James 5:16, commentary and pictures

Confess your faults one to another means sins are confessed to God through Christ the only mediator who alone forgives, while wrongs done to others are acknowledged to those injured, not confessed to a priest for absolution. Such confession must be made at once and name the specific wrong to the proper person, with thorough forsaking of sin, putting away of bitterness and malice, and restitution as far as possible, for unconfessed sin remains recorded until obeyed. Effectual fervent prayer is earnest heartfelt crying from felt need, short plain and to the point rather than long eloquent or formal lip-service, offered by the righteous with clean hands and pure heart through faith in Christ's blood without self-exaltation. That prayer avails much and is never lost, for God's word is pledged to answer believing expectancy, and Christ presents penitent petitions mingled with His own merit to make them wholly efficacious. The healing promised covers pardon and cleansing of soul, change of sinful dispositions, and restoration of body, and when joined with praying for one another it removes barriers, restores harmony and fellowship, and brings revival and unity.

Mutual Confession Explained

Confess your faults one to another distinguishes two directions of confession: sins are confessed to God, who alone can forgive, through Christ the only mediator and great High Priest who understands weakness and can cleanse, while faults and mistakes against a neighbor are acknowledged to one another with mutual prayer for healing. It does not teach confession to a priest for absolution, for when one has wronged a neighbor he admits the wrong to the one injured, the injured freely forgives, and the wrong, being also sin against God, is then taken to God for forgiveness. Such confession and prayer help resist sin, build barriers against it, bring harmony with God, and sincere fervent prayer is heard and answered with pardon and acceptance.

What is confessed and to whom depends on the kind of sin: private sins to Christ alone, open sins openly, wrongs against a person to that person to be made right, and general sins to the congregation, with confession clearly naming the specific wrong committed. Confession is to be made to proper persons who will not misuse or exploit it and who will pray for the penitent, not poured out to those ignorant of it nor to unbelievers so as to give them triumph, and it must be made personally rather than by another. A wrong that can be righted and healed between the two should remain private, with two or three others helping only if personal effort fails and the church told only as a final step, rather than pouring every complaint and fault into the whole church. Pardon requires cooperating with God by repentance and confession, for Christ did not die to cover transgression that remains unrepented and unconfessed, yet not all is to be made publicly, and coming to God just as one is brings pardon even in the eleventh hour.

Confession must be made now without delay, for unconfessed sins remain recorded in heaven and are not blotted out until this direction is followed, and trying to avoid open acknowledgment is unsafe and ruinous. It stands in perfect harmony with the work going forward in heaven in the great antitypical day of atonement, necessary for sins to be blotted out by Christ's blood and to go beforehand to judgment so they are removed when the times of refreshing come. Those who persist in denying errors will ultimately have them exposed before the universe and face judgment for their deeds, to be answered at God's bar, while confessing and putting sins away now prevents them from confronting the sinner at the final account. Otherwise names are blotted out of the book of life apart from repentance, and Christ does not plead for them before the Father.

Confession requires humility and must not be withheld from pride, self-righteousness, or fear of losing dignity, influence, confidence, or usefulness, for it concerns health of soul and unity of believers and allows healing when sins are confessed and put away now rather than left until judgment. No dignity or position exempts anyone, and those whose errors are known to brethren and whose position has widened their influence must make full confession all the more, with counselors practicing themselves what they urge on others. Confessing an error includes admitting when one has been wrong and repenting rather than stubbornly clinging to an idea or doctrine, taking responsibility for one's own wrongs including injustice done to others rather than protecting dignity by delay. Confession does not cause brethren to lose confidence and does not lower dignity or destroy usefulness, because all are finite and are God's little children who must be converted and become as little children.

Each person must confess his own faults, not a brother's or a sister's, for everyone has abundance of his own to confess, and this clearing of the own soul removes rubbish from the door of the heart so Jesus can find entrance. This includes evil suspicion, looking for faults, fault-finding, evil speaking, telling others' faults, envy, suspicion, jealousy, enmity, contention, perverse spirit, unchristlike words, crooked dealing, and the habit of criticizing and judging, which must be admitted and turned from to come into harmony with brethren. Cherishing these sins prevents God's blessing, and none has been made a sin-bearer for brethren nor can bear his own sins, while Christ the sin-bearer cannot take away sins of those who refuse to put evils away. Guarding the tongue, refusing to criticize or retaliate, speaking well of brethren, guarding their reputation, putting self aside, and praying earnestly together bring blessing, peace, relief, and clear what obscured sight of Jesus.

