Why is prayer powerful?

I'm currently studying the book of James. I was amazed to find that I have taken a lot of verses from the book of James out of context. I think other people do, too (or maybe I've just heard people wrong in the past - I've found that happens way more often than I care to admit!). I think it's easy to do - James is written, as my study Bible points out, in the same format as Proverbs. It is filled with one-liners of wisdom! But, something I've realized is that you don't truly understand what the "one-liner" means until you read the other verses around it, consider where James is coming from and who he wrote this letter to, and consider what the Bible as a whole has to say about what he's writing. I know, novel concept here! But you can walk away from James with a lot of well-meaning, wise sayings that are just totally unbiblical and not at all what James meant! Poor James!
So, here's what I've discovered about prayer, in reading James 5:13-20. I'm going to put the whole section here because I'm sure, if you're anything like me, you won't take the time - while reading a blog - to pull out your Bible and look it up for yourself! Here it is, then:
"13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. 19 My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."

Here's where I was wrong. I got all caught up in the ways to pray to bring about healing (or so I thought) and I missed the example James is giving. His examples are key, really. Elijah is an excellent example of someone uttering a powerful prayer - and the reason why such prayer is so powerful. Here's why:

1. Elijah was a "man like us." He wasn't someone who was extra-special (although we may beg to differ - he was in the Bible, after all!); he didn't have an "in" with God that made his prayers more effective than ours. He was normal, a sinner.
2. God sent Elijah, as his representative, to King Ahab to say it would not rain in the next few years (1 Kings 17:1) and then God sent Elijah back to King Ahab when God was going to make it rain again (1 Kings 18:1). Elijah didn't pray that it would stop raining or start raining on his own accord - he was doing what God told him to do. So, when our prayers are in line with what God wants, we can believe they will be answered.
3. God always brings wholeness and forgiveness in answer to our prayers - that's what James means when he says " . . . pray for one another so that you may be healed." Healing in this context means wholeness and restoration. Look at the example of Elijah - Elijah prayed, and God brought back the rain. He restored the land.

Prayer is powerful because God is powerful - not because we're righteous enough, we use the right brand of oil, or we've confessed every sin we could think of. A lot of the book of James can be misinterpreted as what we need to do to make things happen. But, really, if you look closely, you'll see that the book of James is all about how we are powerless to do anything apart from God. You want to have true faith? You want to tame your tongue? You want to receive what you ask for? You want to see someone healed? Humble yourself - "Come near to God, and He will come near to you" (James 4:8). It's amazing to me how, the more I understand the Bible, the more humbled I am and the closer I want to be to God. I guess that's the point!

Sovereign God

It's hard to find time to use this - I've actually had to start a list of all the thoughts I'd like to blog about at some point! Tonight everyone is in bed early and I'm still awake, so I thought I'd try to get some thoughts processed through here! So, here's what's been on my mind and heart a lot lately - the sovereignty of God. I've been re-examining a lot of the pat, Christian expressions I've uttered in the past, and realized that a lot of them don't line up with what the Bible really says. And, because of that, they don't show how big and sovereign God really is. Take Romans 8:28, for instance. According to the New American Standard translation (which I am coming to love because it seems to give such a better sense of what the verse actually means), it says: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Usually, when I'm talking to someone, I can't remember the exact words of a verse - so I'll paraphrase! With this verse, I tend to say "God works good things out of all situations." When I say that, I mean (or at least, I used to, before I noticed this point I'm writing about here!) that God will bring something good out of even the worst of situations. And, in a sense, that's true. But what the verse is really saying is that God CAUSES all things to work together for good. He doesn't take the lemons and make lemonade - he makes the lemons AND the lemonade! Think about what that says about God's sovereignty. If you think God sees a bad situation in your life and then finds a way to bring good out of it, you're really saying that God was surprised by the bad situation in your life and had to figure out how to change it so that something good could come out of it. That's not sovereignty. That, in my book, is not God with a capital "G." BUT - if, instead, you look at a bad situation and say God is working good out of even this situation, which He caused, then God is sovereign. Then God is GOD. I used to think that by saying it that way, I was saying something bad about God - afterall, do I really want to worship a God who causes bad things to happen to people? But if you really think about it - really, truly think about it - I, for one, would much rather worship a God who causes both the good AND the bad, rather than a God who is surprised by the bad and has to scramble to somehow make it good again. What kind of God is that?! Now let me be honest - I'm still a little fuzzy about how all that works . . . Does God truly cause children to get cancer, or innocent people to die? I don't know. From what I read in the Bible, though, it sure does seem like it . . . And from what I read in the Bible, it seems like he uses ALL of it for His perfect purposes. That is way more encouraging - and more awe-inspiring - than a God who has nothing to do with the bad things. At least if God is in charge of causing/allowing the bad, too, I can find hope in the fact that there will be a purpose to it, since God is an orderly God . . . But that's another thought for another post!!! My point is - I'd rather follow a God who causes rather than a God who has to figure things out when they come up. Wouldn't you?

