Don’t hold back in prayer.
James 5:13-20 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is
anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of
the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in
the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will
make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned,
they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to
each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful
and effective.17 Elijah was a human
being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly
that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half
years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth
produced its crops. 19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from
the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of
their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
What do you look forward to most in your day?
I look forward to several things every day. I look forward to seeing each face of each of my children and my wife every day. I look forward to seeing the landscape on my way to work. I look forward to guessing who i will get to see at the window at the campus post office and of being able to speak with students who come in. And when it is time to head home, I look forward to seeing the faces of those kids and my beautiful wife again.
James is writing about looking forward to praying to God and seeing him answer. What does powerful and effective mean? Do you believe your prayers are powerful and effective? James describes Elijah as a human
being just like you. James makes this a point on purpose to help us see we need not hold back in our prayers. We hold back when we look at ourselves. James wants us to look at our God!
Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain
for 3.5 yrs! What if you really believed you could pray like Elijah?
There are
many false beliefs about prayers; can you name some? When was
the last answer to prayer you had? If you had
to guess what you were holding back on praying for, what would you guess it
was?
Mark 1:35 tells us "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark,
Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." Even Jesus, the Son of God, prayed!
In Matthew 6:5 Jesus tells us about prayers that are not at all like Elijah's--they are hypocritical prayers: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love
to pray standing in the
synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you,
they have received their reward in full. What is a hypocritical prayer? One that is not the righteous prayer like Elijah.
Jesus gives us a remedy in Matthew 6:6. "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to
your Father, who is unseen. Then
your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." The remedy this supplies is the connection--not between you and the answer but between you and the God to whom you are praying! Promises come with this statement Jesus makes! Isn't about time for a reward for you?
Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5.17 to “pray
continually” Are you on your way to communion with God in such a way that you talk
to Him throughout your day? What could that be like for you?
One of the effective natures of our prayers is to not fall into temptation. How do you suppose prayer helps with that? Luke
22.45-46 When he rose from prayer and went
back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
Spend some
time in Elijah praying for others today! Really, don’t hold
back in your praying!