True confession is joined with thorough reform: forsaking sin, cleansing the heart from unrighteousness, putting away bitterness, wrath, malice, and unrighteousness, making wrongs right, restoring what was taken, and making restitution as far as possible. Covering sin dulls sense of its wrongness and leads to continuing in it, while God pardons those who confess and forsake, and confession alone without reformation does not restore fellowship or bring healing. This includes spouses, parents and children, and fellow believers in frank confession with heart-searching, humility, and thorough conversion, shown even by public confession and in some cases restoring what was taken wrongfully. Those who bruised and wounded brethren are to admit sin, humble themselves before God, ask the injured to pray for them, make restitution as far as possible, and then ask God to heal wounds they could not repair, forgive, and blot out transgression, for reluctance to confess a clear wrong shows governance by unsanctified nature rather than Christ's spirit.

The offender must go directly to the one injured, admit the wrong plainly with meekness, sorrow, and humility, seek pardon and prayers for God's forgiveness, pray with the other, and make the matter right and make peace. This is to be done discreetly rather than making mistakes a subject of general conversation or speaking ill of one another, and kindly and lovingly rather than testifying against the person to others, gossiping, accusing, or spreading complaints through the church. When Christ's teaching and example are thus put into practice, God graciously manifests His power through members for salvation, and God's healing grace brings relief. Teachers also should openly admit wrong advice, hasty words, and mistakes before students as an example, and a wrong that can be healed between two should remain private with reconciliation before worship is acceptable to heaven.

Those confessed to should freely forgive, receive the penitent gladly, pray for him, and meet confession with hope, kindest sympathy, love, pity, and practical help rather than condemnation, humiliation, unadvised words, unchristlike methods, or pushing and driving him away. When one overtaken by a fault confesses, the Lord pardons him, his soul is saved and a multitude of sins are hidden, and the one restored learns from experience how to deal with others who make mistakes. Confession should be made to people affected or showing concern and can help restore trust, with fellow believers speaking kindly about the fault and praying with him. Wronging another is also sin against God and must then be taken to God through Christ for cleansing and forgiveness.

Fervent Righteous Prayer

Effectual fervent prayer is earnest, sincere, heartfelt intensity arising from felt need and soul-hunger, an intense longing cry for help offered in the right spirit. It is deliberate and clear, short and plain and right to the point, not measured by length or eloquence or many careless repeated words. It is not tame, spiritless, lifeless, monotonous, formal, hurried, or occasional lip-service, and lifeless monotonous prayer is not accepted. Fervent effectual prayer offered with the Spirit and with understanding is always fitting and does not weary those who love devotion, but interests and refreshes them. When the soul's life stagnates, outward acts of devotion become formal and powerless, so prayer must come from a heart conscious of its need and filled with the Holy Spirit, offered earnestly and continually with faith laying hold of God's promises. In public worship prayers should be brief and earnest rather than long and spiritless, while longer communion with God belongs in private, and daily dependence on His life-giving power sustains zeal and fervor.

The righteous person whose prayer avails much is one with clean hands and a pure heart through faith in the merits of the blood of Christ, with a broken and contrite heart which is not despised. Such prayer rises from a sincere heart longing for God, offered in humility without self-exaltation or claims of personal goodness, from awareness of human weakness and need, and humble requests are received with a humble and grateful heart without being lifted up by them. Prayers from lives ruled by sin are not accepted, while even weak and sinful people may bring requests to God and speak with their Maker, and prayer ascending from a broken and contrite heart though from the lowliest saint is never disregarded but is as sweet music to the heavenly Father. Prayer brings the heart into direct contact with God and strengthens spiritual life, while neglecting it weakens religious experience.

Such prayer avails much and is never lost, for God's Word is pledged to answer it and always brings a return. Believers are to approach with faith and confidence, assured of success and victory, praying more and in faith and not praying then running away as if afraid of receiving an answer, for God will not mock. It means watching unto prayer by believing the things asked for are received, keeping on believing, never losing patience in believing, and guarding prayer with expectancy, hope, confidence, patience, and assurance instead of unbelief. Even hidden prayer is seen, as Jesus saw Nathanael praying under the fig tree, so every sincere prayer brings its return, and the one who prays in sincerity grasps infinite power. The answer may not come as expected, but it will come, and when darkness or opposition makes the way seem impossible, living faith and wrestling prayer can carry through to the Saviour. God's promises to answer are sure and without limitation, and those who learn of Jesus and pray receive power that takes hold of hearts, so their words become a savor of life unto life, requiring shaking off the worldly spirit and praying in faith.

