Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:13-16)
Today's Morsel: The other day, I began to think about my prayer life. I began to ask myself if my prayers were repetitious. You know, saying the same old thing over and over. And I had to be honest with myself and realize that they were becoming that way because of so much sickness, and saints who are struggling with sickness, that I found myself calling their names out before the Lord all throughout the day. In a sense my prayers were becoming repetitious. The Greek word for "Effectual fervent" is, energeō; en-erg-eh'-o, which is to be active, operative, powerful, efficient. If we repeat the same thing over and over, pretty soon, they will lose power and effectiveness. Don't get me wrong, I believe that we need to pray for the saints and for one another, but at what point do we trust God that He heard us the first time that we prayed and move on so that our prayers for others and other things are effectual and doesn't lose their effectiveness. It's almost like singing some songs, you know the ones that we call seven-eleven; seven words sung eleven times! After about the fifth time through, your voice isn't as loud as it was when you began and your mind can begin to wander. You begin to lose your effectiveness and power. Hezekiah's prayer is an example of an effective, fervent prayer. "Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down" (Isaiah 38:2-8). If we walk in truth and with a perfect heart, God will hear us and answer expediently.
Sing: Faith can move mountains, mountains of fear and of doubt; Faith can move mountains, so why don't you try your faith out.
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