Devotional Reading: James 5: 16-27

Text: The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.(v.15)

Prayer is essential. We cannot prevent ourselves from praying. Even when we are angry with God, prayer sneaks into our lives.And prayer changes things. A black free-church minister once told me that prayer changes God, God changes people, and people change situations. While I don’t agree with that theology, I do agree that prayer changes me and I can be a “change agent”.

I often pray with people for healing, especially when they are in the hospital or facing a terrible illness. But I learned long ago that not all healing is physical. The most important healing is spiritual. All of us will die from some cause. It is my prayer and hope that it does not happen for a long long time but even the New Testament figure, Lazarus, whom Jesus brought from the grave in the gospel of John, is not longer with us in the flesh.

When spiritual healing occurs we are at peace with ourselves, others and God. This is the peace that the apostle Paul meant when he wrote about “the peace of Christ that passes all understanding.” It gives us the ability to sing the words of the old hymn “It is well with my soul.”

It is my prayer for you today, that you have this peace. And that in having this peace, you will know both the love of God that will never let you go and the fellowship that knits us together into the Body of Christ on earth.

Lord, grant me peace. Give me the courage for reconciliation. Let me learn from my past but remember that it is past. This is a new day, one that You created and blessed. Amen.