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Pray and be Prayed for (James 5:13-20)

A. Healing and forgiveness

1) The call to prayer (13,14)

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. (13,14)
 

2) Sickness and sin (15,16)

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he 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 man is powerful and effective. (15,16)
 

B. Praying for others and having others pray for you

1) Believing the power of prayer (17,18)

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. (17,18)
 

2) Prayer brings salvation and healing (19,20)

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (19,20)
 
Summary
When we suffer, we can ask for God's help through prayer. Just as it is important for us to pray, it is also important to ask others to pray for us. Prayer has great power and as we pray with others, that power becomes even greater. Sickness and disease resulted from original sin. This is not to say that if someone is sick, there is necessarily a corresponding "sin" that caused the illness. But there are times when personal disobedience leads to sickness or disease. In such cases, prayer can offer forgiveness as well as healing. We can understand how God works through prayer as we read about the people in the Bible. And as we believe in the power of prayer, we can experience more of it in our own lives.
For Discussion
1) Why is it important to have others pray for us?
2) How are sin and sickness related?