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“If all else fails, we’ll
have to pray.”

“The least I can do for you
is pray.”

“It’s not much, but I can
pray.”

 

I’ve heard or overheard
these three comments on prayer recently. 
There are many more but most of them are variations of these three.  What are we communicating when we speak this
way?  We are confessing a lack of
faith.   When a friend of mine was going
through physical ailments he boldly stated, “I don’t want anyone praying over
me who has any doubt.”  I whole-heartedly
agree.

 

Look at what James said
about prayer in James 5:13-18 (in the New Living Translation)

 

13 Are
any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You
should sing praises. 14 Are any of you sick? You should call
for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil
in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will
heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any
sins, you will be forgiven.

16 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. 17 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.

 

Does this sound like the
advice of a man who doubts the power of prayer? 
I think not!

 

So why do we doubt the
power of prayer so much?  Could it be we
have doubted for so long that we have gotten rather self-sufficient so we’re
unable to really reach out and grab a hold to the power that raised Jesus from
the dead? 

 

James tells us when we
should pray:

  • hardship
  • happiness
  • sickness
  • sinfulness

 

Guess what…that pretty much
summarizes every moment of our lives at some point.

 

What if we actually prayed
that God would do something amazing in someone’s life?  What if we actually prayed for a
miracle?  Do we dare believe in the forgotten
art of prayer?

 

Let’s take James’ advice
and practice the art of prayer.  We need
it.