Power in prayer comes from within through humility, meekness, fervent love for one another, growth in grace, and real communion with God, which make it possible to pray and intercede with God. Lack of power comes from within, where a life without growth in grace and real communion with God cannot be sustained by occasional hurried prayers or outward devotion alone. Occasional hurried prayers without real communion do not take the place of a growing spiritual life and are not the fervent prayer described.

Prevailing prayer is joined with faith, watching unto prayer, persistent importunity, diligent work, and support of others, with tame spiritless petitions changed to petitions of intense earnestness. Souls are to be sought for, prayed for, labored for, and earnest appeals made without delay, by living, wide-awake, energetic Christians who keep spiritual life trimmed and burning and give the blessings of truth to others rather than living a merely quiet, meditative religion. Like Moses interceding while Israel fought Amalek, Israel prevailed while he prayed, and Aaron and Hur helped sustain his weary hands until victory came. God's people prevail because God undertakes their cause through God's strength and the support of others in faith and prayer, while also doing their best in the work before them. God may not answer as expected, but in love and wisdom He gives what is most needed, turning the thoughts and hearts of people as He turns the waters of the sea in answer to earnest importunate wrestling for the vitalizing power of the Holy Spirit. The work of prayer is individual, requiring searching the heart, putting away sin, correcting evil tendencies, and relying on God rather than self.

Scripture illustrates this prayer in Elijah, who though human and subject to like passions was heard and answered strikingly, showing heaven is open to such prayers and that powerful prayer is not beyond ordinary people. Moses interceded till victory, and Samuel's intercession for Israel brought the people a sense of security amid national trouble because he prayed for their welfare. Daniel prayed three times daily even under threat of death and in the lions' den, Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed, and Jesus in Gethsemane agonized. Jesus saw Nathanael under the fig tree, showing hidden prayer is seen.

Christ presents penitent petitions with the merit of His righteousness and mingles His merit as holy incense with lowly prayers, making them wholly efficacious, so believers approaching penitently asking forgiveness are accepted through His righteousness. Prayer gatherings can ask God to open the way for truth to reach people deceived or in spiritual darkness, with confidence because Christ intercedes. Right asking needs grace and divine enlightenment through the Spirit to know what to ask, so petitions prompted by the Lord will be answered, with the Holy Spirit appointed to meet needs in proportion to earnest humble supplication. Through Jesus Christ's life-giving power, earnest prayer offered in reverent faith may be heard and bring healing or the sparing of life.

Healing and Forgiveness Promised

The healing promised is healing of all spiritual infirmity, change of sinful disposition, healing from the wound sin has made in the soul, and restoration of both soul and body. Humble confession joined with prayer brings pardon, relief, and the healing power of grace, lifting the burden from the soul by uniting the prayers of brethren with one's own. Confession with restitution saves the soul from death and hides a multitude of sins, purifying as fire purifies gold so that a fall followed by repentance lifts to higher vantage ground. Those who do every known duty, confess, and are healed rest safely under angelic care, with selfishness and unChristlike conduct removed and obstacles cleared from the way of others.

Confessing fully clears the soul for pardon and healing, while concealing sin and cherishing wrong in the heart hinders prayer and spiritual growth. Frank confession following the light frees both the one who confesses and the church from bondage. When faults are confessed brother to brother on the knees with fervent prayer and earnest intercession, the healing is seen in weeping, forgiveness, blessing, peace and joy glowing in the heart, and light shining on the countenance, with angels present and the work thorough, deep and earnest. Confessing sins and praying together with fervor brings evidence of divine favor, moving upon hearers and preparing them to receive truth.

Praying for the sick must not be discarded, for it accords with the Word and the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person has great power. It is a privilege to approach God and lay all weakness and infirmity before Him, telling the compassionate Saviour about them believing that He hears. Answers sometimes come immediately and sometimes require patient, earnest, continued pleading even when no immediate response is seen. Right asking needs grace and divine enlightenment through the Spirit to know what to ask, and petitions prompted by the Lord will be answered. Fervent prayer accomplishes much and is to be offered earnestly and with confidence for the success of the work.

