2. When We Pray For One Another, God Heals Us
The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, 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 heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit (James 5:13-14) 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. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.James tells us that if we're sick we should ask our pastors to pray for us and anoint us with oil. The result is that God will use those prayers to heal us.James then tells the whole church to pray for one another. And he assures us that our prayers for one another are powerful, though they may not feel powerful. He says "the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."He backs this up by reminding us that Elijah's prayers were so powerful they stopped rain for 3 years then started it again.It's easy to say in response, But wait, that's Elijah the prophet. But James assures us that, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. In other words, he was just like us, a normal human being. And his prayers had great power. So James says to believe that OUR prayers have great power, even if they don't feel powerful.Pray for one another earnestly because there is great power in those prayers.
