James 5:16 “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
PAstor Herk continues: God wants His children to be people of prayer. He wants every Believer to be prayers of prayers. It is the main way that we communicate with God. It may be silent prayer, individual personal prayer, in small groups or corporate prayer together. Though Omniscient God knows what we want and need, he wants to hear from us. He is all-powerful, ever-present, all-seeing, but He wants to hear from us.
The ACTS prayer model is a very good way to focus our hearts. Prayer is how we are to express ourselves to God; to convey our adoration, confession, thanks, and supplication to our Heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us. Communication requires closeness and prayer causes us to become closer to God. If you want to get closer to God, then get on your knees and pray. I do not think that we begin to comprehend how much God wants you and I to be in communication with Him. He is with us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Be in communication with God mentally, if not verbally.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
The Holy Spirit lives within the Christian. Pray without ceasing has to do with an attitude of prayer. It means to be aware, pray regularly and with the attitude of prayer. God wants people to seek His face through powerful prayers. We all want God to do something for us, but that is not the only thing that He wants to hear from us. God wants our commitment. Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” The important thing is that we need to put God first in our lives. Seriously, are you seeking God’s face and God’s kingdom first or are you seeking what you want?
The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 15:8 “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Something else was closer in their heart. Does God have first place in your life, or far, far down the line on your list of priorities? Is it that when we have time, we’ll get to God? We have so many things in this world that get in the way to distract us with busyness. Just as fast as we accomplish and throw one of those things out of the way, the devil throws another thing in our path. We need to choose a place in our lives for God and it needs to be at the top of our list.
What if today, you decided and put God as Number One in your life? You would see blessings that you never believed were possible. It is like a ship in a severe storm being led by a lighthouse safely in a secure harbor. When we seek God’s face and seek Him first in our lives, He is the light that steers us clear of dangers in our lives. God will guide us when we place Him first. We have to be willing to put God first, seek His kingdom and go where He leads us. We have to travel the path that He chooses for us. Be humble and pray, seek God’s face and turn from their wicked ways.
The word wicked is defined as: Evil in principle or practice; deviating from the divine law; addicted to vice; sinful; immoral. This is a word of comprehensive signification, extending to everything that is contrary to the moral law, and both to persons and actions. We say, a wicked man, a wicked deed, wicked ways, wicked lives, a wicked heart, wicked designs, wicked works. The wicked in Holy Scripture, are persons who live in sin; transgressors of the divine law; all who are unreconciled to God, unsanctified or impenitent. God wants us to repent; that is what “turn from their wicked ways” means.
In this mixed-up world in which we live, the word “wicked” is now used to describe something that is great, as in “wicked good”. See what the God-rejecting secular world does, it defines and twists words until they lose their true meaning or become meaningless. Wicked is not a positive nor a compliment; wicked ways are sinful ways and God hates sin. The list of wicked ways is long. Let me shorten that list to something that we all can remember. Wicked ways are anything that are against the will and nature of God. Repent of your many sins, turn from your wicked ways, and then God will hear our prayers from Heaven, and God will forgive your sin, and God will heal us. Then we shall really experience God’s grace, mercy and love … “if” we seek His face and grace, He will answer your prayer.
Even though we have stray out of the borders of righteousness, God will forgive your sins, if you will humble yourself and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Maybe the answer to your most important prayers is “if you …, then I will. Is God saying to us: “if, then”? If you stop lying, stop cheating, stop stealing, stop swearing, gossiping, stop taking God’s name in vain, stop being disobedient to God, stop your sexual sin, stop selfishness and pride, stop putting your desires ahead of God’s, and seek God first, then He will hear your prayers and bless you and change that circumstance to heal our land.
We can make 2 Chronicles 7:14 more personal by inserting our name for “my people”. Jesus said to Peter and Andrew that if you follow me, then I will make you fishers of men. What a difference an “if” made in their lives. The world changed. If you don’t just believe, but truly follow Jesus, then your life will be different; changed for the best. If you trust the Lord and be still, knowing that He is God and focus on His goodness, take time to read His holy Word, pray and seek His face, then all these godly things will be added to you. Sometimes, you need a way out of a “no way” situation; pray to the Lord. Jesus Christ is the alpha and the omega (the beginning and the end).
Jesus sets the captive to sin free and is the Great Physician that heals you. He guides the lost, He reveals truth, he gives you peace in the midst of the storms in life, he gives a joy that is unfathomable and can never be taken away. James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. Get down on your knees and pray. Seek His face. Walk in the Spirit to turn from your wicked ways of the sin nature of the flesh. Then, you will experience and see the blessings that will flow into your life. Trust God and let Him be at the center of your life and the top of your list daily.
I pray that this will be a year of powerful prayers by powerful prayers. Amen.
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