Faith Prayer!

James5: 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Shared this during prayer meeting that day. I intended to share something about our “spiritual well” or “Jesus pruning our branches” but as I was flipping through the Bible, I was attracted to these verses. In the first part of the verse,

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

We should not only pray during our times of need, but we should pray & sing songs of praise when we are joyful. Often, we tend to only seek God when we are in trouble, when things go out of hand, but we never honor God or give thanks to Him during our happy moments, when we are blessed, when we are in our comfort zone. We somehow forget that the joys and laughter and blessings came from God, and not ourselves. This verse says we should make prayer our lifestyle. Not at a certain situation, but at all times. God communicates with us via the Bible, but we communicate with God via our prayer. Often, when we spend time talking to friends, we are building a stronger relationship with them. Same thing with God. If we can devote so much time to our spouses, studies, leisure, sports, food… more time should be devoted to our Father in heaven, who created us and gave up everything to have us united with Him! In the Bible, the book psalms is filled with songs of praise, worship and confession for God! Let every word that come out of our heart be seasoned with words that exalt and honor God for every situations and moments that He has put in our lives.

15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.


Sometimes, when we pray, we don’t see immediate healing. But that doesn’t mean we should stop praying. See that, we have to pray first, and then God will act accordingly. God can just make an action without us needing to ask, but God wants us to pray first. Not just merely praying, but a prayer offer in faith. Although we don’t see immediate healing, but our prayer in faith somehow stirs our spirit, gives us assurance, makes us feel better, gives us support or edifies our faith. Our prayer is actually part of God’s healing process!

16… The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

What a strong verse. A prayer of a righteous man is powerful & effective. We don’t just pray in faith, but we pray strong! It doesn’t mean we are shouting out our prayers, but every word that comes out from our mouth must be spoken in faith & with strong beliefs that God is hearing and answering our prayer. It avails much!!!!! We are righteous by the blood our Christ, our prayer is gonna make an impact!

17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

When we say Elijah, what comes into our mind? Many will remember that he’s the prophet who calls for the rain and God sent rain right. This verse says, he is a man with a nature like ours, he is just like us, but the verse continues to say “he prayed earnestly”!!! We should look at Elijah’s relationship with God. God didn’t reveal Himself to Elijah in a powerful and miraculous way, like a burning bush but God reveals Himself to him in a gentle whisper (1king19:11-13) Many times, we are so caught up with our daily routine and busy schedule that we missed what God wanna speak to us, God also speak in the quietness of our hearts. We should step back from heightened situations in our busy lives and listen humbly with a quiet heart to God’s guidance.

It has been a while since we started this prayer meeting. Initially with 5, now the numbers doubled. We meet every sun night and pray corporately as prayer in agreement brings power! Looking for more times where we can edify each other and intercede for people in IH. Gonna set a different culture here in IH, a culture not built by the world, but built by God!