Bro. David's Weekly Word
Weekly Word from Bro. David
May 5, 2016
From The Pastor's Heart:
So, how is your prayer life? If you could measure it, put it on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best it's ever been, how would you score it? 2? 4? 8? What does your prayer life look like today?
What would you say if I told you that it's possible for you to pray like the prophets? Well that's what we find Pastor James talking about as we come near the end of our study under the heading: CHRISITIANITY IN SHOELEATHER.
Take your Bible and join me in James 5. Beginning in verse 13 the topic is PRAYER. We read in verse 13, “Let him pray.” Verse 14, “let them pray.” Verse 15, mentions “the prayer of faith.” Verse 16, “pray for one another” and, “fervent prayer of a righteous man.” Verse 17, “he prayed earnestly.” Verse 18, “And he prayed again.” Seven times in six verses we find the word “pray or prayer or prayed.”
So how's your prayer life? Somebody said that “the man who studies the Bible without praying will develop a good mind and a cold heart. The man who prays without knowing scripture will consistently pray outside the will of God, for that is where His will is revealed.”
We saw last week that we are to “confess your trespasses to one another...” that's the first prerequisite for praying like the prophets: the confession we must make.
Today we see the second prerequisite for praying like the prophets and it is: the command we must mind. Verse 16b, “... and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Luke 18.1, “Then He spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” 1 Thess 5.17, “Pray without ceasing.”
It's like that young girl who was in worship one day and the church was singing, “God is still on His throne.” She misunderstood and thought they were singing, “God is still on the phone.” They were both right. God IS still on the throne and He is still on the phone! The tragedy of our day is not unanswered prayer, it’s unoffered prayer. Some people I know pray for a bushel and then carry a cup.
I'm keeping an umbrella in the car because I'm praying for rain! “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Thank God we have a hotline to heaven. I'm telling you that He's still on the phone. And what a privilege to talk to God! It may be our greatest failure, “you have not because you ask not.”
God forgive us when we fail to pray for one another. It's a command! We are to pray for one another. You can do more after you pray, but you can do no more until you pray.
“...Pray for one another, that you may be healed.” That includes emotional healing, soul healing and, yes, even physical healing. You say, “Pastor, that's me! I'm the one standing in the need of prayer.” To pray like the prophets, the kind of praying that unleashes the power of God, involves the confession we must make:
Private sin... Personal sin... Public sin...
And the command we must mind. “And pray for one another that you may be healed.” Something I read years ago regarding prayer that I want to pass along to you: “Prayer can do anything God can do and God can do anything.”