The prayer of the righteous
How very good and pleasant it is
When kindred live together in unity! Psalm 133:1
Read James 5:13—18
There’s a lot to take into my prayer life from these few verses. Some I can do alone in a prayer time such as this. I can pray in my suffering. I can sing in my cheerfulness. But there are blessings I will never know if I do not come out of my isolation, and probably my trepidation, and share my vulnerability with praying friends, with the elders and prayer leaders of the church. Sickness is one area. My own failings, my moral struggles and sins form another. These weaken me. They distress me. They can isolate me. They stop my joy in the Lord. Is there something that I need to share with another for them to pray for me? Is there someone I know whom I can pray with? I may not know yet what form of blessing will come to me, but I have an inkling that God has something very good in store for me, out of what is quite bad in my life.
Prayer
You are a good, good Father, and you are inviting me to trust your saints, some of them, with my deepest, even my hidden needs. To let another pray for me and with me. Speak to me about this matter, Father. Is it now, at this time in my life, that I need to call the elders of the church for prayer? Surely there will be a time. And some time when I may pray for another. Let me be ready for what you are willing to do through the prayer of others.