts 16:25).

We are encouraged in other parts of Scripture to sing to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Some of our friends will sing metric psalms, psalms that are set to music which is a godly thing to do. These psalms set to music help us to memorise the Scriptures and strengthen ourselves and others. Jewish people have sung and memorised Scriptures and acrostics psalms which aid memorisation. There is much value in that.

Yet we need not limit ourselves to the metric psalms alone, but also use other godly songs. Not all, though many modern songs are theologically weak and some desperately vague. It is a good thing to sing new songs but songs must be biblically grounded and give glory to God. Wiersbe wrote, “If a song is not biblical it is not acceptable to God.”[i] To name a few, we have the Song of Moses in Exodus 15 and Revelation 15 and a hymn of faith at the close of Habakkuk 3:17-19.

Praying for the sick

It is no secret that there is a lot of controversy regarding how verses 14-20 are to be interpreted. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him. The word ‘sick’ in verse 14 is ‘astheneo’ (strongs 770) meaning to be weak or feeble, physically and morally. It is used 34 times in Scripture, 20 times relating to physical weakness, 14 times moral, spiritual weakness and it is used in the context of physical healing, but also faith and conscience.[ii]

But firstly, notice this practise is carried out in the context of fellowship where elders are present. There are many people today professing faith in the Lord, who rarely or never settle in a congregation. This is one of the many reasons why all believers need fellowship and order within a congregation. Consider the letters in the Brit Hadasha (New Testament) written to the various congregations and pastoral epistles providing clear instructions how they are to be governed.

What is the significance of anointing with oil? Oil is often linked with the Holy Spirit, but there is more in view here. Numerous evangelical expositors note that anointing is a medicinal term, used for massaging and rubbing. Waugh notes that the custom of the day was to use oil or wine (Luke 10:34-the good Samaritan).[iii] McGee explains the word ‘anoint’ is ‘aleipho’, not ‘chrio’ from which we derive ‘Christos’.[iv] At the end of the day it is not ultimately about applying oil of anointing with oil but prayer to the Lord that brings healing.

James 5:15 reads, “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” Does this verse guarantee physical healing? What is the word used for ‘sick’ in that verse? The word is ‘kamno’ (strongs 2577). This is a different word to that used in verse 14, meaning to be weary. How is the word in verse 14 used? It is only mentioned twice in the New Testament and the other reference is in Hebrews 12:3. We must also crucially factor in the second part of that verse to establish the context, “And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” This is central to the passage and enables us to understand why the closing two verses of this epistle culminate in helping the wandering one. Additionally, this sheds light on turning a sin from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

If this passage was not considered in context and if it were the only passage on healing in Scripture, we may assume that healing is guaranteed. But we must compare Scripture with Scripture and preach and consider the full counsel of God. Sadly, I have seen people claim physical healing out of noble intentions, yet people have still died. God can and does heal, but we cannot guarantee our prayers will always result in physical healing.

We must consider that unless Jesus the Messiah returns soon, we will all die at some point. Generally speaking, in Scripture there were three main periods of miracles, that of Moses, Elijah and the time of our Lord’s visitation and the apostolic age. Sometimes sickness is a result of sin in someone’s life and 1 Corinthians 11:30 is a classic example of that. But we must be careful and not assume that sickness is the result of sin. Remember that Job was most righteous and upright. His comforters assumed his sickness was his fault. How wrong they were and how careful we must be not to reap judgement upon ourselves!

Thinking of Job, we must also consider the Satanic realm. Satan caused Job’s body to suffer boils (Job 2:7). Similarly, Paul spoke of his thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. Yet again, we must be careful not to assume that if something is wrong that it is a Satanic attack. We will be tempted by the world, the flesh and the devil, but we must remember that God is sovereign.

Some people try to claim physical healing in the atonement based on Isaiah 53:5, that wonderful passage that so clearly explains how Yeshua (Jesus) would make atonement for sin through His blood. In Isaiah 53:5-6, there is Hebrew parallelism.

But He was woundedfor our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Hebrew parallelism/poetry frequently states the same thought in two similar ways which clarifies the meaning. Isaiah 53:6 mentions sheep going astray which links in with those wandering off in James 5:19-20. We can also compare, do a midrash if you like by comparing the above text with 1 Peter 2:21-25.

 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

 “Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth.”

who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Twenty years ago, I was a missionary out in Zambia and I was sick. One person tried to help and attempted to convince me that I was already healed. The health and wealth gospel was promoted and there was a ‘spiritual clinic’ that was not so helpful. Others tried to offer extreme healing methods all to no avail. We must follow Scripture closely.

