His main message was based around 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 "Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God." Which was an amazing sermon about how we could have all the knowledge in the world, but have absolutely nothing. Great message and I would recommend it to anyone serious about Jesus. I however wish to talk about something he said in passing that really hit me:
James 5:16 " Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. I mean, I always knew this, but I didn't really know this. I didn't understand the implications it meant for my life. There are people in this world who are suffering, and worse, who do not know the love of the Father, and I sit here at home thinking that there is not much I can do for these people. I mean, I don't have money to feed the poor, my father won't allow me to go on missions trips, I need to spend time doing things now so that I can help people later when I get a real job and am able to support others, but does this really mean that I sit back and do nothing? First of all, there are people everywhere who don't know the Father's love, but what I really want to get at is "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." Do I really believe in the power of prayer? If I think there is nothing I can do for the suffering in this world, do I really have faith? What I should be doing is asking God to cleanse me of my sins, make me a holy and righteous person, so that when I pray, things happen. What has hit me so hard is that, my lack of seriousness towards sin is killing people. My laziness, my lust, all my smallest sins are stopping me from coming to God and caring about the world. Because of my lack of passion and enthusiasm, people are going to hell. That is serious.
Don't misunderstand me here, I believe that all Christians are righteous before God through faith, not works. "The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins." (Romans 3:22-25). So if we sincerely believe in Jesus, have repented of our old ways and are following Him as our Lord, our prayers are powerful enough to stop the rain (James 5:17-18). But what happens when we are walking in our sin? We are far from God AND WE ARE NOT PRAYING LIKE WE SHOULD! Our sins are not merely acts that we commit against God that warrant divine judgement, our sins are divine judgement, and the more we are sinning the more it is evident that our relationship with God is not as it should be. "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." (Romans 1:28). The less we acknowledge God, pray, study His word, the more we will be judged, by God giving us over to our depraved mind.
So it is evident that my lack of prayer and my sins are killing people:
Not walking in sin = Close to God = Powerful and righteous prayers = Helping those who we currently do not have the ability to help in a practical/physical manner.
Walking in sin = Far from God = Little prayer = People who could have been saved by our prayers will not be saved.
I hope this encourages you to live a holy and righteous life, and pray earnestly for the people around you, the wrong done in 3rd world countries, the sin in our society and the big things that we think we cannot change. Pray prayers that make a difference in this world.
As a final note, if you're not sure what to pray for, I leave you with this:
"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
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