Verse of the Day 2/22

 

Verse of the Day 2/22

James 5:17-18    Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.  English Standard Version (ESV)

For today's verses we'll return to James chapter 5 where we considered yesterday how prayer was to be the natural response to virtually any situation in our lives from joy to pain, sickness or sorrow.  As I was sending off the note a song came to mind – "What a Friend We Have in Jesus " where we find the line "Take it to the  Lord in Prayer".  That should be our nature our  way.

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged—

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful,

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Today's verse references one of the great prophets of the Old Testament known for the power of his prayer.  Prayed  for it  not  to rain and  it didn't rain for 3 years.  He prayed for rain from heaven and it poured.  He called down fire from heaven to display God's power against the false god Baal.  Notice what it says here, he was a man "with a nature like ours".  Other translations say he was a man just like us.  Think about that.  The same power that was available to him, to Moses, to David and others through history is  available to us.  If we think otherwise Francis Chan reminds us "they don't have anything on you". Our  challenge is  to make it our first response our "second nature" to have that kind of communication and relationship to the  God  of  the universe.

The other thing that I'd like to point  out is that he prayed fervently.  It is a word not  often  used today but has a picture  of being  agitated or stirred like water that is at the boiling  point, something has to happen.  The power is pent up  waiting to be  released.  I had posted the following note in my Bible from another passage but it fits here as well.

"Jesus was in agony the night before his crucifixion. He prayed fervently, dreading the cross but submitting himself to his heavenly Father's higher purpose.  .....You will face deep anguish in your life—everyone does. When that happens, you can do what Jesus did: pray. Pray hard, pray deep, pray honestly, pray out all your feelings. Pray until you sweat and cry and fall down in exhaustion. Pray with others. Pray alone. Pray as long as it takes—and then pray longer. Pray because nothing else works, and keep praying when it doesn't seem to work. Pray because Jesus prayed, pray because you want to pray, pray because you don't want to pray. Pray out loud, pray quietly. Pray whenever you think about it, pray instead of just thinking about it. Pray when you walk and when you drive and when you wake up and when you go to sleep. Pray before you forget. Pray right now." Taken from NIV The NIV Journey Bible

Pray at all times, pray before you forget… pray right now.

Blessings,

Mike

James 5:17-18The Message (MSG)

16-18 Make 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.

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