Confession

I have something to confess. I've been reading through the book of James and, in several places, he talks about following the "royal law" (he only uses that phrase once, in James 2:8, but he also references it in James 4:11). The "royal law" is from Leviticus 19:18 - ". . . Love your neighbor as yourself . . . " It is also found in Matthew 22:36-40, where Jesus is asked what is the greatest commandment. He says it is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." In Romans 13:8-10, Paul concludes that " . . . love is the fulfillment of the Law." I know this. I've read this before. I'm sure you have too. But for some reason, it really hit me today. My Study Bible, in reference to James 2:8, notes that the command to love your neighbor as yourself is called the royal law because ". . . it is the supreme law that is the source of all other laws governing human relationship. It is the summation of all such laws."
Here's my confession - usually, I kind of skip over that part about loving your neighbor as yourself. The part about loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, etc. - that makes me pause. But the loving your neighbor as yourself part? Honestly, I tend to write it off as cliche (ouch -- it's in the Bible, how could I think that?! Now you're seeing the real me!!!). But I've been studying a little lately about what the Bible means when it uses the word "love." Consider 1 Cor. 13 - love is patient, kind, doesn't envy, doesn't boast, isn't proud, isn't self-seeking or rude, doesn't keep a record of wrong . . . Love is active. It is fruitful. It does not fail. It is the only thing that will remain when all else passes away (referring to 1 Cor. 13:8-13). In the past, I tended to look at the command to "love your neighbor as yourself" as a command to think about how I would treat myself and then treat others that way. At other times, I've thought it meant that I must love myself if I am going to truly love my neighbor (I know, I know - where did I come up with that little gem?!). But it is saying so much more than those selfish things. We are to love other people fruitfully - and the fruit of that love should be patience, kindness, humility, forgiving (hmm, I think I've heard those things before). You truly can sum up all God wants us to do in those words: "LOVE your neighbor as yourself." The emphasis is on the love part.
Again, one of those things that might not be deep for anyone else but me - but I had to confess skimming over these verses up to this point!!!

Understanding the Bible

Something I've really been seeing lately is how critical it is to interpret the Scriptures in light of the rest of the Bible. I've known that it's dangerous to take verses out of context, but now I'm realizing that, to truly understand what a passage means, you must consider it in light of what the rest of the Bible says. Why? Because the Bible makes sense as a whole - it was all inspired by God, so it's not going to contradict with itself. What specifically made me think about this? I was considering something a friend said - she pointed out that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. And I thought - I've heard that before, but where does it come from. So, I decided to look it up! Turns out the verse is John 10:10 where Jesus says: "IThe thief comes only to steal and kill and destory; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." It's part of Jesus' explanation fo how He is the gate for the sheep. He says all who came before Him were thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them. He says that He is the gate and that, by entering "the pasture" throug hHim, the sheep will find full life. According to the notes in my Bible, the "others" that came before Him were "false shepherds," like the Pharisees and Chief priests. How does my Study Bible know this? Not only by the context surrounding the verse, but by other verses that discuss shepherds. Isaiah 56:11 and Ez. 34:2 are two such passages. I won't get into it all here, but by doing this little study it became clear to me that this passage is not about Satan - it's about the former leaders of Israel. Hmm.

My next question, then, is if this could be applied to Satan? Does he "kill and steal and destroy"? Is he referred to as a "thief" anywhere else? The answer to this last question is no - he's most often referred to as a deceiver and an accuser. An even bigger point I found, which I knew but didn't really know (if that makes any sense!) is that, while Satan can and does kill people, it is only when God allows him to do so. My study Bible points out that "Satan wields the power of death only insofar as he induces people to sin and to come under sin's penalty, which is death." Why is this a good thing?! Because - if God is ultimately in charge of everything, if He even uses Satan for His (God's) purposes, then I know that good will come of any bad thing that happens ("And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Rom. 8:28). It's not really right - or encouraging, in my opinion - to say that Satan killed or stole or destroyed something. Instead, I'd say that God is sovereign and His purposes will be fulfilled, even in the darkest of situations. But maybe I'm just a "glass half-full" kind of person . . . ?