September 22, 2010 Talking to God 3

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

Good Salvation Wednesday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. Yes, Salvation Wednesday, and the day we pray for those who are not saved or that we are not sure of, and also the day we pray for God to use us who are born again, who are saved, who are washed in the blood of Jesus to help bring in the lost. Also today please pray for Anna Troutman. Anna is one of our flock at the Bridges and her son has passed away. Sadly, he lives in Peru, and she cannot get to the funeral and for whatever reason he is staying there to be buried. I think her son has family there also. Anna recently had a bad fall and really needs our prayers for that. Prayers also for Pastor Tony and Ruby. Ruby is flying to see her sister and Pastor Tony's son is going to stay with him for the week. Prayers also for Kathleen as she readies for more cancer treatments. I got a note from Vicki thanking us for prayers and saying that each day is getting better from the surgery. Pray also about that job for Mark and also for Patty.

Talking to God 3: James 5:13 - Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (NIV)

Most often known as the prayer of faith, this is just another example of how we should talk to God about our troubles, and also talk to Him about the good things. By all means please note that part that tells us that if we are happy we should be singing praises to the Lord. If I were to ask the average person how often does he pray a prayer of thanksgiving to our Lord on days when all is going good. Do we crawl into the sack at night and say, thank You Lord, this has been a wonderful day and I just want to praise You before I go to sleep? Be truthful now, it is so easy to forget when all is going well to talk to God about that. Hey, why tie up His time when all is well, right? Wrong!! God wants to hear from us when we are doing good. Let me ask you this, do you only want to hear from people who are complaining all the time? Do you want only those who are going to talk your ear off about problems to stop by your desk at work, or do you like to hear Good News? I thought so, well let me tell you that we need to sing and praise the Lord when things are going good, we need to shout out those victories for we have victories in our Lord Jesus.

Also in this scripture it tells us in verse 5:15, "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well." How often are we not giving it all over to our Lord Jesus, how often are we saying, maybe God will heal us and maybe He will not? Come on, folks, when you pray, when you have that heart-to-heart talk with God, and folks, that what it is, it is words coming from your heart, out your mouth and into God's ears and into His heart, and when you have that talk believe it to be happening as you talk to Him. If you are not praying in faith, IF YOU ARE NOT PRAYING IN FAITH, you are wasting your time. Have faith, my brothers and sisters, for we serve an all-powerful God, one who made this heaven and earth and the people in it, and let me tell you that if God made man and woman, and He did, then He for sure can repair them. If God built me and in His image also, He for sure can fix me when I get a flat tire, or a miss in my giddy up. He can cure the cancer of Kathleen as He has cured mine. Folks, there is not one thing out there that God cannot do, if you just ask in faith.

Folks, I want you to also think about this... I have heard people say, oh, I know that guy or that lady and they are very religious. Being a Christian is not a religion, it is a relationship, and that relationship is between us, each of us, one at a time and that of our Lord Jesus. A one-on-one relationship with the King of all kings, and the Lord of all lords, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And to have that relationship with Him we indeed need to have faith and we need to talk to Him often... Right, of course, it is right!!

Dear Father in Heaven, increase my faith today, increase it 10-fold each day for the rest of my life, I want to never doubt, never doubt in You. I want to be sure of the ground I am walking on and the ground I am going to walk out on in faith. I know, Lord Jesus, I can trust in You. You are the love of my life. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Now go forth having faith and sharing those blessings. Don't be afraid to step out in faith, when working with our Lord Jesus we have faith and do it all the time. Follow Jesus, talking to Him and following what He tells you to do. Amen. Love ya, Pastor Dan.