Today’s video is 9:35 minutes. It is also the last day of this reading plan. Not to worry though. I’ve started another. It is the The Bible – Chronology. I will most likely start another reading plan as well. I’m looking at Prayer Boot Camp http://bible.com/r/6TP
To end James’ message to the believers, he exhorts them in all circumstances to pray. Do you believe you have the faith of Elijah? Moses? Abraham? You do! They were men made by God. So are you. You are as precious to God as any great person of faith you can point to, because you can have a relationship with God as well! How awesome is our God that we serve! Have a blessed day.
If prayer is, essentially, talking with God, then there must be many ways to do it. Certainly we want to speak respectfully to the Creator of the universe, but that didn’t stop Abraham, Moses, David, Jeremiah, or other biblical heroes from speaking their minds. It’s a conversation with a great God who loves us. With that in mind, choose whatever posture or format makes sense.
Scripture indicates great value in both personal prayer and group prayer, and both appear here in verses 13–14. If you’re in trouble, pray. Call out to God privately when you need His help. But there is also healing power as the community of faith gathers, with its appropriate leadership, to call upon the Lord.
The connection between sin and sickness is not an easy one to figure out. Do James’s words mean that a sick person must have sinned in some way, to bring on the sickness? No! Sometimes that could be the case, but not always.
Earlier, James challenged his readers to humble themselves before the Lord. In this last part of his letter, he shows what that looks like. The church community is praying together, confessing their sins to one another. They accept the fact that they’re “only human,” but they still expect great things from God when they pray. And when someone strays from the faith, they don’t alienate that person with harsh words of judgment. They pray. They forgive. They restore.
The Christian faith is not about setting up some ideal of perfect behavior, but of connecting with God humbly, listening to Him, letting Him reorder our priorities, and living out His passion for the needy. Our faith in Christ changes us. A true faith—a living faith—has the natural outworking of good works. And good works—no matter how good—can’t produce authentic faith. Faith is always a gift and never earned.
So as you face trials, as you experience temptation, as you minister to the needy, as you suffer, have faith in God. Trust Him for wisdom. Trust Him for compassion. Trust Him for patience. Trust Him for endurance. Trust Him for healing. Trust Him for the faith that produces a harvest of righteousness.
If you don’t already, connect with other believers for group prayer. Talk with a few friends about getting together on a regular basis to pray for the needs of your church and community.
Congratulations, you completed the reading plan! Click here https://www.rightnowmedia.org/promo/colossians to access the Book of Colossians study with Louie Giglio, another video Bible study from RightNow Media.
Jms 5:13. Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14. Is any sick among you? 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: 15. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 19. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20. Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
James 5:13-20 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jas.5.13-20.KJV
