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Effectual, Fervent Prayer (James 5:16)
We continue to enjoy a communications revolution
across the world. With a laptop computer, an Internet connection and
a little imagination the possibilities seem endless. Not so long ago
computers were for processing data and playing space invaders but today
you are nobody unless you have your own web site. It seems there is
not a subject in the world that cannot be found on the Internet, so
much so that a web site that generates only one hit in a search is so
rare that it has a special name, a Googlewhack!
Of course, a simple web site is so passé these days and you're
no one unless you have a Blog (for the uninitiated that is a weBLOG,
a sort of online journal). Blogs are now so popular that even important
television news programmes broadcast some of their best news items via
Blogs, inviting viewers and listeners to comment on, and even add to
the story. On a Blog you can, in the middle of life's battles, record
your thoughts, comment on your life so far, express your frustrations
and share with other like-minded people, often gaining help and encouragement
from those who elect to add their own thoughts and comments to your
personal Blog.
Now where have I heard before about expressing your deepest thoughts,
sharing your life's journey, your frustrations, your hopes and fears
and looking to someone for help and encouragement? Paul wrote to the
Christians in Ephesus:
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds
of prayers and requests. With this in mind be alert and always keep on
praying for the saints (Eph.6:18)
Writing to Christians in Philipi he wrote:
The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about
anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God (Philip.4:6)
Our text reminds us that, unlike an appeal to the Internet, our prayers
are not hit and miss but are heard and answered:
Is any one of you in trouble? He should
pray. Is any one of you sick? He should call the Elders of the church
to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord…The
prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:13-16)
I like the way the King James Bible expresses it:
The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much
Today we have access via the Internet to untold treasures and there
is nothing wrong with that. But we should not forget that, through simple
prayer, we have access to the treasures of heaven and, although even
the Internet has its limit, prayer brings us to a God to whom all things
are possible. Lets petition heaven this week in ways the world and the
net will never know or understand and trust that our effectual fervent
prayers will avail for us and for our world in the way Bloggers could
comprehend.