Elijah (2)

WHY PRAY? Part 2 - We Trust!

CLICK TO READ PART 1 HERE

Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him(James 5:14-15)

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The Lord promised that "in this world you will have tribulation (or trouble), but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world" (John 16:33b). How does someone do that when the enemies of God are systematically destroying His people....when many are losing hope....when the numbers of "nones" (those who believe in nothing) grow exponentially....etc. etc..

These are the Biblical end times which are in view, primarily, to those who are saved and called by Christ into the Kingdom. We are seeing a plethora of incurable diseases, deadly viruses and inexplicable things all around us. Cancer is on the rise due to the many different things - lifestyle, quality of food and environment etc. In fact, if you act even the dearest Christian, there seems to be a sense of resignation and defeat.

This is both understandable and wrong at the same time. We see an exhortation from James here which is hardly called upon, in times of need, even by those who call themselves strong believers.....and that includes pastors. On average, you hear pastoral prayers about "Lord heal so and so, touch brother X, remember sister Y....etc.." But is there the strong biblical prayer system for healing, whether Body, Soul or Mind, which lines up with James 5:14, 15? Not really!  This sort of healing and restoration requires Faith and Trust in the Promise AND persistence in prayer.

Too many modern seminaries, and thus, the pastors they put out, have removed the spirit of this Scripture which says that such faith for healing, anointing with oil and restoration "is only for Bible times" and not now! I have heard that so many times, I don't even listen to it anymore. Because the Living Word who abides in the Christian testifies that the entire Word of God - all 66 books - are for now and for you and I. Therefore, even if the elders don't pray for the church and the sick as they should - YOU DO IT!

To drive home that point, the Lord gave us the account of the man of God - Elijah - who was sent to a place of famine and a poor woman in Zarephath. 
Read the full account here from the flowing narrative of God's Word Translation:  8 Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah: 9 “Get up, go to Zarephath (which belongs to Sidon), and stay there. I’ve commanded a widow there to feed you.”

10 He got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the town’s entrance, a widow was gathering wood. He called to her, “Please bring me a drink of water.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE READ OF THIS MESSAGE

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What is True Forgiveness?

What is forgiveness? Is it forgetting an event happened? Or is it surpressing the emotions the occurred surrounding the event. Is forgiveness simply saying "I forgive you" because we are required to forgive according to Matthew 18:22? Are we more eager to forgive when we have minimal contact with the person we need to forgive? If we see the person do we hide or shun them? Or are we happy and excited to see the person who offended us?

During this second semester of Elijah House the topic of "Accomplishing Forgiveness" was discussed. True Forgiveness is a supernatural act that requires God's grace. I realized I had NOT truly forgiven, I just merely mechanically forgave the person. I went through the motions of forgiveness but never investigated the emotions associated with the hurt. What hurts worse disappointments based on unspoken expectations, physical wounds or emotional wounds? They all hurt and they all need to be forgiven.

True forgiveness required me to allow Holy Spirit to me walk through that experience and identify with that other person. We were introduced to the power of the Gethesmane prayer. This was were Jesus bore our hurts, sins and pains. Where He identified with our emotions and cried out with agony to the Father, confident that he would comfort him and help him walk through true forgiveness.

So you maybe wondering where am I in the forgiveness process?

Step #1, talking to God telling him how I feel. How the hurt has affected me. How I need him to help me forgive Him, others and myself.

I am a work in progress.

Continue to pray!

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