James 5:13-20English Standard Version (ESV)
13 Is anyone among you
suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you
sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith
will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has
committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your
sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The
prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.[a] 17 Elijah was a man with a
nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three
years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again,
and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
19 My brothers, if anyone
among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that
whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death
and will cover a multitude of sins.
This is a true
picture of an effective prayer life.
When we suffering we should be praying to God and when we are happy we
should be praising God. This is a
beautiful picture of people gathering around a child of God and praying for
them.
Notice this is a
picture of the church. In verse 16 James
makes it clear that we need to be confessing our sins to one another and we
should be praying for one another. As a
result those who are wandering will come back and those who help in bringing
him back will stand victorious before the Lord.
Remember in previous verses James said not to judge? Some would say that the action he describes
here would be considered judging but clearly it is not. When we know a brother or sister is going
down the wrong path we need to be there to guide them back to Christ. That begins, like this passage did, in
prayer. We can do nothing without the
strength and knowledge of Christ. We
must pray and then act.
It is not easy
when our friends make bad choices and even harder when we visit with them and
encourage them and they turn the other way instead. I struggle to know what to do in that situation
and know I don’t always handle it well.
This I do know, seek the Lord first, love them second, and most
importantly pray for them always.
Seeking Him with
all my heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment