“Is anyone in trouble? Let them pray.” (James 5:13 NIV)
Throughout the New Testament, Christians are exhorted to pray. Jesus
told his disciples //that “men ought always to pray and not to faint”
(Luke 18:1). He also said, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and
you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9).
The apostle Paul said, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17),
and the early Church—the Bible says— “continued in prayer” (Acts 2:42).
In other words, it’s not a question of having a good time in prayer /one
day and letting it carry us for a while; nor is it a question of
filling our tank on Sunday /so that we don’t have to pray again /until the
next time () we gather together with the believers. No, we have to keep
praying and not quit! We don’t pray /just because it’s what a Christian
ought to do, however. We need to pray because, for the Christian,
prayer means victory.
Prayer means a wayward child /coming back to the Lord; it means
direction for our lives; it means wisdom, grace and patience; it means
casting our care upon the Lord; it means being able to love even those
//who are not loving; it means not having to walk in fear; it means energy
to do what God has called us to do, for prayer turns ministry into an
overflow of our hearts. Without prayer, we can quote all the verses () we
want, but it’s easy to get cynical and negative. It’s impossible to
pray and to be negative at the same time, however; because as we pray,
we realize how great God is, and it increases our faith, our hope, and
our joy.
In his New Testament letter, James, the half-brother of our Lord, says,
“Is anyone among you in trouble?
Let them pray.” Prayer is our supply
line, and the source is God. His ear is attentive to our cry, and he
wants to help us; he wants to encourage us; he wants to take away our
weariness and our discouragement.
Today, if you’re in trouble in your
life, in your mind, in your relationships, in your finances,
[all () you
have to do] is talk to the Lord; tell him [what you need].
He is a God who
hears and answers prayer.
Oh, what a blessed assurance and what victory we have /when we pray!
Read James 5:13-20.