“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” James 5:13-18 (ESV)
Prayer Is Essential
Prayer is an essential part to all followers of Jesus. Why? The short answer is because prayer is the way we communicate with God. It’s one way God communicates with us. In this passage of James we see prayer being emphasized to us.
Prayer is essential when we are suffering. To suffer means to go through hardship or to be afflicted. Have you been afflicted by the evil going on in this world? I think we can all say yes to that. Not one person has not felt the pressure and difficulty that has been placed upon us by evil people over the past two years. What are we supposed to do when we are being afflicted by evil? Pray. We are to take our hardships to the Lord. When we surrender them to God, he is able to turn them into beauty.
Beauty For Ashes
Remember the song, Beauty for Ashes? It’s true. God promises that all hardships will be turned around for our good. (Romans 8:28) Our job is to let go of trying to fix our problems and allow God to teach us, lead us, and turn even the most awful things into beauty. We must talk to God about what we are suffering so He can give us clarity. We surrender our feelings and our situations to him so he can take it from us. Then we will be relieved from carrying the burden ourselves.
Let go by praying over your situations. Will you do that now? What are some hardships you are currently facing? Go tell Jesus all about it. Release those burdens to him. Ask him to show you how he will turn it around for your good. It may take some time, but I promise it will happen.
We are told to call the elders of the church to pray for your healing if you are sick. I believe this could be someone who is more mature in the faith than you who you call to come pray over you. Though this could very well be a person with the title elder from your local group of believers. We are told the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
Prayer In Action
At the end of 2021 some friends of ours got Covid. The wife was dealing with it better than the husband was. They did go to their doctor and get some ivermectin, and were taking zinc, vitamin D and C. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to fill his prescription the same day. During the night he got worse, and his wife ended up taking him to the hospital. Thankfully, they discharged him that same day. After talking to his wife, Brett and I decided to make the two hour drive to go pray for him. We felt it was important to do so. When we arrived there he had a temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit. His eyes looked sick, and overall just looked like he felt terrible.
We had him sit in a chair and began to pray. Brett and I declared that covid no longer had any business staying in his body. We declared health to his body. After about 15-20 minutes, we finished praying. Brett noticed that while we were praying his hand became hotter than the neck of the guy we were praying for. He hadn’t taken any medicine before we got there. Brett suggested he go take his temperature. It was 100 degrees fahrenheit. While we prayed for him and declared health over him, his body cooled 3 degrees! I could even see his eyes clear up. He looked overall much better than he did a few minutes before.
Brett and I had grabbed some food from the grocery store for this family on our way down. I offered to make him some salmon and veggies. He agreed and went outside to play with his daughter. He came in a few minutes later exclaiming he just blew bubbles. Brett asked why that was so amazing. He replied, “I couldn’t do that before. I almost passed out when I tried that earlier.” James tells us, “by the prayer of faith, God will raise the sick man up.” Brett and I witnessed this principle first hand that day.
Pray For The Impossible
James tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful. He then talks about how Elijah is like us, yet prayed for no rain to fall then, after 3.5 years, prayed that rain would come. Both times, the Lord answered his prayer. I just recently finished Priscilia Shirer’s study on Elijah. It was very good! I recommend doing it if you haven’t already.
While doing this study something occurred to me. Do you remember when Elijah had the showdown with the false prophets of Baal and Asherah? (1 Kings 18) When it was his turn what did he do? He poured twelve jars of water over the bull. The Bible tells us that there was so much water it ran off the bull and filled a trench. That’s a lot of water! Here’s the interesting part. We are at the end of the 3.5 years of no rain. It had not rained for so long there wasn’t even any green grass for the animals to eat. The land was dry, and water was a precious commodity.
Wouldn’t You Be Shocked
If I was in the audience, I would be horrified to see so much water “being wasted.” Just think of what those people could have done with all that water. They could have used it in their gardens to help grow food. Perhaps they needed it to wash dishes or themselves. They could have even needed it to quench their thirst. Yet, Elijah used it to drench his sacrifice.
Then the miraculous happened. God sent fire down from heaven that “licked up the water.” It was in surrendering everything, even the most valuable commodity, that made room for the prayer of God’s faithful servant, Elijah, to be answered. You, my friend, are just like Elijah. You have the propensity to have that kind of faith. God would love nothing more than to answer your faith filled prayers. I happen to know that God really loves to answer your prayers.
What are you praying for? How do you want to see God move in your life? In the lives of those around you? What is it that only God can do? Pray for that to happen. Then don’t be surprised when you see God answer those prayers. Remember, “…The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16b (ESV)
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