James 5:16
Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].
Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].
We have a power that is "dynamic in its working". This power is none other than the power of the Holy Spirit! As dynamic as this power may be, if not exercised, it benefits us very little in our day to day living. That's why the word "earnest" in our scripture today just seems to jump off the page at me. In this Amplified version of this passage, the word "earnest" is followed by "heartfelt" and "continued". This passage calls to the surface the sincerity of my prayers. Are my prayers "heartfelt"? Are they "earnest"? If so, they will definitely be "continued"! Whether it's like Isaac praying for the barren womb of Rebecca, or like Hannah praying for a son, a prayer from the heart doesn't give up until the answer comes! The most difficult word in the verse for me in the past has not been the word "earnest", but the word "righteous". We have all prayed earnestly before only to let that voice in our head use the "righteous" qualification to cancel out our desire to keep praying. Does the Bible have an answer to this dilemma? Of course, and it's found in this very scripture! We need to confess our faults and pray for one another so that we can be healed and restored, and in doing so we will again open our spiritual eyes to see that our righteousness has been given to us freely by God through Jesus Christ! I challenge you to open up to someone today about your personal challenges, and then pray together for healing and restoration.......then get right back to your heartfelt and continued prayer to God because tremendous power is about to be opened up into your life righteous child of God!
I find that the power of the Holy Spirit comes when the will of God is being produced. No matter how hard I try to pray for healing, God may not heal that person at that time. I have prayed for restoration in marriage and I have still not seen it take place. But, I have prayed for both and the power of the Holy Spirit came over them and produced the will of God. I beleive that ultimately God's will is to be heal everybody who belongs to Him either in the life or the next. He bore stripes on His body for our healing. Pray for healing in every case but leave the consequences to God. God will speak to us and not leave us ignorant or broken hearted!
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