Series: Unshakeable Hope
Sermon: Your Prayers Have Power
Passage: James 5:16-18

Main Idea: Your prayers matter to God because YOU matter to God.

Open in prayer, asking God to fill your time together.

Play the song Build My Life.

Purpose: Introduce topic and get the group talking.

1. Have you ever prayed for something that seemed inconsequential and yet it still happened? (e.g. pray for a front row parking spot, and you miraculously got one).

Purpose: Observe the passage and interact with the text

Read James 5:16-18.

2. From this passage, what do we learn about prayer?

3. This story may seem to set up Elijah as a unique and special case, but what might James be saying about how we are similar to Elijah? What makes our prayers just as effective as his, according to James?

Purpose: Connect observations in God’s Word with observations in our world today.

4. Think about telling a non-believing friend “I’ll pray for that.” What might their response be? What responses have you encountered from people when you tell them that you’ll pray for them or their situation?

5. Where have you seen prayer minimized or marginalized in the church, in your group, or in your own life? Why do you think that is?

Purpose: Internalize God’s Word and apply the truth to your personal life.

6. Max Lucado says “Your prayers matter to God because you matter to God.” Reflect on this quote. What do you find easy to believe? What might be harder to believe?

7. Where have you found it hard in this season to pray? What might be causing you to feel discouraged or “blocked” in prayer?

Purpose: Spend time listening for God’s for direction and guidance as you seek to live out the truths of this passage in your everyday life.

8. Go back to James 5:16-18. Read these verses slowly 2 times, asking God to speak through His Word. Then spend time asking God how He might be specifically applying this passage to you.

As you pray, we would encourage you to play this song: The Blessing

9. Close your time praying for each other, for the world, and for our church. Remind each other of what James reminded you: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

Before you officially begin, allow time for people to catch up and get comfortable with being online.

Open in prayer, asking God to fill your time together.

Play the song Build My Life.

The idea here is simply to give space to open our hearts to God. It doesn’t matter if people sing or not. Please ask group members to mute their audio. We suggest you invite them to close their eyes as well to help focus. Encourage them to simply reflect on the words and on who God is.

To learn how to share your screen with the audio, click HERE.

Purpose: Introduce topic and get the group talking.

1. Have you ever prayed for something that seemed inconsequential and yet it still happened? (e.g. pray for a front row parking spot, and you miraculously got one).

This question is designed to be a light starter. Choose to use it if the group could use some light discussion before diving in. If you have already had time to catch up feel free to jump directly into the passage with Question #2.

Purpose: Observe the passage and interact with the text

Read James 5:16-18.

2. From this passage, what do we learn about prayer?

Confession and prayer go hand-in-hand with healing (v. 16).
Righteousness is an important factor in powerful and effective prayer (v. 16).
Prayer can change things (vv.17-18).
The story of Elijah referenced is found in 1 Kings 17-18. Elijah was a prophet who lived during the time of King Ahab, the worst king the nation of Israel had ever had. In order to retaliate against this evil King, Elijah prayed to God that the heavens would shut and no rain would fall on Israel. And that’s what happened: No rain fell on the nation for 3 ½ years. When Elijah prayed again that rain would fall (1 Kings 18:41-46), the rain started again.

3. This story may seem to set up Elijah as a unique and special case, but what might James be saying about how we are similar to Elijah? What makes our prayers just as effective as his, according to James?

In verse 17 James says “Elijah was a human being, even as we are.” James seems to be implying that, just like Elijah, our prayers can be effective in accomplishing real change in the world. We have the same power that Elijah has because both Elijah’s power and our power come from the same source: God Himself.

Purpose: Connect observations in God’s Word with observations in our world today.

4. Think about telling a non-believing friend “I’ll pray for that.” What might their response be? What responses have you encountered from people when you tell them that you’ll pray for them or their situation?

In the world, it often seems like prayer is scoffed at. “Can prayer feed children, give jobs back, bring back people we’ve lost, or make everything magically better?” This question will set up the next question, moving from “out there in the world” to “in our church, our group, and our own lives.” Make sure to draw correlations from “the world” to “ourselves,” and help the group move to identifying the roadblocks that keep us from truly believing that prayer makes a difference.

5. Where have you seen prayer minimized or marginalized in the church, in your group, or in your own life? Why do you think that is?

Answers will vary on this, but some typical themes will revolve around how we have come to believe that prayer is not important. Prayer often seems an after-thought or an add-on, and this view can pervade.

Purpose: Internalize God’s Word and apply the truth to your personal life.

6. Max Lucado says “Your prayers matter to God because you matter to God.” Reflect on this quote. What do you find easy to believe? What might be harder to believe?

These answers should hopefully stem from the previous discussion question. Encourage the group to really wrestle with how this affects them personally. You may choose to lump this question with Question 7, since they both deal with roadblocks to prayer (i.e. we often don’t believe that our prayers matter to God).

7. Where have you found it hard in this season to pray? What might be causing you to feel discouraged or “blocked” in prayer?

The reasons for finding prayer hard are endless: from hard circumstances, to weariness, to unconfessed sin, to no particular reason. Make sure to affirm your group members and listen – don’t try to fix them! Especially when it comes to our relationship with God, that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Encourage those who share to truly spend time during the last part of your group time listening to what God might be saying and if there is an invitation from Him for them.

Purpose: Spend time listening for God’s direction and guidance as you seek to live out the truths of this passage in your everyday life.

8. Go back to James 5:16-18. Read these verses slowly 2 times, asking God to speak through His Word. Then spend time asking God how He might be specifically applying this passage to you.