Prayer is Powerful
James 5:13-20
Prayer is powerful. Prayer’s power resides in its power to change us. Sometimes we imagine that the power of prayer is in its ability to change God, or to get God to change God’s mind. But that’s not it. Prayer’s power resides in its power to change us.
Regardless of the form our prayer takes, it is the communication of each of our hearts to God. Even when we pray in unison or we pray in community, prayer remains a private experience and differs. Each of us looks at the stars of the night or the super moon or the lunar eclipse and offers our own unique “Wow” to God. Each of us faces different struggles, on-going illness or struggles in our families, grief. We all know what it means to cry “Help me” but we each need something different when the words are offered up to God in prayer. And the same is true in our prayers of praise and thanksgiving.
James, as he closes his letter to those churches around the Mediterranean Sea, and that are still awfully relevant to us today, he encourages the people of God to pray. If you are suffering, you should pray. If you are cheerful, you should pray. If you are sick, you should pray. And you should ask others to pray for you too; I think that probably applies to all of these circumstances whether suffering or praise or illness. We should ask others to pray for us and us for them. James says that God will save them and raise them up and anyone that has committed sins will be forgiven. James knows that prayer is powerful and encourages the followers of Jesus to pray in all kinds of circumstances. It is not because of some magical understanding of prayer, or some idea if we do the right things then God will give us what we ask for. No, what James keeps coming back to is a call for us to align ourselves and our actions, our work, with what God is doing in the world and among us. James recognizes that the power of prayer resides in its ability to line us up with what God is doing. Prayers power is in its ability to change us.
Reflection Questions:
How has prayer been important to your faith?
Do you have stories of the tangible impact of prayer in your life?
We know that God’s ways are not our ways. How do we bring that knowledge into our prayer life?
How can these experiences develop wisdom?