Prayer is the Answer II
Prayer is the Answer (Part I)
James 5:16-18
A certain church member loved to ask other believers this question: "If you were caught for drunken driving, and the headlines in your local newspaper that Sunday morning said, 'So-and-so Arrested for Drunken Driving,' would you go to church?" When he asked the pastor, the pastor said: "I'm the preacher. I'd have a serious problem if I were caught driving drunk." But he asked, "Would you go to church?" After thinking about it a few seconds, the pastor said, "No. I'd probably stay away for a little while and then try to ease back in after things settled down a bit, if I could." But that doesn’t make any sense does it? Isn’t that sort of like a man who is hit by a car, and he's got blood all over the place, and his bones are broken, and they try to take him to the hospital, and he says: 'Wait. I'm a mess. Let me go home and get cleaned up. Let me get these bones set, let me heal, and then I'll go to the hospital.' Isn’t the church for broken people?
Isn’t it interesting how many people have gotten the wrong idea about the church? Somehow people have the mistaken notion that churchgoers are supposed to have it all together; that we aren’t ever supposed to slip up or make any mistakes. Yes, we are striving to live holy. Yes, we are determined to live godly. Yes, we are crucifying the flesh daily. But truth is we are going to slip up from time to time. We are going to do transgress. We are going to miss the mark. So, what are we to do when it happens? What are we to do when in a moment of weakness sin gets the best of us? How do we to shake off the guilt and embrace anew God’s grace? James exhorts his readers to, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. “
James has already established that prayer is the answer for those experiencing hardship. “Is anyone among you suffering? Let HIM pray.” And prayer is the answer for those experiencing sickness. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let THEM pray over him.” And now James urges confession coupled with prayer for those who are struggling with sin. For those experiencing hardship, praying for oneself is the answer. For those experiencing sickness, having the elders pray for us is the answer. But for those struggling with sin, confessing to and praying for one another is the answer. But you can’t air your dirty laundry to just anybody.
Three church members were on a fishing trip. They weren’t having much success so they began to make small talk to pass the time. One of them said he thought it would be nice if they confessed their biggest sins to each other and then prayed for each other. They all agreed, and the first one said that his biggest sin was that sometimes he liked to sit at the beach and watch pretty women stroll by. The second one confessed that his biggest sin was that sometimes he went to the horse track and placed a small bet on a horse. Turning to the third church member, they asked, "Brother, what is your biggest sin?" With a grin, he said, "My biggest sin is gossiping."
Ask the Lord to place someone in your life that you can confide in. I have been blessed in this area. God has strategically placed some good Christians in my life – starting with my wife. It means a lot to me to have a wife who is also a believer and a prayer partner. It means a lot to not have someone with whom I can share my struggles. In fact let’s start the process right now. Lay your hand on neighbor’s shoulder; look them in the eye and say to them, “It’s gonna be all right!” You pray for me and I’ll pray for you. God knew we were going to struggle. That’s why it is written, “we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak” (Rom 15:1).
James said, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Sometimes there is a connection between sin and sickness. In John 5, upon healing a paralytic man by the pool of Bethesda, Jesus warned the man, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you!” In 1 Corinthians 11:30 the apostle Paul warned the Church at Corinth that the reason many of them were weak and sick, and many had died was because they had abused the Lord’s Supper. In those cases where a person is definitely sinning, we are to confess our sins one to another, and pray for one another that we may be healed.
Prayer is the answer for those experiencing hardship. Prayer is the answer for those experiencing sickness. Prayer is the answer for those struggling with sin. And last but certainly not least, prayer is the answer for those experiencing powerlessness.
James goes on to say that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. In other words, tremendous power is made available through a good man’s earnest prayer. The prayer of the righteous can bring about powerful results.
We have this tendency to mythologize the Word of God. The accounts in this book are neither fairy tale nor fiction. The lives that are chronicled in this book are real lives. The people who are featured in this book are real people. Adam and Eve were real. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were real. Noah was real. Moses was real. Joshua was real. Saul, Samuel, and David were real. The prophets were real. James says Elijah was just as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed my brief stay in Atlanta. Of course, I enjoyed the wedding. Other than the wedding, one of the other highlights for me was sitting outside on the Terrace of The Georgian, our hotel on Peachtree Street. The Georgian is directly across the street from the Fox Theatre. Boost Mobile was sponsoring a rap concert that evening, hosted by Nick Cannon. Eve, Busta Rhymes, Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne, Rich Boy, and Rick Ross were supposed to be there. All sorts of people driving all sorts of cars were cruising Peachtree Street on their way to the Fox Theatre. I saw Corvettes, Bentleys, and Rolls Royce. But the car that really caught my eye was a Bronze 2005 Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster. It has a base sticker price of over $300K and a V-12, 571 horsepower engine. But I as much as I admired the car, even if I could afford one, I don’t think I’d own one. Because I could not own a car with that kind of power, and never tap into it.
So it is with the Church. Why call ourselves Christians and never tap into the power that has been made available to us at Calvary. At Calvary, they crucified our Lord. At Calvary, they hung him high, and stretched him wide. At Calvary, he gave up the ghost and breathed his last. They buried him in a borrowed tomb; rolled a stone in front of the entrance; and congratulated themselves. But early on the third day morning, God raised him up. He told His disciples ALL POWER has been given unto me in heaven and in earth. Jesus said ask in my Name and you shall receive.
If you need more power, why not tell Him what you want? Why not push the prayer pedal to the metal? Prayer is the answer.
If you need power to walk right … Prayer is the answer.
If you need power to talk right … Prayer is the answer.
If you need power to stand up for what’s right … Prayer is the answer.
Apple just announced it’s new Apple iPhone. It is expected to be just as revolutionary in the cell phone industry as the Apple iPod music player has been in the music player industry. In fact, iPods are so popular that iTunes gift cards were one of the most popular gifts over Christmas 2006. So popular, that Apple’s executives underestimated just how in-demand their products would be.
As soon as the wrapping paper was thrown away on Christmas morning, users began connecting to the iTunes store to redeem their cards and download songs. Then internet traffic was so heavy that many users received error messages and were not allowed to log on. Others complained that it took as long as 20 minutes to download a single song.
The experts said, the problem came about because too many people were trying to access the site at the same time. The Apple servers, which have a limited capacity, got overwhelmed. The store was working, the product was available, but there were just too many requests coming in at the same time.
Aren’t you glad that God is never gets “overwhelmed”? Aren’t you glad that heaven’s servers never go down? Aren’t you glad that no matter how many prayers … not matter how many petitions … no matter how many problems … there’s never more than God can handle. He’s able to deal with all of our requests. He’s able to answer all of our prayers.
When I started this message I told of how a certain church member asked other believers: "If you were caught for drunken driving, and the headlines in your local newspaper that Sunday morning said, 'So-and-so Arrested for Drunken Driving,' would you go to church?" I believe the right answer is it depends on whether or not it’s a church that prays for one another rather than preys on one another. Let’s make up our minds to be the kind of church that prays for one another, because prayer is the answer!