Day Twenty-Eight
DAY TWENTY-EIGHT
This has not been, by any means an exhaustive list of every ‘faith healer’ but today I want us to examine one more before we look at the actions and qualities of those that Jesus described as having GREAT FAITH.
The one I have saved for last is perhaps the most obvious one; Prayer and Fasting.
I’ve covered it last because to be completely honest with you, if we don’t understand the other things we have covered first; God’s great love for us, our need to love and forgive others, our posture when approaching God, the heart of worship and gratitude that focuses us on Him rather than our trials, prayer can feel more like a chore, something that we aren’t even sure is working, or if anyone is listening. We can simply just go through the motions and it not feel at all like it should’ a dynamic personal chat with someone we are in relationship with.
James 5:16-18 says this
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
We are told to pray earnestly, and then given the example of Elijah who prayed earnestly and the result that came from his prayer. The word earnestly comes from the root word ‘energēs’ which means to be actively engaged and put energy into. Of course fasting is the ultimate extension of energetic and engaged prayer.
God wants us to actively engage in prayer with ‘energy’ He wants us to be ‘present’ in our conversations with Him, expectant, not beggarly, but with a posture that is engaging and filled with FAITH. When we do our prayer will have great power and produce wonderful results!
Those results produce a harvest of great faith in us, knowing that God has heard us and His power has brought results that we could not have achieved without Him!
The verses earlier in this passage talk about “the prayer of faith”
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Praying and approaching God in FAITH, carries with it great power and produces results that build and strengthen our faith. I remember an inspirational plaque my mother had on her organ as I was growing up and it said “more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of, therefore let your prayer rise like a fountain night and day”
Scripture to meditate on: James 5:13-20