3rd December 2024

3rd December 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (James 5v16-18)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


The average Christian will freely admit that their prayer life is not what it should be. Why not? Life is so busy and at times prayer is incredibly hard. Indeed, even when we do pray we struggle to concentrate at the prayer meeting, our mind wanders to the things we need to do at home and the whole exercise of prayer can seem like a futile task.


Brothers and sisters, this devotion will not seek to hammer you. We have all had dry periods in our prayer life. Instead I want to encourage you to see prayer as the vital work of your Christian life in 2025. Why? Because it is a privilege and answering prayer is the often the means by which God brings His purposes to pass.


Let us be clear that prayer does not change God’s mind. We don’t persuade Him to act differently by our zeal in prayer. We don’t push His arm up His back and force Him to act because we have prayed. But let us also be clear on this point - God in eternity past decreed that many things would happen in this world by the means of answering our prayers. No wonder James wrote that the prayer of a righteous man has great power as it is working (v16b).


Some might say “If God is sovereign why bother praying?” It is precisely because God is sovereign that we pray. He is able to do all things and He graciously works by hearing us and answering us. Could God just click His fingers and bring His purposes to fruition? Of course, but He willingly completes His plans by everyday ordinary means. The Lord converts sinners by the foolishness of preaching, He blesses nations with stable and wise rulers and He opens His ear to prayer and opens His hands to answer. 


James calls us to confess our sins to one another and uphold each other in prayer, for it is by this means that the Lord often brings physical and spiritual healing to his people (v16a). Miraculously, it was by answering the prayers of Elijah that the Lord stopped the rain for three and a half years (v17) and it was by answering the prayers of Elijah that the Lord caused the clouds to open once more (v18).


But we might argue that Elijah’s prayers were answered because he was a mighty prophet of God. Not so. Elijah was a human like you and I (v17). He was not without sin but He did have saving faith in Christ. Brothers and sisters, if you are a Christian then you are a righteous person (v16b) and your prayers are acceptable in the sight of Almighty God. 


You may never know this or see the outcome, but I am certain that things have taken place in this world because you prayed and the Lord answered. Additionally, there are things which did not happen because you cried out to God. In all of this the glory belongs to the Lord. He has written history, He has given the gift of prayer and He has willingly decreed that He will answer the cries of His people.


If all of this is true, then why don’t we make prayer the vital component of our daily lives? James has told us not just to be hearers but also doers of the Word. Therefore brothers and sisters, in response - let us pray.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q51 What is forbidden in the second commandment? The second commandment forbiddeth the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in his Word.
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