DCLM Higher Everyday 6 December 2022 — Passionate Prayer
DCLM Higher Everyday 6 December 2022 Devotional by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Passionate Prayer
TOPIC: PASSIONATE PRAYER
TEXT: JAMES 5:13-18
13Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14Is any sick among you? 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:
15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16Confessyour faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
MEMORY VERSE: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (JAMES 5:16).
MESSAGE:
Prophet Elijah in our Bible text prayed fervently and perseveringly in the midst of an economic crisis caused by the sin of Israel, and God answered him. Elijah prayed seven times for rain to come, and it did.
According to Oldham, “Prayer does not consist in battering the walls of heaven for personal benefits or the success of our plans. Rather, it is the committing of ourselves for the carrying out of His purposes. It is a telephone call to headquarters for orders. It is not bending God’s will to ours, but our will to God’s. In prayer, we tap vast reservoirs of spiritual power whereby God can find fuller entrance into the hearts of men.” No wonder that the prayer of Elijah turned Israel back to God!
Passionate prayer therefore involves being faithful, committed and diligent to realise that which glorifies God. Whether it is a prayer of thanksgiving, petition, intercession or consecration, it should proceed from a fervent heart full of faith. So, pray for yourself, family and Church, but let it come from a pure heart with clean hands.
QUOTE: Pray for yourself, family and Church.
CHALLENGE: Passionately pray as if everything depends on God.
PRAYER: Holy Father, give me passion for prayer, in Jesus’ name.
1. Admit that you are a sinner. "For all [humans] have sinned, and comes short of the glory of God....[and] the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 3:23)
2. Repent now. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out ...[for] if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness " (Acts 3:19, 1 John 1:9)
3. Believe that God loves you and Jesus died for you. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet Sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)
4. Invite Jesus into your life through prayer of faith. Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20)
