James 5 - The Prayer of Faith Will Save

Today, Friday December 11 – James 5 – One our greatest privileges and responsibilities is to pray! We need to understand that there is a right way to pray but there is also a wrong way to pray. James 4:2-3 reminds us: “You have not because you ask not. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly that you might spend it on your own passions.” Wrong praying is selfish praying. Praying simply to satisfy a need of our flesh. I’m sure you can think of the many times you have ask God to give you a new “something”. Personally, I’m intrigued with the newest technology with gadgets. And I’m so human, when you get something new, I want it too. And often, I’ve asked God for it but never got it. I’ll never forget on one occasion, my wife and I really wanted something pretty big, (a new camper and a new pickup truck to pull it). We prayed about it, we picked them out, make the deal to buy them, and then the last minute the financing was denied. We were shocked because we had excellent credit. Of course, initially we were very disappointed, but later, looking back were so thankful that the Lord did not answer that prayer! There is the right kind of praying that changes everything! Oswald Chambers said, “It’s not much that prayer changes things, but that prayer changes me, and then I change things.” These last verses of James teach us the “right” kind of praying! And usually that kind of praying is to benefit others around us! God bless!