6/28/26 - Pastor Ron Young's Message: “Pray Earnestly”

James finishes his letter by bringing the tongue back to its greatest use, prayer. The tongue can do evil, but prayer turns speech toward God with honesty, reverence, and trust. Prayer is not rote words, not empty rambling, and not some class a person has to pass. Prayer is a child speaking to the Father, bringing worries, fears, doubts, complaints, and even that deep question, “God, I don’t get it.”

James says trouble should send a believer to prayer first. Trouble comes in all kinds of ways, and the danger is that a Christian starts looking for man-made answers before asking God for wisdom. Therapy, counsel, and help may have their place, but James calls the believer to seek God first and not get tossed around by every secular answer. God may remove the thorn, or God may say no and give strength to endure it, like Paul learned.

James says happiness should also go straight to God. A happy Christian should not walk around with a sour puss look, because daily blessings are not small things. “Because He lives” means tomorrow can be faced, not because life is easy, but because eternity is sure in Jesus Christ. The temporal presses hard, but the eternal is still true.

James says sickness should bring the church into prayer, especially the elders praying, anointing with oil, and asking in faith. Yet the prayer of faith is not a magic switch that forces healing in the exact way desired. God raises up if He so desires, and sometimes God takes a saint home. Jesus Himself prayed in Gethsemane for the cup to pass, but the Father’s will stood, and the Son drank that cup for sin.

James says confession belongs with prayer because sin breaks, blinds, and weakens. The righteous prayer is powerful and effective, not because the person is mystical, but because the heart is yielded to God. Elijah was human, just like everybody else, yet he prayed earnestly, and God shut the rain, then opened the heavens. Even after seeing fire fall on the altar, Elijah still prayed for the cloud.

James closes by calling believers to bring back the one who has wandered, or drifted, from the truth. Drifting often hides behind excuses, grumbling, preferences, and hurt. God’s people are not called to shoot the wounded, but to come alongside, pray, lift up, and help restore. Prayer through every circumstance, happy, sad, sick, broke, wealthy, or broken, is the life of trust before the Lord.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Prayer is honest speech before God. Prayer does not need fancy wording, memorized lines, or religious performance. God wants the real burden of the heart, including fear, confusion, and the question that says, “God, I don’t get it.” Reverence does not make prayer distant, because the Father calls His children to bring the whole matter to Him. [21:51]
• 2. Trouble must seek God first. Trouble tempts a believer to grab for answers before asking the Lord for wisdom. James calls the troubled heart to pray before trusting every voice that offers relief. God may remove the thorn, but God may also give strength to bear it for a purpose bigger than comfort. [31:25]
• 3. God’s will rules every healing. The prayer of faith is real, powerful, and commanded, but it is not control over God. The Lord may raise up the sick, or the Lord may bring His child home, and faith has to trust Him through both. Gethsemane shows that even holy prayer bows before “not my will but thy will be done.” [41:18]
• 4. Earnest prayer keeps praying. Elijah did not stop after fire fell from heaven, because the rain still had to come. Earnest prayer keeps looking toward God even when only a small cloud appears on the horizon. The believer’s confidence rests not in emotion, pressure, or visible results, but in the God who hears and acts in His time. [48:52]
• 5. Restoration refuses to shoot wounded. James ends with the one who wanders because drifting believers need rescue, not target practice. Self-righteousness pushes the broken farther away, but love comes alongside and helps bring a person back. A restored life should stir joy like seeing someone come to Christ, because God is covering a multitude of sins.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [20:40] - Finishing James With Prayer
• [21:37] - Prayer As Real Conversation
• [27:49] - James Calls Every Circumstance To Pray
• [30:42] - Trouble Should Lead To Prayer
• [33:03] - When God Says No
• [35:09] - Happiness Should Sing Praise
• [38:38] - Praying For The Sick
• [41:18] - God’s Will In Healing
• [43:51] - The Prayer Of The Righteous
• [46:08] - Elijah Prays For Rain
• [50:21] - Asking God To Search The Heart
• [52:26] - Bringing Back The Wanderer
• [57:42] - Trusting The Lord Through All
• [58:52] - Closing Prayer And Invitation

Bible Reading

James 5:13-20
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 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.” [20:40]

Matthew 6:9-10
“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’” [42:46]

1 Kings 18:41-45
“And Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.’ So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, ‘Go up now, look toward the sea.’ And he went up and looked and said, ‘There is nothing.’ And he said, ‘Go again,’ seven times. And at the seventh time he said, ‘Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea.’ And he said, ‘Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’’ And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.” [46:08]

2 Corinthians 12:7-9
“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” [33:29]

Observation questions

1. In James 5:13-20, what different situations are named, and what response is tied to each one? [28:11]
2. According to James, what are the elders told to do when someone is sick, and what other practices are mentioned alongside prayer?
3. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, how many times did Paul ask for the thorn to be removed, and what answer did he receive from the Lord? [33:29]
4. In 1 Kings 18:41-45, how many times did Elijah send his servant to look for rain, and what finally appeared? [48:52]

Interpretation questions

1. James places suffering, cheerfulness, sickness, confession, and wandering all in the same closing section. What does that suggest about how central prayer is meant to be in the everyday life of a believer? [27:49]
2. James says the prayer of faith will save the sick, yet Jesus taught, “Your will be done.” How should those truths be held together when praying for healing? [41:18]
3. Paul asked for relief and was told, “My grace is sufficient for you.” What does that teach about prayers that are sincere and faithful, but still receive a “no” or a different answer than expected? [33:49]
4. James says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. Why is that important for believers who feel weak, ordinary, or unsure whether their prayers matter? [45:37]

Application questions

1. Trouble should send a believer to prayer first. When pressure hits, where does the mind usually run first for help, and what would it look like to go to the Lord before chasing other answers? [31:25]
2. Prayer is honest speech before God. Is there anything being held back from the Lord right now—fear, confusion, disappointment, even the words, “I don’t get it”? What makes it hard to bring that honestly before Him? [23:11]
3. Happiness should also go straight to God. What daily blessings have quietly been taken for granted lately, and how could praise become more natural in ordinary days? [35:09]
4. God may heal, or God may give strength to endure. Is there a situation right now where the heart wants a quick change, but may need to learn to pray, “Your will be done”? What would trust look like in that situation? [42:31]
5. Confession belongs with prayer because sin weakens and blinds. Is there a sin, pattern, or attitude that needs to be brought into the light before God and perhaps before a trusted brother or sister? [50:52]
6. Earnest prayer keeps praying. Where has there been a temptation to stop praying because nothing seems to be changing yet? What would it look like to keep praying until the “small cloud” appears? [49:33]
7. Believers are called to bring back the one who wanders, not shoot the wounded. Is there someone drifting from truth, fellowship, or obedience who needs patient love, prayer, and a gentle word? What might coming alongside that person look like? [56:19]