Prayers are powerful and effective, not because we are praying, but because God is listening and answering.
“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.” Jas 5:16 NIV
Powerful and effective. Too many times we want this verse to say, when you pray you can have the power to get whatever you want, because it will guarantee the effect you want. Yikes. There are all sorts of false “churches” out there that preach this very wrong doctrine. We call them “prosperity preaching” because the emphasis is on MMI. What I want. When I want it. How I want it. But who ever said this life centers around you?
As I said early in the week, we were created By God, FOR God. He is Life, apart from Him we are dead. He is Love, apart from Him we know nothing but selfishness and apathy. He is Light, apart from Him all we know is the darkness of sin. The reason our prayers for ourselves and one another are powerful is because the One listening is our Almighty, Omnipotent God. The reason our prayers for ourselves and one another are effective is because the One answering our prayers will work it all together for our good. God has already seen our lives and has already planned for it all. This doesn’t mean we do not have the responsibility to seek and follow Him, but it should alleviate any undue pressure we place on ourselves to figure it all out on our own.
When we confess our sins to Him and confess to each other, when we sincerely pray for one another, when we are open to receive healing whichever way God brings it, when we believe in our heart that Jesus has made us righteous, then our prayers become powerful and effective to do that which God intends them to do. His Will, not mine, be done. This is the struggle, my Friends, but when we surrender to God’s Holy Will, we can come up for air, just breathe and enjoy the SON.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
September: 35- Mt 16:24; 36- Isa 53:6; 37- Ps 23:1-6
October: 38- Heb 4:12; 39- Jn 15:5
40- Jas 5:16
<>< Peace, Diane
