Good Morning Friends,
“Is any one of you in trouble? He should
pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He
should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil
in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick
person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you
may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah
was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did
not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the
heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” (James 5:13-18)
Prayer is powerful because God is powerful
and He answers prayer!
Effective prayer requires humility. Keeping
your need to yourself is often a matter of pride. It goes back to the American
way – I can take care of things by myself. God desires that we acknowledge our
need of Him and recognize our need for others. When we ask others to pray for
us, God is pleased with that act of humility.
Effective prayer requires faith. The prayer
offered in doubt doesn't please the Lord. It is the prayer offered in faith
that God responds to most readily. God wants us to trust Him and to pray out of
that trust.
Effective prayer requires a clean heart. Unconfessed
sin hinders our relationship with God and hinders the effectiveness of our
prayers. God is ready to wipe the slate clean as soon as we acknowledge our
sins to Him. Confession opens the way to greater power in prayer.
Effective prayer requires righteousness. It
is the prayer of a righteous man that is powerful and effective. Of course, no
man is righteous on his own merit. To be righteous means to be in right relationship
with God and that comes only through Jesus Christ! The only effective prayer is
prayer that comes from the heart of the person attached to God through the
sacrifice of Jesus.
Effective prayer comes from ordinary people,
not super people! Elijah was human like you and me, and God heard his prayer. And
God will hear your prayers, too – spoken in humility, in faith, in purity, and
through Jesus.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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