The
Earnest Prayer
Of
A Righteous Person Has Great Power
And
Produces Wonderful Results.
Scripture
James
5
13 Are
any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you
happy? You should sing praises.
14 Are any
of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and
pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 Such a
prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make
you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
16 Confess
your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be
healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and
produces wonderful results.
17 Elijah
was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain
would fall, none fell for three and a half years!
Observation
The
earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power … I think that
there are two key words in that phrase … earnest and righteous! The
word “earnest” means believing and heartfelt, and the word
“righteous” means someone who is living in a right relationship
with God. It doesn't mean a person who is perfect, but it means
someone who is striving to live in obedience to God. James makes the
point that Elijah was just as human was we are.
Today's
Old Testament daily Bible reading about King Hezekiah
and his prophet Isaiah and their dependence on God when faced with
seemingly certain destruction (2 Kings 18,19 and 2 Chronicles 32)
provides a great example of what James is saying to us about the
power of prayer.
2
Kings 19
14 After
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went
up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord.
15 And
Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “O Lord, God
of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone
are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the
heavens and the earth.
16 Bend
down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see!
Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
18 And they
have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them.
But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at
all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.
19 Now,
O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the
kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are
God.”
35 That
night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp
and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.
Application
Today's
Bible reading is a reminder to me to always pray and never give up!
Jeremiah
33:3
Call
unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty
things, which thou knowest not.
Luke
18:1
One
day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always
pray and never give up.
1
Thessalonians 5:17
17 Never
stop praying.
Prayer
Heavenly
Father, help me to pray first! Help me to talk to You about the small
things in my life as well as the big ones. I know that more than
anything else You desire a relationship with me – a Father and son
relationship. So help me to trust You with every detail of my life.
Help
our nation through this difficult time. I pray for godly leaders who
will lead us and who will get us back on the right path.
I
pray for an end to this pandemic. You are all-powerful! Nothing is
too hard for You!
2
Chronicles 7:14
14 Then
if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear
from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.
Daily
Bible Reading: 2 Kings 18,19; 2 Chronicles 32; James 5
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