Last week in our devotional I asked you if you ask people to pray for you. Our study came from James 5 and we talked about the privilege of praying for one another. It seemed as though last week’s devotional was getting pretty lengthy so I cut it off a little bit early. I want to take a brief look at the last portion of James 5:16 where James writes: “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Another translation says it this way: “When a believing person prays, great things happen.” Still another translations puts it this way: “The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.” There is something significant about righteous people praying. Immediately following in verse 17 James calls our attention to Elijah who prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain for 3-1/2 years. Wow!
Robbi and I just returned from visiting with our kids in Michigan a few hours ago and we were able to meet our new little granddaughter for the first time. Our daughter Ashton who battled Covid-19 for 47 days gave birth to a beautiful and perfectly healthy little girl and for that we are so thankful. We had asked you to pray for her, her husband Steven, and baby Olivia and you did exactly that for us. Thank you! As I mentioned on Sunday, Robbi and I were very concerned about the health of Olivia and how Ashton having the virus for an extended period of time might affect her. The doctors really did not know what to expect either, but you prayed for them.
Monday night as we were all sitting there visiting, I was prompted to think about something. There was a slight incident with Olivia’s umbilical cord that prompted a few questions. Robbi suggested that they give our daughter Kirsten a call who is an RN in the baby ward of the hospital where Ashton delivered and ask her the questions at hand. Robbi and Lauren have already been through this before with their own children, but it was decided to give the sister who has not had a baby a call to ask her what she thought. Why her? Why Kirsten? She is younger, she does not have any kids of her own, so why call her. Because she is a professional in that area of expertise. She knows what to do. She knows what to expect. All of that amazes me because as far as I am concerned she is still my little girl, the second to the youngest, but she KNOWS! Why NOT go to her?
I could not help but think about that in light of James 5:16. When you find yourself in trouble or with a question, you want to talk to someone who can help, who knows the answers, or who knows where to go to get the answers. Kirsten knew the answers. Her sisters knew that if she did not have the answers, she would know where to get them. When you are in need or find yourself in an impossible situation, what do you do? When you feel outnumbered and ready to quit, where do you go? The Bible tells us that the prayer of a righteous man or woman is powerful and effective. Is prayer the first thing that you do when you are overwhelmed? You do realize and remember that when you pray you are actually talking to God? God already knows what your need is before you even tell Him. He desires to hear the groaning of your heart. He wants you to run to Him and tell Him all that hurts, discourages, and makes you want to quit. If you are a child of God, a Christian, you have been declared righteous through the work and blood of Jesus. You are now a righteous man or a righteous woman. Your prayers matter to God. He will listen to you. Talk to Him! Cry to Him! Ask other people who are Christians, righteous people, to pray for you because their prayers matter too. Why would you not go to the One who has all of the answers? Why would you not go to other people who have been made righteous and ask them to pray for you? They may have the answers for you like Kirsten did for Ashton, or they may not. They might be able to help you immediately; they might have the answer, but if not, they know where to go to get it.
The real question is, do you really believe that prayer works? If you do, then pray. Ask others to pray too. If you don’t think that prayer works, then your God is too small. I can assure you of this; the God of the Bible is not too small. Run to Him first and pray! Then run to His children and ask them to pray too. Why? Because you want answers, you need help, and because the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. If someone asks you to to pray for them, please understand the awesome responsibility and privilege that has been asked of you and then do it!
Robbi and I continue to pray for each of you. Pick up the church directory and look at the names of the people that you may or may not know. As you thumb through it, please pray for each other too. Have a great week!
Jerry & Robbi