James 5:13 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

NIV: Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.

NASB: Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.

CSB: Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.

NLT: Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.

KJV: Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

NKJV: Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

In concluding his letter, James encourages his readers to respond to all of the circumstance of their lives with prayer. That's what people who trust God do. This is a consistent theme of James's letter: a person's actions prove what they really believe.

So, any Christian who is suffering or who is in trouble should naturally be inclined to pray. James's letter began with teaching on how people who trust God should respond to their trials. Trials will come. Suffering will come. When it comes, it provides an opportunity to move closer to God, asking for help, asking for strength to remain faithful in the suffering.

A lack of prayer in response to trouble should be a spiritual warning sign. It's a symptom of a person who is not living in dependence on God. Another dangerous signal is not being quick to sing songs of praise to Him when we feel cheerful or happy. Prayer should become the natural response to any circumstance or state of mind for people living in a close trust relationship with our Father.

If prayer doesn't come naturally to us, James calls us to do it anyway. Whether it feels awkward or as normal as breathing, prayer is a key way that believers express their faith in God.

James 5:13–20 closes out the letter by encouraging those who believe in God to show it. This is most readily shown by praying in response to every circumstance. We should pray for ourselves, praise God, and invite the spiritual leaders of our churches to pray for us when we are sick, or spiritually weak. Healing will follow; sins will be forgiven. We should confess sins to each other so we can pray for strength for each other to overcome sin. Prayer works; God hears and responds. If we really believe this is true, our behavior will reflect it.

What was causing fights and quarrels among the Christians to whom James was writing? They were living by the world's wisdom. This false perspective says human beings should do whatever it takes to get what they want in this life, even if it hurts other people. James says that to live that way is adultery, but God gives grace. Christians should repent and move close to God again. We should trust Him to provide, to be the Judge, and to lift us up in His time. In humility, we must acknowledge that all of our plans are dependent on Him, and He can change them at any moment.

Prior chapters in this letter focused on the relationship between beliefs and actions, and how to practically apply the concepts of Christianity. In chapter 4, James called his Christian readers to repent of their worldliness and turn back to closeness with God. Now in the last chapter of his letter, James addresses three things: He pronounces to the rich oppressors of the Christians that their judgment is coming on the day of the Lord. He urges those suffering under that oppression to remain patient, strong in their faith, as they wait for the day of the Lord. And he encourages all Christians to show their faith in God by praying in response to every circumstance.

The book of James is about specifically understanding what saving faith looks like. How does faith in Christ reveal itself in a believer's life? What choices does real trust in God lead us to make? Those are the questions James answers. Most scholars believe the writer was Jesus' half-brother, a son born to Joseph and Mary after Jesus' birth. James may not have come to believe Jesus was the Messiah until after the resurrection. Eventually, though, he became one of the leaders of the Christian church in Jerusalem. This is possibly the earliest-written of all the New Testament books, around AD 40–50. James addresses his letter to Jewish Christians scattered around the known world.