S50P7 – Our spiritual fuel: prayer

Jam. 5:16-18

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. 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. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

He had gone through life with a one-track approach to his problems. Even from an early age, he was not one to ask for help.  Confidence grew into something it was not meant to be.  As a child, he could not recognize that he was powerless to accomplish anything and everything.  He would try and fail and become frustrated instead of asking someone competent and able to help him along.  Even after accepting Jesus Christ as his Savior, this barrier remained.  In his mind, he had the power to accomplish whatever needed to be done if he only tried hard enough. When he became ill, it was obvious that he could not cure himself. Eventually and unfortunately, the doctors concluded that they could not cure him either.  It was the prayer of a righteous people that would bring him healing, and that was a turning point for him.

We have available to us a bottomless well of power through prayer. Whether we are facing illness or tragedy or stress, we can go to the Father and ask him to intervene.  What we must realize is that there is a power greater than us that is focused on our destruction.  We cannot fight that power in our own strength.  When we try to do so, it is as if we are telling God that we do not believe in the power of prayer.  It is no different than when we refuse to ask a person for help because we sincerely believe that person will simply decline or be unable. The scriptures, however, show us the truth of the power of prayer.  It can break strongholds, heal diseases, and renew minds.  In fact, part of the mechanism of salvation is prayer.  It is how we cry out to Jesus Christ and ask for the miracle of being transformed into the children of God.

It is the wise one who confesses his inability and lack of power, and then confides in God through prayer.  The prayer of someone righteous, a person who is clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, has spiritual power.  The evidence of this power is the answer to the prayer. While this does not mean that a single prayer will necessarily bring what is requested, it does mean that a righteous prayer will be answered.  Not only will it be answered, but it will be answered in power. As Elijah’s example shows, our prayer also should be fervent.  Let us pour our passion into acts of faith through prayer.  Father, thank You that we only need to ask in prayer, and your power will manifest.