Pray

James 5

Do you remember asking your parents for something that you thought they would never let you do and they said, “yes”?  You are blown away because you never expected they would answer with a yes. Most likely you did not ask something that was going to be bad or hurtful. You knew somewhat how to ask and what to ask for. And, once you get a yes, it sure does make it easier to ask questions to your parents. We read here in James 5 about prayer and not just any prayer but that of faith. What is this prayer of faith?

This prayer of faith is not one saying. “Lord, I pray for a Porsche, I have faith that I am going to get a Porsche” and then I expect one. No, this prayer of faith is being obedient to the Lord and His will in your life. You are praying for God’s will in your life. We read on that James used Elijah as the example. Elijah prayed for it to not rain but not just because he did not want it to rain for no reason. We read in 1 Kings 17 that Elijah was doing what God asked him to do.  James shares that Elijah even though he was a prophet was a man with a nature like ours but he prayed with faith and was obedient to what God wanted him to do. We can be confident that we can approach God, ask him things and that he hears us.

We need to know prayer is a great way to communicate to God with not only our needs and desires but to just know what He wants for us in this life.  We need to remind ourselves that when we pray we should pray not our wills but for God’s will in our life. As we pray we will notice the content of our prayer changes. The way we ask for things change. The selfishness with prayer changes to God being glorified. Yes, the prayer of a righteous person has great power and that is because the righteous person is praying the things God wants them to pray. The Bible tells us to not stop praying (1 Thessalonians 5:17). May we be encouraged to pray but as we pray, we should ask God to give us wisdom on what to pray for and also boldness to ask him of these things.