Heinz Chapel
9.30.12
James 5:13-20
“Faith and Prayer”
“Are any
among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs
of praise. Are any among you
sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over
them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 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.
My
brothers and sisters, if anyone
among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings
back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a
multitude of sins.”
“Almighty and everlasting God, you are
always more ready to
hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire
or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,
and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy
to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus
Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire
or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,
and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy
to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus
Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
I
don’t pray enough. I’ll admit it. Passages like the one we read from the Epistle
to James make me realize this all the more.
As I was preparing for the sermon this week, I began to wonder if I even
believe in the power of prayer. I began
to wonder if the reason why I don’t make prayer a priority in my life is
because I’m scared of being disappointed.
Afraid of getting my hopes up, only to have them dashed.