Healing prayer calls for humbling the soul, confessing sins, ceasing to transgress divine law, purifying the heart from defilement, and willingness to do His will. Wrongs such as evil speaking, alienation, and dissension are to be confessed before God and the church, and after they are confessed prayer for the sick may be offered earnestly and in faith as the Spirit moves. The sick uniting in prayer, confessing sin and receiving pardon through Christ, may be restored through gracious providence when they repent and submit themselves to Him. United confession and prayer cures the leprosy of unbelief, reclaims backsliders, makes believers channels of light and grace, and prepares them to receive floods of spiritual power and to be filled with the Holy Spirit in one accord.

Prayer for the sick is offered in calm faith with submission to the divine will and glory, asking recovery if it is for the good of the soul and for the glory of the name. The afflicted are to follow the directions given and trust to be raised up if doing so serves His glory, entrusting life to His care after faithfully doing their part. Healing is not always granted, for He knows past and future and whether recovery would lead to honoring Him or to backsliding and ruin, and in some cases healing in answer to many prayers would have brought ruin to more than two or three. Fervent prayer for one another is fitting when afflicted and seeking healing and deliverance.

Faith does not require refusing practical means provided for relief and recovery, and using them wisely works in harmony with faith and is not a denial of it. Prayer does not neglect methods of restoring health that accord with nature's laws, but uses beneficial remedies, simple treatments, and rational methods without drugs, with sanctified wisdom cooperating with God, and He blesses their use. Simple fervent prayer for the blessing of healing is to be offered with all medical treatments, pointing the sick to the compassionate Saviour and Advocate with power to forgive and to heal. This union of simple treatment with effectual prayer inspires belief in Christ and in the power of prayer, gives confidence in simple methods, directs minds to truth, and is of great efficiency in gospel ministry.

Unity Harmony and Revival

Mutual confession and intercessory prayer heal the breach made by selfishness and unchristlike behavior, clearing away obstacles and stumbling blocks placed in the path of others, breaking down barriers, restoring harmony and fellowship, and bringing divine blessing, salvation, and presence into the gathering. Pride and fear of losing dignity must not hold back this confession, especially where a fellow believer has been involved, and the work includes going directly to a brother to seek reconciliation rather than holding resentment or thinking evil, with prayer for the Holy Spirit to overcome evil thoughts and feelings. Churches everywhere are to fast and pray in this spirit, each humbling his own heart and setting himself right before God instead of trying to humble a brother or sister, admitting faults to one another and continuing in prayer until every yoke is broken, the desire to rule over others is quenched, and the Lord Himself becomes Leader and Guide in reformation.

In the home this requires kind and thoughtful consideration, putting away differences and expelling bitterness, wrath, and malice, with faults humbly confessed before the Sabbath begins as part of preparation-day readiness. Morning and evening worship unite the family, and at evening worship each member is to examine his own heart and make right every wrong done during the day. One who has wronged another or spoken unkindly must seek pardon from the one injured, and one suspected of wrong must be given opportunity to explain, which brings relief and prevents cherished grievances, misunderstandings, and heartaches. Wrongdoing within family and church is thus admitted and made right with humbled heart before God, as imperfect learners are trained in patience, kindness, and love toward genuine experience.

The same humbling work at home prepares the way for camp-meeting and social meetings, for discord in families is to be confessed and prayed over beforehand rather than left undone, since neglect brings spiritual coldness and lethargy that harms both the individual and others. Earnest, believing prayer joined with mutual confession revives God's people, brings healing, and accomplishes much. At gatherings where plain testimony alarms souls over backsliding, open admission of faults with many tears invites the Spirit to rest upon ministers and people in a good season, and where brethren confess wrongs to one another jealousy, fault-finding, and estrangement give way to better days.

United humble confession from heart to heart and brother to brother, with wrestling prayer for the Holy Spirit to come into every heart, brings unity with one accord as before Pentecost, so that prayer for promised power is heard in heaven and the way is prepared for the filling of the Spirit. This united confession and prayer cures the leprosy of unbelief that makes service weak and inefficient, reclaims backsliders, makes believers channels through which light and grace flow to the world, and prepares them to receive floods of spiritual power. It lifts believers out of darkness and gloom into the light of the Sun of Righteousness to be a blessing and strength to one another in the most holy faith, marking them as a peculiar, holy people whose faithfulness to God and to one another prepares them to welcome Christ at His coming.

