5:16
James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
I’ve had many conversations with some of my friends and family, and it seems to always be emphasized with the need for prayer. We talk about the need for prayer and I myself believe there is so much power in prayer, but get frustrated with myself, because I do not tap in to that power like I should or know to do! How many times has something happened, good or bad, and prayer is the last thing we do?
One of my kids posted a picture on Facebook that said, “what if we all prayed for America? Share if you’re in…”
Basically the commenter said, “That’s the problem…everyone wants to pray. Get off your knees and vote, speak out for the wrong doings, go to town hall meetings. Let you issues be heard. Praying doesn’t do anything!”
I replied to him that I agree with getting out and doing, and speaking out, that is definitely necessary, but prayer is the most important thing we could do! We MUST always pray!
I usually joke about how I shouldn’t be the one on the prayer team! I can think of several times that I prayed for something and the exact opposite happened! For example, praying for more workers at church, but several families left for different reasons (there went our workers…sigh). My most favorite story is that along the road to Dallas, there was a gas station right beside a XXX place. Every time we went to Dallas, I would pray that that place would burn down. The last time I went that way, the gas station was burned down! I said, “Lord, I meant the other place!” HAHAHA!
However, I have had MANY more good things happen because of prayer. I KNOW there is power in prayer! I have been able to stand on God’s promises and get through many things over the course of my life.
When we think of praying, we usually think of bowing our heads and closing our eyes, and that’s all there is to it…but there is so much more than just doing that. Prayer is meant to bring us closer to God.
A study I did said, “We become like the object of our focus. If our focus is on Christ, we become more and more like Him.” Prayer gets our hearts and minds focused on Jesus. So, as we focus on prayer, which gets our hearts and minds on Jesus, we become more like Him….
In our praying, there are so many more ways we can pray than just sitting and bowing our heads and closing our eyes. Yes, there’s a place for that, but we need to remember that we can pray/praise Him at any time, anywhere. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul said “pray continuously.” We can’t sit continuously with our eyes closed and head bowed. There’s too much going on for that! Pray continuously, means that we should be focused on Jesus everywhere we go and in everything we do.
Beth Moore has said, “Prayerless lives are powerless lives, and prayerful lives are powerful lives.”
I want to have a powerful life.
Now, my God, please let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer of this place. 2 Chronicles 6:40
