"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:15-16
This past week alone I have received dozens of prayer requests for people who are suffering some type of illness. Some through email, others through personal contacts. With all the sick and suffering people around us, I ask myself, "Are we doing our Christian duties in fervent prayer for these folks?" When people ask us to pray for them, they are counting on just that. They have put trust in us! Are we trustworthy? I will admit that I am not the prayer warrior I need to be. And I am also working to better myself. My list is ever growing and my time seems to just run out earlier each day after work and household chores. So I will just have to carry my list of prayer requests around with me throughout the day and each chance that I get, while driving, on break or lunch at work, folding a load of laundry, and everything else which occupies my day, I will take a few moments to pray for these folks. If we lift our prayer requests up to God He will hear them. It matters not where we are, as long as we are praying with faith.
Everything that is attributed to faith might with equal truth be attributed to prayer ~ for faith and true prayer are like two sides of the same coin ~ they are both inseparable. People may pray without faith, which is not true prayer. But it is unthinkable that we should have faith and not pray. Whatever God can do, and whatever faith can do, prayer can do when it is offered in faith.
An invitation to prayer is an invitation to omnipotence, for prayer engages the Omnipresent God and brings Him into our human affairs. According to the Bible, we have because we ask or we have not because we ask not. It does not take much wisdom to discover our next move. Is it not to pray and pray again and again until the answer comes? Let us not fail the people who have asked us to pray for them, and most importantly, fail God by failing to pray.
May God bless you with a wonderful day in faithful prayer.
Love in Christ Jesus, Sandy
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