Saturday, December 14, 2013

P.U.S.H.

(Pray Until Something Happens)

James 5:15-18
The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.  Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.

I will never forget in the wee hours one morning many, many years ago when I was awakened by a very strong urge to pray.  Not just any prayer but to pray for my PaPa (my grandfather). 

I was in high school and my PaPa and I were extremely close.  So I said a short prayer, turned over to go back to sleep, but again, I was urged to pray for PaPa.  I am now thinking “why?” for my PaPa was at his home and I was sure sound asleep which is what I wanted to do – sleep!  But I prayed again!  All of a sudden our phone rang, I heard my parents stirring around and so I got out of bed to check out the situation.  My mom stated that something was wrong with my PaPa and my dad was going over to drive him to the hospital. 

In our scripture today, we read about Elijah who prayed and prayed and his prayer was answered.  We can read many other scriptures with the same results – people praying and praying and receiving an answer.  Sometimes we might not realize the answer until later but all we have to do is pray.

Prayer is our communication to a very loving God who wants to hear from us daily – no, God wants to constantly hear from us.  I am amused at times when I hear someone state that they would not pray for a situation for it was so trivial or minor.  “God has more important prayers to hear and answer.” 

Our scripture today states it very complete and very simple – “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed...”

During this Advent season, no matter how big, how small, please take the time to pray.  Pray for others, pray for your church, and pray for yourself.  God is waiting to hear from you. 
And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.  I John 5:14-15
As for the conclusion of my story at the beginning, my PaPa had a heart attack but he survived and was able to live for several more years and on another time I will tell you about his death. 

Nancy Woolbright, Administrative Assistant to Congregational Care & Membership