DEVOTIONAL ON PRAYER 2023

 Isaiah 5:30 is a good reminder. “And if one looks at the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be darkened by the cloud.” When faced with difficulties, we must not merely look across the land and our circumstances; instead, we must raise our eyes to the hills. Psalm 121:1-2 gives us this assurance: “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

We look to the hills and pray with faith.

Let us reflect on the relationship between prayer and faith. When we pray, we must have faith because the object of our prayer is God. God is Spirit; although we can’t see Him, we know that we are not praying into thin air or a silent void. Rather, we are communicating intimately with a personal God, and so we must pray with faith.

We believe that there is a God, but is that enough? James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.” How does our belief that there is a God differ from the way demons believe? 

Our faith is based on a personal relationship with God.

When demons come before God’s presence, they tremble with fear. While we too, must come before God with fear, we do so because we dare not be careless with Him – because we acknowledge He is our Lord and our King.

At the same time, we love Him; we revere Him because He is our Abba Father. This is something the demons do not have. Therefore, we see that the most essential thing about entering God’s presence is our relationship with Him. 

Prayer is natural for someone who belongs to God.

Let’s look at James 5:13-16:

^5:13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

James says that “if anyone among you is in trouble, he should pray”. This can be likened to “when a person is happy, he would simply sing a song”. It is a natural reaction. Therefore, prayer is a natural thing for someone who belongs to God. On the contrary, Christians who do not pray are abnormal Christians. 

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 

What kind of prayer does the Lord answer? James 5:15 says, “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.” But then James adds one more line and says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

What do we learn from this? The person praying is more important than their prayer. Of course, I don’t mean that the content of our prayers are unimportant, but the one who prays is more important than the deed.

Not all men – and their prayers – are the same. 

Isaiah 1:15 says, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.” If there is a problem with the person, no matter how fine-sounding his prayers are, God says ‘I will not listen’. 

The first sacrifices in the Bible recorded in Genesis 4 are the sacrifices made by Cain and Abel. The Lord accepted Abel’s sacrifice, but the Lord rejected the sacrifice of Cain. Some people attempt to explain this by highlighting that Abel offered the best of his flock–the first-born sheep–to God, while Cain’s offering was not accepted because it was not of the best of his harvest. This may be one of the reasons, but there is a more important reason: 

In Genesis 4:4-5, we read: “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.” The Lord looked with favor on Abel first, and then He found his sacrifice acceptable. The man is more important than his sacrifice. In the same way, God did not behold Cain with favor, so He did not look with favor on Cain’s sacrifice. 

Will God look upon us – and our prayers – with favor?

Church, if there is a question regarding the person himself, his offerings and his prayers will also be in question. Prayer must be done in faith, but the person who prays is more important than the prayer. Let us look at James 5:16 again, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” The kind of person you are will affect the outcome of your prayers.

May the Lord bless you!