What Happens When We Pray?

READ: Esther 4:15-17

Is divine petition through prayer and fasting powerful enough to change the course of human events or does God merely use these things to align our hearts with His unalterable will?

Consider the Parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8). The unjust judge does not grant her request on her first petition, but after many appeals he gives her what she asks. How much more so our Father in Heaven!

Consider also what God says to Jeremiah:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. (Jeremiah 18:7-8)

And what Jesus says in Matthew:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

"Why don't I get what I pray for?"

Is scripture then suggesting that God is like a magic genie, eager to grant our every wish if we will just humble ourselves in divine petition? Not exactly …

You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2b-3)

The God who requires our obedience and wills our sanctification will not be granting our sinful desires or prematurely ending the trials that strengthen our faith, but He will grant us the desires of our heart that rest within His permissive will -- if we ask.

Consider it PURE JOY

Have you had to preserver under trial?  Has life changed course or gone a way you hadn’t planned? Have you had to bury a parent or child long before expected?  Maybe you lost a job or moved away from loved ones. Perhaps tragic illness has struck your home, and you are now navigating life as a caregiver.

In my younger years, I thought life would get easier with age.  I figured that with age came wisdom, and wisdom meant life would move more smoothly. The older I get though, I see I may be wiser but life is definitely not easier.

The past four years have probably been the roughest I have experienced.  The word, persevere, aptly describes what I have done.  James chapter 1:12 says,“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”  

I have refused to give up.  I even had a scripture verse tattooed to my foot, reminding me that God’s word will guide me. In my time of trial and perseverance, I have found a sweetness in surrendering to God’s will and his plan.  It may not have been my plan.  My life right now looks totally different than what I envisioned as a child, but there is JOY.

I am learning to trust God with my future.  It is in that place of trust where the first words in James 1 have finally become clear. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Whether the trial is God ordained or God allowed, we are to trust him.  When we trust him with the trial, he will work in us; refining us as he gets us to the other side of it.  And it is in that sweet release of trust that we find joy in the trial, because if God is for us, who can be against us? 

I would encourage you to read today's passage.  Read it a couple times if you can and ask God to show you how to see the joy in the trial when we finally trust him.  James 1:2-15

Trials and Temptations/Ask for Wisdom Without Doubt

James 1: 2-8

How often God removes our shackles in the furnace of affliction.  (Streams in the Desert-April 2)

A few days ago, Judy sited this line from a daily devotional. As we travel through this week’s reading on doubt and trials I believe it’s worth repeating and internalizing.

James, the brother of Jesus began the book of James by asking us to consider it pure joy to face trials and that the testing of our faith develops perseverance.

James wasn’t suggesting we should be glad we are in pain, but because of the benefit coming our way as a result of the pain.

I know a couple that suffered a tremendous loss when their teenage daughter took her own life about seven years ago. Before this event, the entire family was connected and involved in their church. After all the formalities were taken care of and the funeral was behind them, the mother of the teen developed intense bitterness and refused to attend church. She was angry with God for taking her child and to this day she bears the burden only the Lord can remove. Her husband, on the other hand chose to use the pain to persevere and become mature and complete in the Lord. I see him regularly worshiping, maturing, sharing, and glorifying God with no doubt what so ever. He is a true man of God despite his experience in the furnace of affliction. He has allowed God to remove his shackles.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." James 1:5-6

God offers to turn the pain we experience into something positive, but without Him the Bible offers no assurance that our pain will serve any good purpose. 

In the hands of our redeemer, Nothing is Wasted; by Jason Gray (listen) 

Read/Listen to James 1:2-8

Prayers of Faith

James 5:13-16

I heard the term “Healing Ministry” and became rather nervous. How could I be part of a healing ministry? Only God heals. Jesus healed the sick when he walked the earth, but I surely cannot do that.

As I left my comfort zone with much doubt, I agreed to join the six week “Healing Ministry of Jesus Study Project.” With clammy palms and tightness in my shoulders I slowly entered the group room. There were some familiar faces, but I chose to sit alone and immerse myself in my discomfort.

Prior to this study project I thought I was praying faithfully, and when I told others I would pray for them, I did, but not in this way. As time went on, it began to make sense. We first studied each of the 26 healings Jesus performed in the Gospels. We analyzed specifically what the bible says without interpretation or personal opinion. Then we dug deeper into each encounter discovering their unique meaning.

In each instance of Jesus making people well Genuine Faith is what allowed the healing, and though physical healing often occurred, it was the spiritual wellness that made their lives different for eternity. Often that Faith came through someone other than the one with the ailment, perhaps a parent or friend.

