James and the power of righteous prayer

Prayer. It is a critically defining attribute of religious experience. The Apostle James understands this for Christianity and in the 5th chapter of his letter to the church, James highlights not only the priority of prayer for the believer, but also the communal nature of prayer.

For many people prayer is understandably a private and personal matter. One may think of the metaphor of the prayer closet or the illustration of prayer as being alone with God. Certainly, Christian prayer includes such solitude with the Creator, but as James presents the power of righteous prayer, it is far from a quiet, solitary, time. Prayer is a bold, faithful, physical, communal, and humble act of the gathered community of faith.

James uses the example of praying over one who is sick. In this demonstration of faithful prayer, the elders of the community are gathered together for the time of sacred prayer. With their physical presence and bold faith, they lay hands on the one in need and anoint that one with oil while offering up the prayers for healing. They faithfully recognize that the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective and James evokes the memory of the prophet Elijah who, by prayer, was able to change the course of weather as a testament to God’s power and authority.

Yet, what is perhaps the most powerful aspect of James’ teaching on prayer is the combination of confession and prayer. For James, the two go hand in hand and cannot be separated. James understands that sin blocks the efficacy of prayer, clouds the minds of the ones offering the prayer, and can actually distort the authenticity of the prayer.

Confession, however, is a tricky reality for Christians. It requires great humility and transparency, but also a level of trust that many Christians rightly do not have. The reason Christians struggle with confession is largely due to the sin of pride, but also a big reality of the communal sins of gossip, shame, guilt, and manipulation. It is not unusual in churches for someone to abuse the confessions of others, violate the confidentiality entrusted in the community as part of confession, and exploit the confessed sins of others for personal gain, ego, power, or in some perverse belief they are protecting the sanctity of the faith. Such behavior is not of God, but absolutely sinful. The result is that the power of prayer gets cut off because of sin—and not necessarily the sin of the one requesting prayer, but almost totally because of the sins of the ones receiving the prayer request and offering the prayers before the throne of God.

For the church to take James’ teaching on prayer seriously, the church must take its own sin seriously. As people of faith, it is essential that we confess our sins to one another with the confidence, assurance, and sacred trust that nobody in the body of faith will exploit that sin. The purpose of confession is to receive the forgiveness that brings healing and wholeness. When a Christian, even when acting out of the presumption of righteousness, withholds forgiveness, ascribes judgment, or exploits the confession in any way, they defy the Cross and essentially blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Such sin destroys the Body of Christ in disastrous and dangerous ways.