Answered Prayer? Just Admit It (TEN YEARS! James 5)

Originally Posted Saturday, November 14, 2009

A Christian will make a daily habit out of prayer. As we grow, we learn to pray frequently, and to pray in diverse ways.

We believe in answered prayer. I, and you, have experienced the miraculous. We have felt the joy of God saying "yes", and we know the discouragement of God saying "no."

If you are like me, you may even be acquainted with the pain of God granting you your request, when it is something you should never have desired. God is like any parent. He may relent at times, to teach you a lesson.

But James illustrates the power of prayer, by reviewing the story of Elijah. The prophet prayed for it not to rain, and it didn't, for three and a half years! Later, when Elijah prayed for rain, it came forth abundantly.

Why do we not have instances like that? Where are the modern manifestations of Red Sea-like miracles?

Well, it could be that we need to fast. Perhaps we are not living as holy and pure as we ought. Maybe we need to heal the divisions among us, so that we can pray in unity.

So admit to each other what you've done wrong, and pray for each other to be healed.

The best lessons from Scripture are the hardest ones. James basically advises us not to be phonies. This passage will come up in Bible studies, over and over again. But the part about admitting our wrongs to one another will get glossed over, or ignored completely, what, ninety-nine times out of a hundred?

Here is authenticity. Genuine faith attends the truly penitent. Take off your masks. Be open and true to one another. Be yourself. Admit what you have done wrong.

I was musing over this, and thought about some people with whom I have been estranged. I know myself better than anybody, and I know that the way for the estrangement to be removed, would be for that person simply to admit what he or she did to alienate me. I don't even think they need to apologize. Just say: "What I did was wrong." or "I know you do not approve of this, that, or the other, and I respect your feelings about it."

That alone would remove all the hard feelings. Just admit that you know what you did, or are doing. Say it, that's all.

But the secret is, that I have to admit the same to the others.

"Admit". What a hard word!

And this is all God wants. Just admit it. Say it.

And then . . . then . . . perhaps the floodgates of Heaven would be opened, and God's grace flow as never before!