Fig Tree 4

James 5:16

Water is a simple thing that we encounter every day. We are refreshed by it when we bathe in it or drink it. It falls gently as rain from the heavens. And it is easily diverted, made to flow this way or that by simply placing our hand in a stream.

And yet for all of its simplicity water is a powerful thing. It is the constant and persistent flowing of water that digs its way through dirt and rock. It was water that carved out the magnificent Grand Canyon. Over time and with effort water created something majestic.

Our faith may seem like a simple thing as well. But James gives us advice on how to employ our faith. What are we to do? How is prayer described?

When we are faced with the troubles of life and the uncertainty of all those things going on around us it is easy to feel helpless. But we can have faith in the darkest of times. That faith can give us hope and ability.

If we have faith we can go to our Lord in prayer and ask for the ability to do the good we ought to do. We can ask for the ability to become better people, more dedicated Christians, stronger believers. We simply need to go to the Lord in prayer.

And what good does prayer do? Prayer is powerful and effective. If we will be righteous people, having faith and confidence in the presence and power of our God, and confidence in our own faith we can accomplish the impossible.

Through prayer we can move forward in our journey through the wilderness of Lent. We can move on toward that wonderful celebration of God’s grace embodied in the resurrection. We can become stronger in our beliefs and more able to employ our faith to do good work for God’s kingdom.

We must learn to pray with confidence. We must learn to pray with faith. And if we have genuine faith we will be able to move the mountains of troubles and challenges to make a better life for ourselves and others.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you be reminded of the power you have in your own prayers?

Pray for God's Help 4

James 5:16

When the clergy are ordained in our conference they are to create a banner which reflects their personal creed for ministry. A few years back at annual conference one of the candidates had as his banner the statement – “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”

It was a declaration of complete faith in what God has said, the laws and instruction He has offered to His children through the Bible. I was not as impressed with the look of the banner as I was with the confidence of the sentiment. As believers we need to have complete faith in our God.

This passage from James is the conclusion of a brief comment on prayer. In the previous verses the author has presented the various situations we might encounter in life – sickness, happiness, sin – and come to one instruction to deal with each. Pray.

What is his final instruction? What is his endorsement of prayer?

Too often in life we see prayer as a last resort to our situations. I am reminded of the George Bailey character in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He prays with the words, “I’m at the end of my rope.” Prayer was his last ditch effort to resolve his problems.

We as believers should pick up prayer at the beginning of all our efforts. We should pray to God for guidance. We should pray to God for the strength and blessings to accomplish service for the kingdom. But most importantly, we should pray with an attitude of complete confidence.

Prayer should not always be the desperate act of a hopeless person. It should be the confident act of a determined person. We need to approach our ministry, our service, our outreach, our plans with complete assurance that God will bless us indeed in what we will attempt. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Pray with that in mind.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What is your attitude in prayer?

Faithful in Prayer 1

James 5:16

This weekend in church we sang "Untitled Hymn" by Chris Rice. (play the video above or visit http://102grow.blogspot.com/ to view it!) One of the lines in that song that always strikes me is to remember when we walk, sometimes we fall.

Today's reading references this idea. The Greek word used for sins here means to stumble or fall down. So when we stumble in our walk, we are to confess that openly to our Christian brothers and sisters.

But there's a big AND in there as well that is sometimes forgotten by folks who like to condemn others. We are all to confess AND all to pray for one another. It's not only to pray for those we like or a few who are sick. We should always be in prayer for one another, lifting up, encouraging and helping one another. In this way, we will be healed.

Think about how you feel when you KNOW someone is there to catch you if you fall. How it feels to have someone you can depend on no matter what. Someone who "has your back" as they say. That's a wonderful feeling. It makes us stronger. It makes us want to take risks. That's how our Christian family should be. We should know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that people are praying for us and supporting us.

We should also KNOW one another's strengths and weaknesses. We need to know when our brothers and sisters stumble and fall down. Not so we can look down on them, but so that we can pick them up.

Prayer is powerful, folks. We see that over and over both in the Bible and our own lives. Prayer works miracles. Sometimes they are physical miracles like sensation returning to a numb limb. Sometimes they are emotional miracles that allow us to get through a year where we lose so many loved ones it's staggering.

But we lose sight sometimes of how powerful prayer can be and how important it is to pray for one another all the time. Let's be that kind of family in Christ. Let's pray for one another all week and see what happens.

DAILY CHALLENGE: PRAY for everyone in your church family today. Pray for anyone who sat in your pew this week at church. (and if you weren't there... pray for the folks who usually sit in your pew!) Pray personally for each one of them today, asking God to show you how you can help lift them up if they stumble.