Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
September 27, 2022
Read: James 5:13-16
13 If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. 14 If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.
Good morning! Trust in the power of prayer!
James reminds us that we need to pray often for every reason. We are also called to pray on the behalf of others. When we faithfully pray for one another, we connect in a new way.
One of the greater challenges on our faith journey is to remember that God’s ways and God’s time is different from our own. I believe that God hears and answers all our prayers. As our creator/parent, God sometimes has to listen past the actual words and reach into our souls to know what we truly are asking.
Because we are children with a limited understanding of God’s plan, our requests might be out of sequence in relation to God’s plan. Think of when children ask for totally inappropriate things. Maybe we have a crisis happening, and they want us to play with them or take them to the store. We think, “can’t they see what’s going on?” It’s not that we don’t want to do those things but now is not a good time. We tell them that we will do that later. God probably has this same thought with regard to our requests: “Can’t my children see that this is not the right time?”
Many years ago, I read the Mitford Series books, I remember Father Tim saying many times, especially in times of challenges and uncertainties, “Let’s pray the prayer that never fails, Thy will be done.” Within the Lord’s Prayer, we say those words, “thy will be done”. When we are able to let go and give control to God, we are ready to joyfully serve God.
The greatest blessing that we have is the 24/7 availability of our God. God is always ready to listen as we talk, cry, laugh, and complain. Sometimes we just need to vent or talk through our problems with a good listener. God has promised to always be with us. Never forget that we must also assume the role of listeners during our chats with God. Every good conversation includes a speaker and a listener.
Gracious God, Thank You for loving us. We are your children. Thank you for devoting Yourself to our needs. Thank you for caring for us and loving us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: God is always available.
God is always listening! Pastor Liz