I suppose this is a simple encouragement but I hope helpful nonetheless. James ends with a list of things as do several of the NT letters. He begins that list like this…

James 5:13

[13] Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

I’ve often wondered what a service like this would look like. It seems as though it’s in the context of the gathering. How do you decide who is to pray? Anyone among the body who is suffering. Who sings? Anyone among the body who is cheerful.

Obviously, there are other places where order is demanded and rightly so. But where does this fit in? And did you notice, we often pray for those who suffer and we should. But here the one suffering ought to pray. The one who is to sing is one who’s of good courage not the one most talented in musical skills.

Maybe this isn’t meant to be something done in the assembly. Nevertheless, we ought to pray when we suffer and not merely leave it to someone else. When we are cheerful we ought to sing praises to the Lord and not just enjoy our own cheerfulness as though we have obtained it on our own.

Prayer and praise are fundamental responses of the believer! We are going to suffer and we are going to be cheerful. Let’s spend them on godward things not ourselves.