Our scripture this morning is James 5:13-14 (NLT).
Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. 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.
Jesus taught us that prayer was vitally important in our lives and the life of the church. Mark 1:35 tells us “Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.” While He went to “an isolated place”, we can pray anywhere, anytime. However, many find privacy and a regular schedule help them to have an active prayer life.
Later in their chapter we read “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results” (James 5:16). What we need to remember is that we aren’t “convincing” God to do something He wouldn’t do in the first place, we are making ourselves part of His work. We can never tell God something He doesn’t already know.
James reminds us of the need to pray no matter what our situation may be. We have been cautioned “Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today” (Deuteronomy 8:11). Suffering or happy, we need to be in prayer and listening to His word for us.
Loving Lord, we are sorry when we are out of touch and forget how important prayer is to our relationship with You and each other. Bless us to be connected through prayer always. Amen.