The wounded are to be restored rather than cut off and left dwarfed, crippled for life, and impaired in usefulness, and confession joined to faith in Christ as the mighty Healer of soul and body makes the wounded whole and saves to the uttermost, with those who confess working actively to restore. When members bring Christ's precepts and example into daily practice, ceasing gossip and accusation and instead confessing sins to one another and offering prayer to God, He graciously manifests His power through them and supplies workers for the salvation of souls.

Teachers and students are to press together, love as brethren, and pray together, humbling self instead of exalting self, learning of Christ daily and making Him the only example and pattern in preparation for what is coming upon the world, for He paid with His own blood and suffered every indignity to carry out salvation. Students are to confess sins and mistakes directly to any they have injured and pray for one another, building barriers against sin and finding healing with assurance of pardon. Teachers in their meetings are to relate their own experience, openly tell when wrong advice has been given and when hasty words without due judgment have been spoken, and renounce and confess mistakes before students and make the wrong right, which sets the example for students to follow, gives an influence hard to resist, keeps students from using the wrong against them, and softens and converts the hard-hearted.

Praying for the Sick

Those who seek healing are to confess their faults, for no one else can know the secrets of a life known only to the person and to God, and they are to ask fellow believers to pray earnestly for them. This asking is to be joined with trust in the promise to answer, and regular praying together and for one another is a duty that helps safeguard salvation. Believers may bring weakness and perplexity to God and unite with two or three accustomed to pray, asking people they trust to pray with them to Jesus the mighty Healer for guidance, grace, and bodily relief, and this praying for one another is not to be handled carelessly. The prayers of faithful people are a meaningful support for the sick and afflicted.

Earnest intercession by sympathizing brethren and sisters prevails with God, breaks the power of the foe and of Satan, and brings release and healing. It avails even when the condition seems hopeless, when the sufferer is at the point of death, and when she is too weak to pray aloud, with faith in the promises sustaining until restoration comes. This was seen when a gravely ill woman was prayed for by family and friends, and after earnest prayer with laying on of hands her pain left and she recovered with gratitude and peace, and when a man and his wife confessed mingling too much with the wicked and after anointing with oil his pain left and he praised God. Only a few of faith should enter the sickroom, first staying the disease and then grasping restoration. Fervent effectual prayer offered for another can preserve life.

Recorded answers show a cough ceasing after prayer with thanksgiving to God, and a severe cough gone after the brethren prayed, though a pimple remained and spread. God's prescription for the sick is much prayer day and night, trusting the sufferer in God's hands rather than applying to any earthly physician, and the Lord works recovery as no earthly physician could, so that even a child whose life was in danger was healed and fast improved. Earnest effectual prayer in faith can lead God to spare life, as a brother was spared through the prayers of those who believed he was not ready to die, giving him time to repent and use life better. Other healings include fever rebuked with strength given for a journey, a husband's arm partially restored, and eye pain, malaria, and a broken ankle and lame hip healed so the sufferer walked again.

Sick cases are to be committed to God in calm faith, asking recovery if it accords with His will, for He knows the past and future and whether recovery would lead to honoring Him or to backsliding, so prayer is offered with submission and not with insistence on recovery. The petition leaves the outcome with God, asking whether it is for the good of the soul and the glory of His name to raise the sick to health, asking Him in compassion to cause healthy action in the system and to arrest disease and heal by His own power after all human skill can do has been done, and then working all the more earnestly for recovery by asking Him to bless the means His own hand has provided and to give sanctified wisdom to cooperate with Him. Distant believers may pray with confidence that God hears and can bless and raise up the sick, and God's people are asked to pray for the afflicted and for their deliverance. Through consecrated helpers God can do great things for sick believers and unbelievers alike through their prayers.

Prayer for the sick is an important ministry belonging with the gospel, seeking recovery of both body and soul from sin, with gospel truth serving both needs. Neglecting to pray deprives sufferers of blessings, because angels minister to them in response to prayer. Families are to be taught how to care for the sick, the hope of the gospel revived, and sufferers drawn to Christ as the great Healer, healing by the most simple means and working intelligently by rational methods and not with drugs, then by the prayer of faith drawing upon God's power to stay the progress of disease. This union of simple treatment with effectual prayer inspires belief in Christ and in the power of prayer, gives confidence in simple methods, directs minds to the truth, and is of great efficiency in gospel ministry. Earnest prayer with heartfelt confession of sins also accompanies genuine conversions and spiritual awakening.

