The Prayer Life That Accomplishes
Notes
Transcript
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Ways to Irritate People
1. Specify that your drive-through order is “to go.”
2. Speak only in a “robot” voice.
3. Start each meal by conspicuously licking all your food, and announce that this is so no one will “swipe your grub.”
4. Name your dog “Dog.”
5. Forget the punchline to a long joke, but assure the listener it was a “real hoot.”
6. Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with Lysol.
7. Practice making fax and modem noises.
8. Finish all your sentences with the words, “In accordance with the prophesy.”
1 Faults will Come
1 Faults will Come
Sins Will hinder what God wants to Do in the Church. Well The problem is that we all have a sin Nature, and if we do not surrender our lives to Jesus, we are powerless to face that nature.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
In our text we find that there is a need to be healed. That from time to time you and I are going to get offended by someone, or maybe we offend someone. Physical sickness even could hinder us.
Affliction, Sickness, spiritual assaults, will come at one point or another. We all at some point need to be healed. Spiritually , Mentally, Physically, we all need healing.
2 All together now
2 All together now
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Our text reveals some profound truth on life. We all are in this together.
Confess your Trespasses one to another is not, Airing out dirty laundry so everyone can see. It is not denying you ever do anything wrong.
The word for trespass there means to fall or literally when you fall on another, or for you football fans out there you drop the ball on them. Have you dropped the ball on your fellow Christian?
If we have Sinned we Confess Sin to Jesus.
Praying for one another is not just one Direction. Only ever praying for one person in the church. OR one person always praying for everyone else.
Pretend Praying
Pretend Praying
The new army recruit was given guard duty at 2 a.m. He did his best for a while, but at about 4 a.m. he went to sleep. He awakened to find the officer of the day standing before him. Remembering the heavy penalty for being asleep on guard duty, this smart young man kept his head bowed for another moment then looked upward and said, “A-a-a-men!”
Praying for THis is not just a couple of nice religious words outloud.
IT is not a faithless prayer.
IT is not holding bitterness and unforgiveness in our heart and uttering prayer with our lips, because our hearts are far from our prayers.
I wonder how Many people would be healed physically, mentally, spiritually if the Church would get this right.
What does this look like according to our scripture?
23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Here Jesus is giving the Heart of the Law. It is To care about others, because God cares about you.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus asks us in this Connection, Do we Love God with all heart Soul and Mind? and Do we love our neighbor as ourselves?
If we do then we will confess our faults one to another and pray for one another.
God can heal us and wants to heal us
12 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.
God heals us by Praying for each other. His healing and restoration is all about the corporate body of believers, not just one. Yes he will leave the 99 and save the One, but His sheep hear His voice, he has a whole fold. In our text, interestingly, God is revealing that his blessing is all tied all together for his people. THe church, the bride of christ.
Our Healing will hinge on our prayer life, and how we as a body all together confess and pray for one another. This is speaking of a confidence in a brother or sister. Do not go around confessing to some stranger on fourth street in Reno thinking that will help you.
1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
OUr heart should be for one another, in love.
"Do you know that incident in connection with the little Scottish girl? She was trudging along, carrying as best she could a little boy, but it seemed almost as big as she herself, when one remarked to her how heavy he must be for her to carry, when instantly came the reply: He’ Not Heavy , He’s my brother!
OOOHH if a Christian could just say that about one another, What a wonderful family of God. Parkers Not Heavy He’s My brother!
3 How to Be Effective
3 How to Be Effective
James 5:16 (NKJV)
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
THe hard working prayer of a righteous man. The Key to the Scripture, is the Righteous man or woman of GOd. WHich mankind proved time and time again was unattainable on our own.
We have no Capacity for Righteousness, We are bankrupt in this regard. And any other righteousness apart from christ is a sheer insult to God and what Real righteousness is.
6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
ANd in great contrast the righteousness of Christ is the brightest light against the pitch black.
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
SO how are we to be a righteous man or Woman?
IT is from God by Faith. Faith is an action word. Righteousness by Faith is not a couple of empty religious sayings that have no substance, but its the kind of faith that is lived out.
Real Righteousness is to Be IN CHRIST.
What does it mean to be IN CHRIST?
It is to Be Born Again, Born From Above where you are led By the Spirit, Washed
IT is to Have the same mind, the same spirit, The same Love.
And we are all on different levels of Growth but Every Child of God can only be made a child of God by being Born Again.
OK Pastor, I am Born again, but how do i attain the effectual fervent PRayer Part?
Im Glad you asked.....
When you are faithful to church, when you are faithful in prayer, when you are faithfull in reading Gods word and Hearing From HIM. When you are a doer of Gods word not just a hearer.
Or to amplify it further, how close are you following Christ? How are your connections to him when we say to Be IN CHRIST? For it is Christ who heals us is it not? and if Christ heals us then we must decrease and He must increase.
I wonder how many are suffering today, because we do not Confess and Pray as a righteous man or Woman of God?
WHat would Change if all the Church would do what our text is revealing to us?
HOw many relationships would heal?
Families?
RIvalries,
1 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
WHat mind? Being Like minded to Christ, being of one accord and in ONE MIND. and in this we are effectual in our prayer.
LEts bring it closer to Home.
Could I Grow in Faith in Christ?
WHat would Change in my life?
How would I influence my family?
Friends?
Coworkers?
Perhaps our own Healing is Hindered because we did not KNow that we can Have this Faith to Be healed.
That we harbor unforgiveness in our hearts, and with the same body ask to be healed of the same thing we are harboring.
Friend it is not that God cannot HEal, HE wants us to See the Pattern. To see the Truth.
IT is Confessing and making right with People and God, PRaying for one another and being Faithful to Following Jesus.
THe disciples of Jesus did not change the world by remaining fishermen and mundane.
They were able to Change the World because they found out that Faithfulness to Following Jesus, PRoduces Miracles, Feeding 5,000, the Dead being Raised, Hearts of Stone being turned to Hearts of Flesh. And that only happens when we are faithful to him, not Perfect, just getting it right and abiding in him everyday.
People are Hurting every day, looking to be free from these things. Tormented in their minds.
He wants us to Become Effective in PRayer as a righteous Man or Woman of God.
THere has been none more effective in prayer than JESUS.