THE TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST - OCTOBER 13,16 & 17, 1999

St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church - Watertown, WI

THE POWER AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PRAYER - JAMES 5:13-20

DEVOTION 1 COMMUNICATE! COMMUNICATE! COMMUNICATE!

If you are a baker and you are making bread, what happens if you forget to put in the yeast? You know that your bread won't rise. You will have a blob of dough that remains as a flat as a pancake. Yeast is vital to have a nice full loaf of bread. Without that yeast your bread will flop. You need all the ingredients in order to have a beautiful loaf of bread. The same principle holds true in relationships. To have a good solid relationship it is vital that you have all the ingredients. And one of the most important ingredients in a good strong relationship is communication. In a working relationship, if the foreman or manager does not communicate with his workers, how are the workers going to know what is expected of them? How are they going to know what they are supposed to do, unless someone takes the time to tell them and show them what their job is. Communication is vital. The same holds true in families. If parents are not talking to their children and children talking to their parents, no one knows what is going on in each other's lives. No one knows what is expected of them. Parents need to sit down with their children and teach them, communicate with them. As parents we teach and tell our children what is right and what is wrong. We tell them what they are to do and what is expected of them in the family. As children we need to talk to our parents and tell them what is happening in our lives. We need to talk about our fears, our hopes and dreams, our frustrations and disappointments. Husbands and wives daily need to communicate with one another. Without that communication eventually the relationship breaks down. Suddenly you find yourself living with a stranger who doesn't know you and you don't know the person you are living with. If husbands and wives are going to work together as a team, communication is essential. In fact, in any team without communication you are not going to accomplish anything. You will become frustrated and usually nothing will be accomplished.

Just as communication is important in human relationships so it is primary in our relationship with our heavenly Father who made us and with our Savior Jesus who saved us. God communicates with us. He communicates in his Word the Bible and in the sacraments of baptism and holy communion. In his Word, the Lord is very clear and explicit. You don't have to wonder, "What is God trying to tell me?" He is very clear. When it comes to how we are to live and act in our lives, God doesn't leave any room for misunderstanding. At times we may not like what we hear, but God tells us what he does because he loves us. It's just like a parent who tells his child not to play in the street. The child may not like what his father said and think his father is trying to ruin his life and take away his fun. But we know that the father tells his child this because he loves him and does not want to see him get hurt. God does the same thing for us. But God doesn't just give us directives, he comforts and consoles us. The Lord knows what it is like to live in an imperfect and evil world. He's been here. He's seen how we mess up our lives and the lives of others. He comes to us and assures us of his pardon and forgiveness. He gives us the hope of eternal life in a perfect world with him. Every time we perform a baptism, we see God speak and act as he adopts another person into his family and gives that infant the gift of faith in Jesus as his Savior and assures that child of forgiveness and eternal life. Every service when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, Jesus speaks to us. He says, "Here is my body and here is my blood which I sacrificed on Calvary's cross for you. Take and eat my body. Take and drink my blood for your forgiveness and for the strength to live for me." What powerful communication. God speaks to us. Can't we speak with God? We certainly can. In fact, God commands us to speak to him. He says, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." (Psalm 50:15) Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7) We call our communication with God - PRAYER. God commands us to communicate with him. He promises to listen. And he promises to answer all of our prayers in accord with his will. Let's now join in singing hymn #408 which stresses the importance of prayer in our lives.

DEVOTION 2 PRAY ABOUT WHAT AND FOR WHOM ?

What should I say? At times people may be at a loss for words. They don't know what to say. Some people are not as verbal as others. We also all know people that once they open their mouths they never seem to close them. Our communication with God is important. In fact, James gives us some instruction regarding our prayer life. He writes, "Is any of you in trouble? He should pray." (James 5:13a) When we have troubles and problems, what can we do? Pray. Talk it over with God. Ask God for help, strength and guidance. Have you ever noticed that when you are experiencing some challenge how good it is to talk over the options with someone else? The best person to talk things over with is the Lord God. As King David once wrote, "In the day of trouble I will call to you and you will answer me." (Psalm 86:7) Not only are we to call on God when we are in trouble but also when things are going well. As James writes, "Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise." (James 5:13b) This is a time when often we forget to talk to God. We fail to thank and praise him for all the blessings that he does daily give to us. So often we take our health, our prosperity, the peace we have in our land for granted. Thank and praise God for these marvelous blessings. As the psalmist David wrote, "Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who satisfies your desires with good things . . . he does not treat us as our sins deserve to repay us according to our iniquities." (Psalm 103: 1-3,5a,10) Just consider all that you have to praise God for. Prayers for help and prayers of thanks and praise deal with our personal relationship with the Lord.

