Prayer
James 5:13-17 – Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
This entry is to highlight a highly used verse concerning prayer. James 5:16 will be addressed, but verses 13-17 were provided for context.
Many of us have heard this verse quoted many different ways. Somehow after listening to it or reading it, many people will seek to pray longer and harder without any thought of their lifestyle before God. It’s as if they read the verse like this:
Fervent prayer availeth much.
Matthew 6:5-13 – And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Many people in Christ want to know how to pray. Many formulas and acronyms have been created, but our Lord has established how we are to pray in His teachings. Let’s break it down:
Don’t pray to be seen of men (Matthew 6:5).
People that pray in this manner are considered as hypocrites. Their focus is to pray for others to see how ‘spiritual’ them seem. They are hypocrites because they choose not to live the life they portray. Their reward is not answered prayer, but the applause of men.
There are times in our day when we should allow the Lord to speak to us. Now, the Lord DOES have ways to get our attention and speak to us, but how often do we sit quietly before Him awaiting His Word of instruction, guidance, counsel, and encouragement? This time can also be associated with your time before Him in prayer and meditation.
Speak Lord…
Photo courtesy of freeimages.com/Charlie Balch
Sometimes no matter how much we try to help others and spin our time and energy to share all we know, they still don’t get it! They want to go their own way and live how they like. If you’re not careful (and watchful), you’ll get mad (really mad) because it seems that they’re treating your hard work and life-giving messages as trash. You feel like you’ve wasted your time. Well, before you go down that road (which you should not go), let’s consider this…
1 Corinthians 3:5-8 – Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
Here, Paul is speaking about the people siding with specific ministers of the gospels, but he writes how he planted the word in the people’s heart, another watered it, but God made the seeds grow.
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