Prayer

Communing with God in Everything

Often times in life, we try and substitute relationships with people instead of a close walk with God. What happens when we do this? In the end people let us down or don’t live up to their end of the bargin. Why? Because we are all sinners! We will sin against each other. Hang around me long enough and I will let you down. Just over the past couple days people close to me have made comments that hurt me some felt like out right rejection and I really struggled with that. As I laid in bed last night, I didn’t even know if I would be able to get up here and preach this morning. As I laid there last night I began to pray, and I was asking God why I was struggling so bad. I asked myself why was I feeling this way, I realized that I was getting my value from my realtionships with others and not from my relationship with God. This is very easy to do isn’t it? Have you ever done this? Or am I just preaching to myself this morning? Well turn with me to our text this morning. James chapter 5

James 5:13–18 (ESV)

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Is anyone among you sick? 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 will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.

Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

What does our text teach us about God?

He wants to be in communion with Him. He wants us to pray, doesn’t He?

Look at verse 13, He wants us to pray when we what? Suffering!

Oxford English Dictionary defines

Suffering

the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship.

Has anyone here ever undergone pain, distress, or hardship? We all have of coures, do you pray when you do? I shared my expierence from just yesterday of how slow I was to turn to The Lord.

Next, God wants us to come when we are cheerful. He calls us to praise Him! This can be more difficult can’t it? Human nature defaults to being ungrateful. Remember what God told Israel when they entered the promise land? He told them that when they entered the promise land they would forget Him and turn to other gods. See praiseing The Lord in the good times helps us not forget Him and to worship Him and not just turn to Him in the hard times.

Look at verse 14, He calls us to pray when we are sick. Do you see that The Lord really wants us to commune with God in all things. Do you see that from our text? If you are suffering this morning then pray! If you are cheerful then pray! If you are sick then pray! God wants to commune with you this morning. How awesome is that?

What does our text say about us?

FIrst we need urged to pray especially in ALL situations. We by default turn to earthly relationships to fill the broken relationship with God we suffered through sin. We need reminded and urged by James to pray in all situations.

The second truth about us is our faith or lack of faith effects our prayers. Look at verse 15

James 5:15 ESV

And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

What is the enemy of our faith? Sin!

David says in Psalm 66

If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! Psalm 66:18-20

So sin can cause our sickness but our sickness isn’t always caused by sin.

If we have trouble praying, we should ask ourselves if the problem is known sin in our life. When we willingly and repeatedly sin, we hand over to Satan a poisonous weapon that he will eagerly use against us. Faith is undermined by sin. A clouded conscience can’t pray rightly. The irony is that prayer will either keep us from sinning, or sinning will keep us from prayer. But praise be to God, He will not reject our prayer or withhold His love. As we depart from sin, we remove Satan’s weapon and our faith is strengthened. Search yourself today and be done with any known sin. from Magnificent Prayer

“Prayer will make a Christian cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.” John Bunyan