Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is: 2 Kings 13-14, James 5
Happy Monday y'all!
A couple of things I wanted to talk about today. First off... did anyone else notice the short length of time served by many of the kings listed in our 2 King's reading?? A lot of them served around 14-17 years, then were killed. And I loved seeing the direct leading of God in the success or demise of these leaders. Again, I was amazed at how the generations follow the same sins of the fathers with idol worship, turning from God, then enduring the wrath of God for their choices.
Secondly, I wanted to look at James 5:13-18
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
I love this passage. I love this reminder that we always need to go back to prayer. It is our lifeline, our connection to the giver of peace. I love what John MacArthur says about this passage. You can find the whole message here
In this message he points out 4 important prayer points about this passage of scripture:
1) Prayer and comfort,
2) Prayer and restoration,
3) Prayer and fellowship,
4) Prayer and power.
He goes on to say...
The relationship of prayer to comfort, the relationship of prayer to restoration, the relationship of prayer to fellowship, the relationship of prayer to power...prayer provides to the wounded warrior comfort, restoration, fellowship and power. That's the idea. Each of these is a wonderful resource to that loyal Christian who is suffering greatly in his spiritual experience.
... It is not a passage about healing physical diseases. It is a passage about healing spiritual weakness, spiritual weariness, spiritual exhaustion, spiritual depression which calls for spiritual means, namely what? Prayer...prayer. There's no compelling reason at all in this text to think that James has dropped in here a section on physical healing. That is incongruous. What...what a strange place to drop a section on healing diseases. The passage before would never cause you to expect that. And the final two verses wouldn't cause you to expect it either. It would really be out of sinc with the context. But a section on how to help people who are spiritually weak and broken and embattled and bruised and wounded and hurt and have lost the victory, that makes sense.
I read through this message and it is truly an uplifting message on prayer. It really opened my eyes to praying through trials and persecution. I never think of my life as one that is persecuted, but I really do believe as Christians today, we face the same type of trials people did back in the time of the disciples. Our far-reaching world has more influence on us than we realize. The gods of our culture permeate our daily walk from every angle. And perhaps one of my favorite parts of Johnny's message:
It's a prayer ministry God has called us to. We're to give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word. I understand the ministry of the Word and now I understand better than I ever did the ministry of prayer. It is to come alongside the wounded warriors, the broken soldiers, the broken hearted people who are at the bottom and they don't even have the strength to call on God out of their own heart. And they need me. That's the ministry. That's the pastoral duty, to come alongside that weary Christian who is defeated without strength and on behalf of that individual, lift up prayers to God from a righteous heart.
I want to end today's post with an encouragement to all of us. We so often hide our trials from those close to us. Personally, I find it a lot easier to go alongside someone when they are struggling than to admit when I am. I often think I can handle it myself, no need to burden anyone with what I'm struggling with, "it's between God and I". I want to encourage all of us to find someone to be a prayer warrior for ourselves. A trusting, God-filled person that we offer complete transparency to come alongside in those times that we are wounded soldiers and have lost strength.
Tomorrow's passage: Jonah 1-4, Acts 15:1-21
4 comments:
Great post, Jody, thanks.
I don't recall ever having noticed this before, but in our 2 Kings passage today I read that a man came to life just from being hastily thrown into Elisha's tomb and touching the bones of Elisha. Isn't that incredible???
I noticed that too Miriam. Wild heh?! I had never heard that story before!
That same passage caught my eye, too! I often wish we knew more about these peripheral stories ~ like, how did that impact the people who witnessed it??!
I love that MacArthur sermon. What a beautiful look at the ministries of prayer and restoration. I'm so thankful for wise, discerning men who are also good teachers ~ that passage has never really made sense to me either... until now.
I noticed that story too! The way it was causally thrown in there too in just a few sentences made me go back and read it again because it seemed out of place.
You are so right, Jody. It is so much easier to help others who are struggling, than to admit our own weaknesses.
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