March Beacon

“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.” James 5:16

A young boy saw a pack of cigarettes on the ground and decided to try them. He went to a field near his home and, after several fumbling attempts, got one lit up. It didn’t taste too good; indeed, it burned his throat and made him cough. But it made him feel very grown up.

Then he saw his father coming.  Quickly he put the cigarette behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to divert his father’s attention, the young boy pointed to a nearby billboard advertising the circus. “Can we go, Dad? Please, let’s go when it comes to town.”  The father quietly but firmly replied, “Son, never make a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience.”

Do you think confession and petitions go together? It sounds like James did. In his call to prayer in James 5, he encouraged prayer in times of trouble and sickness. He also taught the need to pray in faith. It was in that context that James added the part about confessing sins and praying.  All of that preceded what may be the most neglected sentence in the Bible.  It is not that people have not heard the sentence. Many know it by heart. But the practice is the problem. James wrote that, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” The King James Version reads, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Do we really believe that, or would you call that a neglected truth?
Apparently Elijah believed it! He called out to God to stop the rain from falling. It stopped for three and a half years. Then he prayed for rain, and it came. Elijah’s prayers both created and ended a devastating drought.

Will you pray for our church?  I have been thinking of our need to have everyone praying for our body of believers.  We have cards available with everyone’s name on it.  The idea is for each one to have it close to where you have devotions. You can check mark those you prayed for on that day.  Do you think it would make a difference in the lives of our people to have everyone praying for them?  And what would happen if we all were daily calling out to God to be used by Him to reach others for Christ?  Would you like to find out?  As I was pondering this, a question emerged - ‘What would God do with 1000 hours of prayer?’

I do not know how long it would take for our church to log that many hours before our Lord.  I do not know how much power and mercy and strength and love our God would unleash in our midst.  Do you?  Would you like to find out?  Do you believe that, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

Pastor Lerud

February Beacon

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
Would it be fair to call her, ‘Reluctant Rhoda?’ King Herod was on a rampage. He was arresting and persecuting those belonging to [...]

January Beacon

“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.  You need milk, not solid food!”  Hebrews 5:12
Will it be milk or solid food for you in 2010?  Maybe you are not only a consumer, but also a provider [...]

December Beacon

“A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”   Matthew 3:3
God’s people were in exile in Babylon.  They needed comfort from their Creator.  The words come in Isaiah for about 15 chapters, beginning in Isaiah 40.  Written about 150 years before Cyrus, prophetic words [...]

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