James 5:16 - Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
A lot of people like to work out and eat healthy. Not me, but a lot of other people. Some people are into heavy weightlifting too. What's the purpose of weightlifting? Other than to just be really sore several days of the week (gee that sounds like fun...not). It's to make you stronger and more powerful right? Maybe give you a chance against that mugger in the dark alley (maybe I watch too many movies). Most athletes do it. Ever look at a pro football player's arms? They look like some pretty strong and powerful guys. I sure wouldn't want to meet some of them in a dark alley.
Prayer is spiritual weightlifting. In this passage, James tells us that it can produce great power and produce wonderful results. And it won't even make you sweat! Me personally, I like the no sweating idea. But a lot of people don't really pray. Why is that?
I know I used to be terrible about it. I rarely pray out loud, because I hate hearing the sound of my own voice. I'm sure God's okay with that. I can speak internally to Him, and still get my thoughts out to Him. But I used to be bad about praying period, and there were a couple of reasons.
I had trouble believing that I had anything to say that God would actually want to hear. Prayer is communication between our Father in Heaven and us. Just like any relationship, things often go better when there is open, regular, and honest communication between all parties involved. Now God is not capable of lying, but we certainly are. That is kind of the catch in the passage in James here. We have to confess our sins not just to God, but to each other. Being honest with God is what helps make us righteous. That is what gives our prayers great power and wonderful results. Whenever I catch myself thinking that God doesn't want to hear anything I have to say, I remember one of David's Psalms when he said, "Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!" (Psalm 116:2). God DOES want to hear from us. That's why He bends down to listen. He doesn't mind us speaking softly (internally) to Him, because He bends down to be closer to us so that we can whisper to Him.
The other reason I used to struggle with prayer, is that sometimes I get tongue tied, and at a loss for words. For those of you that know me well, it can be hard to imagine that I actually sometimes don't have something to say. But it's still true nonetheless. When it comes to prayer, I still struggle with this sometimes. A good practice I have gotten into recently, is writing my prayer requests down (who I'm praying for, what I'm praying for, etc.). And I try to be very specific. I remember the story of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18-19). Hezekiah had been faithful to God during his reign but he was dealing with some incorrigible enemies. When he received a message from them once, we are told that he took it with him to the temple and laid it out before the Lord as he prayed (2 Kings 19:14-15). I love that. When I struggle with getting the words out, I lift up my written requests to God.
Prayer is our spiritual muscle that we have to work on regularly. It gives us power and produces wonderful results. If you are struggling with what you want to pray about, start with the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Jesus taught us that for a reason, and it's always a great starting point. You'd be surprised at how your prayers can take off after that. I have started praying that before, and the next thing I know I have spent the next 20 minutes (sometimes longer) pouring my heart out to God. Those are some great prayer times, too. It's like the Lord's Prayer was my warm up exercise before I started the heavy lifting (and I still didn't break a sweat!)
Don't be afraid to pray. Paul tells us to never stop praying (1 Thessalonians 5:17). The last thing we should want to hear when we are sharing our struggles with someone is for them to ask us if we are even working out our spiritual muscles. It should always be a given.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to come before You in prayer. Thank You for bending down to listen to our whispers (and sometimes our shouts). Thank You for loving us the way You do, and being interested in what we have to say. I pray for those that have problems coming to You in prayer. Regardless what their reasons are, my prayer is that they will remember how much delight You take in spending quality intimate time with us all. I pray we will take the time to confess our sins to You, and forgive anything we may have against a brother or sister, so that we can talk to You with a clear and open heart. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen!
God Bless!!!
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