16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
19 My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, 20 you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.
Terrie's Comments:
I guess when all is said and done James is a great place for us to start a praise list on youtube. Praising God is always an appropriate response no matter what the situation.
The instructions in this passage are often quoted but so often we fall short of following their direction in our lives.
Suffering hardships? - talk to God about it (not to everyone else first) He will most likely bring peace before you even leave His presence which will alleviate the need to talk to others about it at all.
If you are happy? - sing praises to God...celebrate with Him, thanking Him for the blessings.
If you are sick? - call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of Jesus. Such a prayer offered in faith (being sure of what we Hope for and certain of what we do not see) WILL heal the sick, the Lord WILL make you well. This leaves no question as to if it is God's will to heal or not... the question is are we praying with faith in what God says or is our faith in what we see in the natural? All too often our speech gives us away and it is clear that we do not have confidence in God's word no matter what we see in the natural. We give up and say it must not be God's will to heal in this situation because the natural is not lining up. Where is our Faith? If you don't have confidence in God's word and you are still wavering between the faith in God's word or faith in the flesh it is time to spend some unhurried time in God's word. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. You can't have faith if you don't have the word in you to stand on. Here just like when Jesus was walking on the earth, sin is linked to healing. Jesus healed and forgave at the same time :-)
Just because we do not see something does not mean it is not true. If that was the case then how could we stand and say that we are looking forward to entering God's heavenly kingdom? We are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us... the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead! We serve a living and active God! When Jesus walked on earth he didn't once say no to someone who came to him for healing. Jesus is the great physician! We can trust Him to heal.
Do we believe that God sees us as righteous? Do we believe that God hears our prayers? Do we believe that God wants to heal us? Do we believe that God will heal us? What is our real view of the God we serve? Does our view of God line up with the scriptures and what he says about himself? Do we alter what scriptures really say to line up with what we have experienced or what others have experienced in the natural? These are grounding questions but can also be glaring questions as to what we actually believe... Do we actually believe that God is who He says He is? Do we trust in Jesus and what He accomplished at Calvary? Do our actions and words line up with what we think we believe?
Elijah was a MAN LIKE WE ARE... he prayed earnestly and his prayers were answered. The prayers of a righteous man has great power and produces wonderful results. The Bible is filled with testimonies of regular people that God used to do His will, not because they were special people but because He can use everyone to do His will.
Tori's Comments:
I find it interesting that he offers different, although similar, solutions for different situations. He doesn't say to praise when we are suffering, but to pray. To trust. And when we are happy, to praise God for it. Same with sickness.
Take our personal comments or leave them. We would love to hear what stood out to you about today`s passage and how it encouraged you. Tell us in the comments below!
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Please keep all comments respectful. We want to remember that each of us is at a different place in our walk with God. This is a place for us to share openly about what has been revealed to us as we open up Gods word and to learn from others. Please take every opportunity possible to build each other up in love :-)