The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. James 5.16b
I was reading with my friend Brett earlier this week, and this verse just stuck out to me. I had never really noticed it before. I mean, I have heard it quoted in a multitude of versions, but this week it pierced me as only the Sacred Text can do when we are humbled before it.
Prayer is something powerful to be reckoned with. In the ESV it says that "The prayer of a righteous man has a great power in its working."
Do you know what is ridiculous about this? It is ridiculous how seldom we pray. If we really want to see our world changed, does it not make sense to pray. Maybe it is in prayer that our own transformation takes place as well.
In order for prayer to be all it can be, I think we need to realize that prayer in essence is about submission. It is about humility. Maybe that is part of the difficulty. We believe that we are in greater control of our lives and world than we really are. And so, often, instead of submitting to the power of prayer, we end up trusting in our own abilities to cope with situations and impact the world.
If prayer is something powerful to be reckoned with, why would we not be willing to do it regularly. Are we that confident in ourselves?
Karl Barth once said--The clasping of the hands in prayer in the beginning of an uprising against the disorder in the world.
Will you trust in your own ability to do something about the disorder, or will you submit your requests, your needs, and your very life to the One who is able to powerfully transform our hearts, our lives, and our very inmost being?
I want to be a conduit for the power of God to break out and transform the world around me. I also know my own weakness and limits, so I need prayer to live. As much as the circumstances of my life need prayer, I need it even more. The best solution to countering my own selfishness, is to submit to God and let prayer counteract the disorder in my own life.
Maybe part of the reason we don't pray is that we don't fully grasp our own need for change, and our own limits as well. Will you take time today and allow God a time of transformation in your life so that you might truly have the ability to live as a new creation?
I was reading with my friend Brett earlier this week, and this verse just stuck out to me. I had never really noticed it before. I mean, I have heard it quoted in a multitude of versions, but this week it pierced me as only the Sacred Text can do when we are humbled before it.
Prayer is something powerful to be reckoned with. In the ESV it says that "The prayer of a righteous man has a great power in its working."
Do you know what is ridiculous about this? It is ridiculous how seldom we pray. If we really want to see our world changed, does it not make sense to pray. Maybe it is in prayer that our own transformation takes place as well.
In order for prayer to be all it can be, I think we need to realize that prayer in essence is about submission. It is about humility. Maybe that is part of the difficulty. We believe that we are in greater control of our lives and world than we really are. And so, often, instead of submitting to the power of prayer, we end up trusting in our own abilities to cope with situations and impact the world.
If prayer is something powerful to be reckoned with, why would we not be willing to do it regularly. Are we that confident in ourselves?
Karl Barth once said--The clasping of the hands in prayer in the beginning of an uprising against the disorder in the world.
Will you trust in your own ability to do something about the disorder, or will you submit your requests, your needs, and your very life to the One who is able to powerfully transform our hearts, our lives, and our very inmost being?
I want to be a conduit for the power of God to break out and transform the world around me. I also know my own weakness and limits, so I need prayer to live. As much as the circumstances of my life need prayer, I need it even more. The best solution to countering my own selfishness, is to submit to God and let prayer counteract the disorder in my own life.
Maybe part of the reason we don't pray is that we don't fully grasp our own need for change, and our own limits as well. Will you take time today and allow God a time of transformation in your life so that you might truly have the ability to live as a new creation?
2 comments:
Hey there. I really love reading your blog. There are always good insights and great photos.
This particular one on prayer is such a reminder of how we should submit to God rather than dwell on the worries that we have.
What a fulfilling and refreshing thing it is to remind ourselves that God supplies everything that we need and responds to our prayers. How awesome!
Check this out - www.prayinghands.org
Definitely pray today - Mom's 3rd chemo treatment.
ChuckW
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