Has It Come To That?

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16

A preacher told the story of a man in desperate straits that came to him for help. When the preacher suggested to the man that they pray, the man responded: Preacher, is it so bad that it has come to that?

We who have been Christians for a long time can smile and laugh at that. Not at the man’s predicament, but his response to prayer as a last resort. We know that rather than as a last desperate act, prayer is the very first thing to do in any difficult situation. Anyone who has been a Christian for long will have by now seen the Lord coming to their aid, acting on our prayers any number of times.

God has turned things around for me after praying so many times that they are too many to list. I offer just one such time. In the year 2010 I was circling the drain, dying of Crohn’s Disease, but then I got an entirely new affliction. Arthritis struck me. It was in my joints so badly that I could hardly get up off the couch. I had seen my doctor and he was sending me to a specialist. Like the desperate man above I went to the Lord in prayer and in frustration and reminded the Lord that He had promised not to allow more to come upon us than we could bear.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV

Shortly after my prayer the arthritis disappeared. God agreed that arthritis on top of what I was already enduring was too much and He healed me of it. I have had little aches from arthritis in an elbow or other joint on rare occasions since then, but nothing like the whole body arthritis flareup of that time has struck me again–praise God!

God answers prayers. Those prayers we ask on our own behalf and those we ask for others. And prayer is not just asking God for things. It is a time when we communicate with Him as a good Friend and Counselor. A time when we meditate upon His Glory and Majesty. Prayer is a key component to the Christian life and if you are not praying daily you are robbing yourself of much needed time with your Lord and Savior. 

Prayer: Dear Lord, we miss so much when we do not spend enough time with You in prayer. Help to remember that prayer is not a last resort, but a daily part of our relationship with You. Amen.