We must keep in mind that there are examples of faithful believers who at some point, were unwell. Paul stated, “You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at first.” (Galatians 4:13). Paul wrote to Timothy, “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.” (1 Timothy 5:23) Concerning Epaphroditus, “Because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.” (Philippians 2:30). Lastly Paul recounted, “Trophimus I have left in Miletus sick.” (2 Timothy 4:20)

We can pray to the Lord and should pray to the Lord for those who are unwell. Our God is the Divine Physician who healed many people. Our Lord can heal directly, an also enable doctors, surgeons and medical workers to give aid. But ultimately since our healing is granted by Him, we should be keen to ascribe all the glory to Him. Since this passage concerns prayer and is so practical, it is good and wise to pray for those administering treatments too.

If someone has sinned and is unwell and recognises their sickness is a result of sin there is help. They can confess their sin to the Lord. If the sin caused harm to others, then they should admit their sin to those to whom they have specifically caused harm. When sickness is the result of sin and confession is made, there is a promise of healing. The context here is praying for specific needs, confession of sin and healing for the backslider.

James tells us that we should confess our sins one to another. To whom should we confess? We must be careful and firstly, we confess our sins to the Lord. Only the Lord can forgive sin. There is no need to confess to a priest who cannot forgive sin and is not sinless. The Lord Jesus is the high priest. We should confess our sins to the ones affected by our sins. A word of caution though. “Private sin requires private confession; public sin requires public confession.”[v] It is important not to overshare, which may cause more harm than the original sin. Be careful of anyone with an overemphasis on confessing private sin in public since that could cause further damage.

Why does James use the example of Elijah’s prayers resulting in drought and then rain? Think of Israel in Elijah’s time and even today, rain is vital for the land and for food. Ahab and Jezebel lead Israel astray and they were worshipping Baal. Who was that false god? Supposedly the storm god, who apparently rides the clouds and produces crops. As a result of the nation’s sin, Elijah prayed and the rain stopped for three and a half years. But Elijah prayed and persisted like we must do. He sent Gehazi seven times to look for rain. There was only a cloud as small as a man’s hand, but then the sky became black and then the rain came. Do you pray fervently? Do you persist in your prayers like Elijah did? Israel needed rain because of the drought and famine and their sin was forgiven.

Praying for the backslider

The closing verses of James show us how to pray and meet the needs of one who has wandered from the truth. James gave the example of Elijah, a man with a nature like ours. Let that sink in. Can you relate to Elijah? Since Elijah had a nature like ours, he is an example for us. When someone wanders from the truth, pray fervently, earnestly and persistently.

Remember the parable of the lost sheep. Our Lord went after the lost sheep leaving the ninety-nine. Pastors are shepherds who watch over and pray for the flock that God has given them. Sheep need a shepherd and we are reminded to restore those considering that we ourselves might be tempted (Galatians 6:1-2). We should watch out for each other, not to interrogate, but to restore in a spirit of gentleness, lest we be tempted.

What might this look like? Someone may not have been in fellowship for some time. Another may have an obvious lack of interest in the things of the Lord. They need support and prayer. Someone else may have a worldview shaped more by the world or by culture than Scripture. Another may be caught up with unhelpful company that corrupts or residing in places that are a hindrance.

A friend used to go to church and he travelled and got caught up in false religion. I went to visit him and gave him a book, prayed for him and tried to help him. Another friend sent a message saying he had ‘lost his faith.’ We prayed for him and went to visit him. Someone goes to university and suddenly they are too busy for the things of the Lord. That is a problem. Go to them graciously, pray for them fervently, lovingly and help to restore them. Some children will start to object about coming to the congregation. Pray for them, reason with them, speak the truth in love and seek to restore them. Part of the great task of evangelism is to bring the backsliders back. Pray for them and seek to restore them.

Throughout the book of James, we are told to be doers as well as hearers of the word of God. We must pray at all times and in all situations and we must meet specific needs. In a spirit of godly love, it is our duty to watch out for brothers or sisters wandering from the truth. We must remember that we are sinners saved by grace and should love others as God has loved us. The Lord is the Great Shepherd of our souls and we are to love His sheep as He has loved us. And we are to pray for His sheep at all times.


[i] Warren W. Wiersbe The Wiersbe Bible Commentary The Complete New Testament in one Volume (David C. Cook, 2007; Colorado), p886

[ii] G. Waugh What the Bible Teaches (John Ritchie Ltd, 1992; Kilmarnock), p330

[iii] Ibid, p330

[iv] J. Vernon McGee James Thru the Bible Commentary Series (Thomas Nelson, 1991; Nashville), p113

[v] Wiersbe, p887