James now reminds us to pray for others. We pray for those who are ill. We pray for those who are wandering away from the Lord and his Word. James begins by writing, "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. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up." (James 5:14-15) How many times don't we offer prayers for people who are ill, who are undergoing surgery, or are facing some medical procedure? Often. People will call for their pastors to come and visit them and pray for them. We do that often. How many of you have had your pastor rub you with oil? Probably no one. But James says the elders should rub people with oil. We remember when the Good Samaritan found that man beaten and left for dead along the road. He cleaned the man's wounds with wine, alcohol, and then rubbed his body with oil to soften the skin and to help it heal. Today we use many other lotions and medications to assist in the healing process. Always remembering that it is still the Lord who heals the body making use of these various medicines.

In addition to praying for people's physical health we are also concerned about their relationship with the Lord and we pray for their spiritual well being. As James tells us, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins." (James 5:16, 19-20) When someone has fallen into a sinful lifestyle, so often you hear people say, "Well, there's nothing I can do to change that person's mind or correct him." That is not true! There is something that you can do. Pray! Pray! Pray! Never stop praying for that person. Pray that God would lead that person to see the sinfulness of their ways and turn from it and live the way the Lord wants him to live. It is God's will that people turn from their sin and live for him. So when we pray for this, it's want God wants and God is able to perform miracles in the lives of people. He is able to turn the hearts of people around. James makes another important point. We need to confess our sins to one another and pray for each other's forgiveness. That's one of the hardest things to do, to admit when you are wrong. But it is so important and vital for our spiritual lives and for our relationship with the Lord. Once we see our sin and admit it, we need to be assured that God does forgive us and forget the wrongs that we have done.

We have lots of people to pray for. We have thousands of reasons to offer God our praise and thanks in prayer. We have many reasons to pray for ourselves. Let's now sing hymn #413 which reminds us of the importance and need for regular prayer in our lives.

DEVOTION 3 WHY IS PRAYER SO POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE?

Why pray? It won't work. I remember an elderly lady telling me that she had a friend visit her in the hospital and say to her, "Well, where is your God now? What good has all that praying done you? Look at the condition you're in." I am sure that many of us have at one time or another had those thoughts and feelings when it comes to prayer. "It didn't work." The reason we have those thoughts and feelings is that we don't understand prayer. Prayer is not telling God how he should fix some problem we have. Prayer is presenting our problems and to God and saying, "Help me. Amen." We place it in God's hands and let him solve the problem.

Listen to what James says, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." (James 5:16b-18) Prayer is powerful and effective because our God is almighty. It's not our prayers that change things, it is the Lord God who is able to perform miracles and to work all things for the good of his people.

The confidence that you and I have when we pray is that not only is God listening to what we are saying, but he will answer that prayer in accord with his will. For example, we may pray for the health of some person and they die. Has God answered our prayer? Of course he has. However, it may not have been how we expected. But God did heal that sick person. He gave the person perfect health. He removed that person from this world with all its pains and troubles and took him to heaven forever. When someone is wandering from the Lord and we pray for them, why doesn't God just call their life to a halt shake them up good and get them back? Sometimes he does. But other times it takes a while. God may allow the person to hit rock bottom and realize how they have destroyed their life and the lives of others and see things aren't better but worse. Suddenly the person has no place to turn but back to the Lord who welcomes the person back and restores him.

People of God, we have no reason to worry. We have no reason to fret and be troubled. For our God is in control of the universe. He is guiding all things for the good of his church. He wants all of us to believe and be saved. He is directing our lives and calling us to his side to follow him. When we sin and wander from him, he disciplines us and calls us back. When we return, he freely forgives and forgets our past sins. Isn't it wonderful to have such a loving and forgiving friend in Jesus Christ? You can't help but want to talk to him and share your joys and happiness; your concerns and fears in prayer. For he wants us to pray. He has promised to listen and to answer.

Amen

Let's now sing hymn #409 which reminds us these wonderful truths, "Come my soul, with every care, Jesus loves to answer prayer.