“Prayer that Avails Much (pt.3)”

(Last in series)

“Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call on the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.”

                                                                                                James 5:13-15

We ought to be a people who are consumed with prayer! James says that we ought to pray when we are in trouble and when we are happy. We ought to pray when we are well and when we are sick.  The apostle Paul expanded on this when he wrote in Philippians 4:6:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”

Prayer, however, is more than a spiritual wish list. It is more than a last ditch effort when all else has failed. Prayer is more than casual conversation with a friend. It is more than an essential spiritual discipline, but it is intimate engagement with a Holy God.

People, who do not pray, do not have an intimate relationship with God for it is by prayer that we engage Him. Indian Christian Missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh once said:

"The essence of prayer does not consist in asking God for something but in opening our hearts to God, in speaking with Him, and living with Him in perpetual communion. Prayer is continual abandonment to God. Prayer does not mean asking God for all kinds of things we want; it is rather the desire for God Himself, the only Giver of Life, Prayer is not asking, but union with God. Prayer is not a painful effort to gain from God help in the varying needs of our lives. Prayer is the desire to possess God Himself, the Source of all life. The true spirit of prayer does not consist in asking for blessings, but in receiving Him who is the giver of all blessings, and in living a life of fellowship with Him."

It is this continual fellowship that the Apostle Paul spoke of in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17:

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Prayer should not simply be a component of our lives, but the focus of it. We ought to walk daily in a spirit of prayer, not as men wandering about aimlessly with our heads in the clouds, but as men and women who know that there is a God who is with us. We must break our silence and begin engaging God in prayer, praise and supplication.

Let me be the first to say, that as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, before we exhaust ourselves fighting to put prayer back in school; let us first fight to make it a priority in our own lives and churches.

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