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"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."
(James 5:16)
When I attended seminary, I had to take a class entitled, "Spiritual Formation for Ministry". The professor, Dr. Bruce Leafblad, was an excellent teacher. Early on in the semester, he told the class that if we were going to make an A in his class, then we had to spend an hour a day in prayer to God. I was down with that because my objective in every class I took was to make an A. But I also knew this was going to mean I needed to make some changes. You see, prior to taking this class in 1987, my quiet times consisted of 5-10 minutes of prayer and Bible reading, and then I was off to attend classes and work. So, I made the commitment to pray and read the Bible for an hour a day, and wow, that was one of the best decisions I have ever made!
The discipline of praying and reading the Word of God for an hour a day has stayed with me until this day. I absolutely love getting up in the mornings, grabbing a strong cup of coffee, and getting into the Word of God and praying. Dr. Leafblad was so right; once you make the commitment, the duty will transform into delight. Billy Graham was once late for a meeting with the president of the United States. The president reprimanded Graham when he told him he was not used to people being late for a meeting with him. Graham responded that he had to speak with God in prayer before he could speak to the president in person.
The spiritual supplement of prayer is vital to your growth and maintaining a vital relationship with the Lord. I could still be married to Ashley while never talking to her, but that would not make for a healthy and growing relationship! James instructs the church to confess our sins to one another, and this speaks to another spiritual supplement: being in community with the people of God, the church. He also writes that the prayer of a righteous man brings about much good. Prayer makes a difference in your life and in the lives of those for whom you are praying.
Take this spiritual challenge: begin small and spend 5-10 minutes with the Lord in prayer every day. As you do this consistently, I think a couple of things will happen. First, if you were not already doing this, you will discover power in your life that you did not have before. Also, you will want to spend more than 5-10 minutes in prayer each day because of how sweet it is to talk to God. Each day I still use the ACTS acronym in my prayer time with the Lord: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
I keep a prayer journal, and three times every week, I go through these many pages of prayer requests, and when God answers my prayers, I simply jot down a thank You to the Lord for answering my prayer. I now have multiple pages of written prayers that God has answered!
May God bless you with a wonderful weekend. Yes, even on Saturdays and Sundays, spend some time with the Lord in Bible reading and prayer. The devil takes no day off in his efforts to tempt you to sin. But praise the Lord that you and I have victory in Jesus! Read God's Word and pray each day, and watch what God will do in and through you as a result.
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