It seems to me, no matter what we are praying for, it is a form of healing; physical, emotional, relational or spiritual. We may not always know what words to pray, but our God understands what is in our hearts. When we pray let us remember;

God the Father, The Son, and Holy Spirit are One

Focus on God first

Faith and power heal (God’s power not ours)

Relationship with God is key to healing

We can pray by faith on behalf of others

Pray without doubt

Pray for God’s love and peace to be clearly felt

Pray for the awareness of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit

God meets us in the pain; we need not run from it

Go to the foot of the cross

Father, we praise you and worship all that you are. Your love and mercy wrap around us like a blanket of protection. You are always here for us. Please Lord, help us to feel the gentle presence and security of your spirit, and heal our hearts from the pain with your great power. We kneel before the cross as children in waiting for our blessing of peace to touch our hearts and remain with us always. Amen 

James 5:13-16 

Swallowed up by life

“It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.” Acts 12:1-2

(To see today’s text, Acts 12:1-5, click here.)

It hurts to lose the people we love. Those with whom we’ve laughed and smiled, struggled and ached, celebrated and shared, mourned and wept, lived and grown. We’ve walked life’s paths together, and now ... and now.

Imagine the friendship among James, his brother, John, and Peter. Of the twelve disciples, these were the three who Jesus pulled aside to develop into the “pillars of the church (Galatians 2:9).” All of them fishermen, they’d dropped their nets immediately at the sound of his voice, “Follow me!” Left it all behind; no questions asked. And, together, these three went on to share exclusive front-row seats to some of the most awesome and compelling events in human history: the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the transfiguration of the Christ, Jesus’ explanation of the end times, and the agony of Gethsemane.

And certainly there were the “human” moments, the kind they would undoubtedly laugh about later. Like the time they were all standing there with Jesus, Moses and Elijah ... and Peter blurted out something about pitching three tents! (“Oh no, you didn't!”) Or what about the time James’ and John’s “helicopter mom” asked the Messiah if her grown boys could sit on either side of him in his kingdom? (“D’oh!”)

But now ... Now James lived among them no more. His friends and family would fondly remember old times, but they could share them with James no longer. And the love in which they cherished him was yet a weight borne by their hearts, for he was not there to receive it from them. Like Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus, surely they wept. For James was gone ...

... from them.

But, oh, what awaited James on the other side of eternity! Like the repentant thief who suffered alongside the Christ, surely James was with him that day in Paradise. And as God proclaimed himself still to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob long after they closed their eyes in final rest, James awoke to join them in the land of the living.

For what we mourn at the last exhale of those we love is celebrated in heaven as a first gasp of newborn life. And as we watch them fade away ever smaller into the mist, the hosts of heaven behold them emerge as from a cloud, illumined in unknowable brilliance of light. No wonder the psalmist marveled, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. (Psalm 116:15)”

Death seems to us an inescapable force that engulfs and smothers with finality all we hold dear. But our God who holds authority over all things proclaims quite the opposite! For like so many before us, we will leave behind these temporary shells to which we have clung so tightly and, on that day, step into our heavenly dwelling. And there we will experience in ourselves the glorious, eternal truth of the matter: What is mortal is swallowed up by life!
(2 Corinthians 5:4)

What is mortal is swallowed up by life ... It is not death that claims us, rather it is life that consumes mortality, and it is unto life that we leave mortality behind. And though the fulfillment of this promise waits for us, we can rest in its certainty now and freely proclaim it through an eternity of todays.

And when my task on earth is done,
When by thy grace the victory's won,
E'en death's cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

From “He leadeth me” Joseph Henry Gilmore

James 1: 17-21

Living as Firstfruits

James, brother of Jesus, authored this book to a general audience: to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations”-a figurative reference to believers worldwide. That general address includes Christians of all times and places.

 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created."

The first fruits of any crop are the favorites; the sweetest and most desired of the total harvest. It’s kind of an uplifting feeling to be the favored, yet with that comes responsibility.

I remember feeling very inferior as a child within my classroom. I was close to the bottom of the social hierarchy, and my clothes were an obvious illustration of that. The feelings of being less than many of the other “cool” kids was burdensome, but I do recall being able to go basically unnoticed, while the popular and over-achieving students had a burden of their own. They were always in the spotlight, so had to be at the top of their game in order to hold up to their reputation. I’m not sure which of us carried a heavier load, but I do know that I learned a great deal about how not to treat others, and often thought about how I would handle things if I were one of the favorites. Little did I know back then, that I was a firstfruit in the eyes of the Lord and that was all that mattered.

Realizing we are firstfruits of the Lord, brings us to an obligation to do as our God commands; to Love God, love others, and reach out to others in His name. Understanding our role in this world as modern day disciples of Jesus helps us find our way through the maze of humanness, and guides to the life that was intended for us. 

James goes on to say “My dear brothers, take note of this; Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”  

Amen. 

Read/Listen to James 1: 17-21