“…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.” (James 5:16, English Standard Version)
Power…it’s always a big concern of ours. We look for power in our new cars. We want more power in our laundry detergent. We choose our computers based on speed and power. Some of us are looking for more powerful painkillers! We believe more power means greater control over our lives. Nothing is more peaceful, more satisfying, more encouraging than when you feel like you have life under control.
You know what? God is interested in putting power in our lives as well. Prayer is essential for putting power in your life. James the Elder assures us that the prayers of a righteous person are powerful. God responds powerfully to our prayers.
When we practice prayer, we discover new power in our own lives. We also discover the power to positively affect the lives of other people. James encourages church leaders to gather for prayer for the sick. He encourages people to ask for healing and forgiveness of their sin. James encourages us to support one another in prayer…all the while looking to the Lord for his certain response.
Do we trust God with our lives?
Do we truly believe that our prayers are powerful and effective?
Do we only give lip service to the importance of prayer, allowing no real time for it because of our busy lives?
Frank Laubauch went with his wife to the Philippine Islands as a missionary. At one point he began working on the island of Mindanao with the Muslim Moros, who regarded Christian Filipinos as their enemies. Laubauch, however, went with a heart filled with the presence of God. He sought only to live among them, not trying to coerce them into Christianity, but living each moment with a sense of God’s presence.
It is estimated through his educational efforts he was responsible for teaching one-half of the 90,000 people in that area to read and write. More than that, he brought thousands of people to a richer experience of God.
Laubauch attributed his tremendous impact, and the meeting of his needs and those of his wife, directly to the practice of prayer. He wrote these words in his diary, published as Letters by a Modern Mystic:
“To be able to look backward and say, ‘This, this has been the finest year of my life’—that is glorious!
But anticipation!
To be able to look ahead and say, ‘The present year can and shall be better!’—that is more glorious!
I have done nothing but open windows—God has done the rest.
My part is to live in this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to his will.”
Do you hear in his reflection that sense that he is experiencing the peace, power and control in his life that only God can give? This is what we gain when prayer is a regular part of our daily lives. Have you taken time to pray today?
