Jump Start # 1068

James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

  Billy is a dear friend of mine. We have a great bond and I love him dearly. Billy has cancer. He then got another form of cancer. The church family has prayed and prayed for Billy. Everyone loves Billy. He has that kind spirit that just lifts all of us up. We found out this week that Billy’s cancer is now in remission. His reports are great. Everyone is ecstatic. We love good news. We especially love good news about our Billy.

Our verse today reminds us that prayer works. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. The accomplishment came by God. But it came about because a righteous man effectively prayed for it.

The context has a spiritual flavor to it. The verse begins with the confessing of sin to one another. It continues with praying for one another so that you will be healed. Healing is not always health issues. Here, it is spiritual issues. The confessing of sins and the praying and the healing are all tied together. One Christian friend is helping another. The problem is faith and sin. The faith is thin and the sin is great. Their love, relationship and bond in Christ, leads one to confess his sins. He admits. He fesses up. He drops the excuses, the cover-ups, and the shallow reasons to justify wrong. He admits. He admits to his friend, which leads him to admit to God. If we confess our sins, John reminds us, he is faithful to forgive. The confessing is not a power thing or one having control over another. The confessing isn’t what our Catholic friends do with their priest. This is two Christians who care about each other. God forgives. But forgiveness follows admitting our sins. One confesses. The other prays for him. He prays for his forgiveness. He prays for his honesty. He prays for strength for future battles. The prays help. The prayers build and encourage. Healing takes place. Healing from the pain that sin has caused. Healing of forgiveness from God. Healing from wrong choices.

James tags a spiritual principle to this situation. Effective prayer of a righteous man works. Effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much. Biblical history shows that. The prayers of Moses. The prayers of Elijah. The prayers of David. God hears. God is moved by His people seeking Him.

There are all kinds of prayers. There are big prayers and little prayers. There are prayers in church and prayers at home in the closet. There are prayers for self and there are prayers for others. There are prayers about physical things and there are prayers about spiritual things. So many prayers. So many needs calling for prayer.

I have found that there are two things that need to follow prayer. Saying a prayer to God is not the end. Something follows. Sometimes we forget these things.

  First, after the amen comes our action. For instance, we pray to God for the church to grow. Great idea. After the amen, it’s time to go share the word. God gives the increase, but we must sow the seed. We pray for the sick. After the amen, we need to go visit them and encourage them. We pray for the elders. After the amen, we need to encourage them face to face. Our part doesn’t end with the amen. After the amen, we need to act like we prayed. We need to do our part. We need to get busy. God doesn’t magically do things for us while we stay at home watching TV. He’ll work with us and through us, but without us, how serious is our prayer? Our actions following the amen show how serious we are.

Second, after the amen comes a prayer of thankfulness. God answers prayers. God heals. That’s what our verse says. We rejoice. We have a party. Good things have happened. We need to thank God. Without God, those things would never have been Without God, what a mess we would be in. It easy to think to pray when things are not right. But when they become right, we sometimes forget to thank God. Remember the ten lepers that Jesus healed? Only one, a Samaritan at that, returned to thank Jesus. The Lord asked, ‘where are the nine?” They got the mercy they wanted. They failed to thank. Don’t do the same. After the amen comes a prayer of thankfulness.

Prayer is a powerful and important aspect of our faith. Become a person of prayer. Pray often. Then remember what follows your prayers!

Roger