Mission and Daily Strength

The verse calls the church to united daily prayer for those who need the truth, bringing each soul to God in confident trust that He will give the Holy Spirit to convict and convert. Such gatherings ask Him to open the way for truth, to dispel Satan's deceptions and darkness, and to open strongholds where Satan has set up his rule, showing His compassion and tender love for those seeking and praying for light. Prayer here is practical communion with God, and it is to be earnest rather than tame or spiritless, offered with tears and faith like Jacob's wrestling. It follows laborers like sharp sickles and can bring pentecostal seasons, and the same earnest prayer seeks God's direction in practical decisions such as where to locate a school.
Parents are to pray sincerely and persistently as an essential way to seek God's protection and care for their children. Brothers in a family are to pray for each other and together at regular times, because salvation is affected by the example and conduct they give one another. Mothers who lack wisdom to remedy evils already existing in their children must go to God and pray much and fervently for divine aid, trusting His promise to give liberally, since one rule cannot fit every case and sanctified judgment is needed to begin the work rightly.

Ministers are to pray with deep earnestness and fervor and to draw near to God in daily conversion, becoming pure and holy and sanctified through the truth. One who has been with God in such prayer speaks with the Holy Spirit's power and vital heavenly fire, lifting up Jesus as the sinner's only hope and making words living realities to himself and others. Through him the Holy Spirit presents God's love, breaks Satan's hold on hearts, tears down strongholds, moves hearers to seek salvation, and leads many brokenhearted to ask what they must do to be saved. For a physician likewise, prayer with searching of the Scriptures gives vigor of mind and stability of character.

Fervent prayer is great strength to obtain a clean heart and thorough conversion, to hold fast every precious grace, and to keep evil besetments and passions under. It means going alone into the closet to plead for a clean heart and right spirit, wrestling like Jacob, agonizing with strong effort as in Gethsemane, refusing to leave until made strong in God, then watching and praying without ceasing. Such wholehearted seeking brings speedy strengthening, peace beyond understanding, thorough reformation, the fruits of the Spirit, and shining as lights instead of hindering the cause. It helps the Christian rely on God, receive strength, and resist temptation and Satan's cunning attacks, and it will prevail against Satan as seen in Elijah's earnest prayer and Daniel's continued prayer even under threat of death and in the lions' den. Prayer alarms Satan's forces and makes him tremble and retreat, regains what was lost through lack of watchfulness, and endowment with such power may call forth persecution.

Believers are commanded to pray for one another continually so they may be healed, bearing one another's burdens as channels through which the grace and righteousness of Christ flow in blessing, peace, and joy to others. Hearts softened by the Holy Spirit become kind, tender, thoughtful, and forgiving in all intercourse, being to others as far as possible what Jesus was to His disciples when He walked and talked with them. When a believer is tempted or discouraged, a brother is to offer sympathy and pray with him, for prayer joins hearts to one another and to God, brings strength and grace to the fainting soul, and blesses both the one who prays and the one prayed for. Mutual prayer with confession and earnest requests for blessings for self and others belongs to continual watchfulness to resist temptation, to earnest seeking of right standing with God, and to strengthening in doing right and living faithfully.

The call is urgent in the judgment hour and the great antitypical day of atonement, in perfect harmony with the work going forward in heaven: repent and confess faults to one another and pray for one another for healing of all spiritual infirmities and change of sinful dispositions. No dignity or position exempts anyone, and those whose errors are known and whose influence has widened must make full confession all the more, so sins may go beforehand to judgment, be blotted out by Christ's blood, and be removed when the times of refreshing come. This means diligent work for eternity, praying most earnestly, holding fast the faith, trusting implicitly in the Lord's guidance and not in the arm of flesh, deciding each one to come out separate from the world and serve the Lord with full purpose of heart, and working diligently to save others in the approaching crisis while looking to God in strong faith for help. James 5:13-20 is practical instruction to be studied and obeyed rather than left a dead letter, practiced in daily life in obedience to God's gracious requirements, turning from mistakes including stubborn clinging to ideas, and seeking God rather than taking trials to others for help.