A couple of things have been on my mind for a few days and this verse is one of them. Another was the quote from Augustine "God's glory is man fully alive". Then this morning I read something about George Muller in David Platt's book "Radical" that brought the two together.
Platt points out that George Muller's chief purpose in life was not caring for orphans, but it was an outcropping of that. Muller was quoted in his biography "if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained without asking any individual, the means for establishing and carrying on an Orphan-House, there would be something which, with the Lord's blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, besides being a testimony to the consciences of the unconverted, of the reality of God This, then, was the primary reason for establishing the Orphan House… The first and primary object of the work was (and still is) that God might be magnified by the fact, that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need, only by prayer and faith without anyone being asked by me or my fellow laborers whereby it may be seen,, that God is faithful still, and hears still."
Platt concludes, that Muller lived his life in such a way, that it would be evident to all, Christian and non Christian alike that God is faithful to provide for his people. "He risked his life trusting in the greatness of God, and in the end his life made much of the glory of God."
Think of some of the great Bible characters, David, Paul, Elijah and any number of others. When were they fully alive? It was when they were most dependent on God. Spend a few minutes thinking of others.
The prayers of "righteous" people, those in right standing with God, through the ages, have accomplished much. May our prayers be ones to be reckoned with as stated in "The Message" below.
"God is faithful and hears prayers still."
Mike
Follow the verse of the day at www.mikesvotd.blogspot.com
James 5:13-19 The Message (MSG)
Prayer to Be Reckoned With
13-15Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven—healed inside and out.16-18Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.
19-20My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.
No comments:
Post a Comment