Praying In Need

Praying In Need
May you be blessed by this reading today. Are you in need today? Are you willing to open your life to God's amazing grace today and to the community of believers where we can experience God's unconditional love and grace together?


Suggested Bible Reading

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.

-James 5:13-18 (NRSV)


Today's Scripture

Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.

-James 5:14 (NRSV)


SOME years ago, our congregation began offering anointing with oil and prayers for healing for those in our community. At first people were hesitant to ask for prayer or to come forward to receive anointing for physical, emotional, or relational scars. But in time these healing services became very important to our congregation. Now it is not uncommon for dozens of people to seek healing and prayer.

We easily forget that all of us are broken people. Each of us has needs that may require God's healing touch or the support of a caring community. Indeed, great things happen when we open our lives to God's amazing grace. Consider your life today. Where are you in need? What prayers for yourself, your family, or for others do you need to offer?

Christianity is not a solitary faith for only the strong but a bond that calls us to pray for one another in our infirmities and our need. And often, in our weakness, we discover the strength of God.

Todd Outcalt (Indiana, USA)

Prayer
Dear Lord, make us instruments of your peace and healing. Where we are weak, make us strong. Where we are wounded, heal us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thought for the Day

Through Christ's wounds we are healed.