Monday 18/2/13

James 5:16-18 ESV

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.  Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, 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 heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

As human nature is sinful, we will all sin, repeatedly, continually. Thus we need to confess our sins to one another and seek forgiveness from God and men. We also need to pray for one another, for God to weaken to grip of sin in our heart and give us strength to stay immune to the temptations.

As we pray, we must do it diligently and persistently, waiting patiently to God. Elijah is a man like us, but his prayer ended the draught. He prayed persistently 7 times. For 6 times there were no sight of chance, but at the 7th time, the heaven gave rain and the earth gave fruit. Like the match around Jericho, we must stay persistent and diligent in our work and in our prayers despite the lack of progress and no sight of success. God will answer us in the 7th try. We will reap our effort. God will answer us.