Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? 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. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick. and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. JAMES 5:13-16 ... It Pays To Pray. James is the most practical book in the Bible. Its down to earth, right where we live; practical, life application. The scholars and the theologians say there is a discrepancy between the writings of James, and the writings of Paul. They would even go so far to say that James and Paul wrote in contrast. Its true that James does not write anything like Pauls writings. Each writer has his own style. Some would even say theres a contradiction in the Bible between James and Paul. There are no contradictions in the Bible. It all flows together. Paul gives us doctrine in his writings, but James takes it a step farther and gives us doctrine with our duties. James tells us what to believe, but he also tells us how to behave. Paul says we are justified by faith and James would say that were justified by works. James says faith without works is dead. There really is no contradiction. When you study faith and works in the Bible, you cant have one without the other. If you have faith, youre going to have works. And if you have works, you have faith that goes along with it. Works is a byproduct of faith. We dont work to be saved, we work because were saved. So it really flows together. James is the half brother of Jesus. When Jesu was on this earth, James, His younger brother, did not believe in Him. After Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended back into heaven, James got saved. He became a great believer and preacher. They called him James the just. They called James Old Camel Knees. Why? Because he prayed so much on his knees, that he wore callouses on his knees.Wouldnt it be great that we prayed so much that they called us camel knees. Could it be that our knees are smooth at the Baptist church? Elias prayed that it wouldnt rain and it didnt for three years. And he prayed again and heaven gave rain. Wouldnt it be great to pray to shut heaven and open it up again? In all these verses there is a recurring theme, prayer. It pays to pray. By no mean does this imply that when we pray we always get something in return, take advantage of God and get all our wishes. Prayer is not a four leaf clover, a magic genie and God just do what we want Him to do. But it would be to your advantage to pray. It would serve us well to pray. Prayer touches Gods heart and move heaven. Prayer moves the unmoveable and proves the unproveable. And prayer changes things. Prayer doesnt change God, but it changes you and me. Prayer is our arsenal, our secret weapon. In the Old Testament, Daniel was a man of prayer; he prayed morning, noon, and night. In the New Testament, Jesus was a prayer warrior. When we dont pray, we not only weaken ourselves, but we strengthen our enemy. God teaches us to pray. He puts us in situations where prayer is the only way out. He allows us to go through stuff, circumstances, situations where the only thing to do is pray. 1. Pray When You Are Struggling. If any among you afflicted, let him pray. If any merry, let him sing songs. We find two conflicted positions. Up one minute and down another. A man on the mountain, and a man in the valley. A man that is happy, and a man that is unhappy. We love to be on the spiritual mountain. But we just dont stay there. In our spiritual journey we live somewhere between the mountain and the valley. We learn more in the valley than we do on the mountain. God puts us in the valley to teach us pray. 2. Pray When You Are Sick. Is any sick among you? Sometimes we have physical sickness. Sometimes we have emotional sickness, psychological: anxiety, depression, stress, worry, discouragement. And sometimes we have spiritual sickness. Sometime we get sin sick. And if he has committed sins, he shall be forgiven. If any one is sick, let him/her call the elders (spiritual, mature believer) of the church, pray over him/her, anointing with oil in the name of the Lord. Let the one who is sick do the asking. And the prayer of the faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. There may be people here tonight that may not be here if someone had not been praying for them. 3. Pray When You Are Slipping. Confess your faults one to another. You dont have to go tell everything youve done, or everything you do. A man should find another man, a woman finds another woman to be a prayer partner to help with struggles, to be encouraged by one another. Someone you trust to confess your faults, weaknesses. God will make you stronger. The effectual fervent prayer (an energetic) avails much. Wouldnt it be good to pray things into being, and to pray some things away. This has been the Sunday night sermon by Barry Snapp, the peoples pastor! PRAISING GOD!
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:23:37 +0000
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