We can persevere through prayer because prayer is the power that helps us and enables us to overcome,” said Robert Smith Jr., professor of preaching at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School, as he closed the Monday session of the State Evangelism Conference.
Preaching from James 5:11, 13–18 in his passionate style, Smith divided the Scripture into three questions challenging believers to pray, sing and call on the elders of the church.
1. “Is there anyone among you who is in trouble? Let him pray.” Smith explained that people in the church are afraid to share their hurts with others.
“Do we understand the church isn’t a Sunday club for perfect people? It’s a hospital for hurting people,” he said. “But the church is sometimes the last place people who are really in trouble want to come. … The church has a to be a place where we can come and say, ‘I know I’ve had a bad week, but if I can come and worship with the people of God, I know God can engage my soul.’”
2. “Is there anyone among you who is happy? Let him sing.” Smith said it is interesting that happiness is found in the midst of trouble and sickness. But “that’s where the Lord is.”
Catching a rhythm, Smith emphasized, “God gives you peace in the midst of the storm and joy in the midst of sorrow. Real joy isn’t the absence of adversity; it is the presence of the Lord in the midst of the world that seems to be falling apart.”
Smith added that in the spiritual journey, if one is in the middle (happiness), then he or she is on his or her way to a storm (sickness) or has just come out of a storm (trouble). “When the bottom of life drops out, life will leave you in a mess. But, oh, you can sing between trouble and sickness,” Smith said in sing-song fashion. “Right here in the middle is Jesus. He’s right in the middle because He’s always in the middle.”
3. “Is there anyone among you who is sick? Let him call upon the elders of the church.
“If you are sick, there needs to be a communal effort,” Smith said. “Call for the elders of the church because some things you can’t handle alone. … That’s why it’s the body of the church.”
And the elders should anoint the one who is sick, he added. “To anoint is to empower … [transmit] the superiority of God,” Smith said. “[The anointing] oil represents the Holy Spirit.”
As an echo of “amens” flowed through the auditorium, Smith challenged believers to confess to one another, pray for one another and believe God has the power to heal. “When will we get back to the place where we will bombard the altar and pray to God ‘I know it can be done’? God says confess your thoughts one to another that you might be healed.”
Share with others: