Skip to main content

God seeks to be involved





James 5:13-16 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 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. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

As James concludes, he shares several essentials that he wants followers of Christ to remember as they live in community together. First of all, if you are in trouble, pray! Most of us don't have a problem with this one. Even atheists pray when in trouble. In fact, many of us will even exclude God from most of our daily living but seek Him out in an urgent sort of way if a problem occurs. It is almost as if we are saying: "God, I don't really need You unless I get into a bind. Then....I'll come looking for You!"

Okay....so at least we get this one at first glance. Maybe the one thing we take away from this one is that when we are in trouble, we oftentimes try to fix everything ourselves or we automatically look to someone else to bail us out. Maybe James is reminding us to take our troubles first and foremost to God. God seeks to be involved in every area of our lives, and He will not turn away from us when times get tough. Then James points out that if you are happy....sing songs of praise. At first glance, this doesn't seem too difficult. Yet sometimes.....when things are going well....we tend to pat ourselves on the back or simply take for granted that the good times are our entitlement. We sometimes fail to give credit where credit is due.

God is behind every blessing. Remembering this one cultivates a heart of gratitude and humility. Is someone sick? Call upon the elders to pray over them and anoint them with oil. Now in our day, the oil thing seems a little weird but in biblical times, oil was a very important commodity. It was used to light lamps, anoint kings, prepare the dead for burial, and as a healing agent. James suggests the use of this healing agent and prayer for the sick. Once again, this is no shocker. We might not pray for anything else but we will pray for loved ones who are sick. Maybe James is reminding us to care enough for one another to pray; not some half-hearted "I'll pray for you" and then you never do....... but an all out ministry of the community of faith....important enough to have the leaders gather for the sake of the sick person.

Also, maybe James is advocating for the use of medicine and prayer....both vital for the sake of healing! In fact, healing involves medical treatment, compassion, and prayer! Do you have a trouble in your life right now?

Are you trying to fix it on your own or have you brought it before the Lord? He cares about every area of your life! Have you stopped long enough today to praise God for the infinite number of ways He has blessed your life? God develops a heart of humility and gratitude in You when you praise Him! Do you pray for those who are sick? When we pray, we allow God to stretch our hearts with His compassion and we become partners with God to be agents of healing and wholeness.

Heavenly Father, give me a heart that is fully dependent on you....one that is filled with gratitude.....one that is always moved with compassion for those in need. Amen.

Jerry Sweat

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Building Trust When Faith Wavers

  Mark 9:21-24 21 And He asked his father, How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" 23 And Jesus said to him, `If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes." 24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, I do believe; help my unbelief." Since faith is the core of our Christian experience, the consequences of wavering faith are far-reaching. Vacillating trust can lead us to make wrong decisions. Sometimes, after praying for direction, we might receive an answer that leads us to think, I can’t do that. So, instead of asking God to strengthen our faith, we make excuses. We may choose to postpone our obedience—even indefinitely—in order...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Now Believe God Loves Me

 1 JOHN 4:16  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  Although I have endeavored to walk with the Lord for awhile, only in recent times have I started to really believe God loves me. My problem was that I kept focusing on myself, instead of God. I saw myself in my immaturity with all my faults and failures. I was not looking at Jesus the perfect sacrifice, but focused on myself and my shortcomings.  Even though I spread messages on the love of God, I never had confidence that God truly loved me just as I was. Instead I thought more in terms of God tolerating me, but not being too happy with me. I was trying my best to do what I thought God wanted, not really realizing that I could never earn God's love.  Now I am realizing that God's love is not dependent on me, but is entirely dependent on God alone. He does not love me because I am lovable, b...
Post a Comment
Read more

welcome to my blog

Oh the waterfall of cleansing Grace! Welcome to my Grace blog.  I hope to both share and start a dialogue about Jesus Christ and how his life, relationships and teaching have a practical working value in our everyday lives. To go beyond our belief of Jesus... and into our belief in Jesus. I hope we can learn more about how the finished work of Christ on the cross empowers his work in us in our daily lives. I hope we can grow in His Grace and Wisdom! The name came from a Joseph Prince story in his book  "Destined to Reign"...here's the story: Prince tells the story of a young boy who found a rock out in the woods. Though it looked rough at first, he rinsed it in the small waterfall of a nearby stream. Turns out, the rock was marbly, smooth, and full of color. Not wanting to lose the rock, and afraid someone would take it from him if he took it home, he buried it back in the dirt in a tucked away place before he went home for the night. There, he left it. The ne...
5 comments
Read more