Prayer of Petition and Intercession
Week 13 Day 4

13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is 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. 15And 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. 16Therefore 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 5:13-16

We often hear prayers end with ‘In Jesus’ name we pray’ or ‘in your name we pray.’ This is because as Christians we believe that Jesus is the one and only one who actually has the power to answer these prayers! This passage from James lays it out perfectly that through our faith in Jesus Christ our prayers can be and are incredibly powerful and effective. When we have this faith, and are living as God asks, we need not be modest in our prayers. Rather we are encouraged to directly confront God.

7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Matthew 7:7-8,

Reflection Questions

1. In what type of circumstances do you pray? When you need something? When you want something?
2. What circumstances does James 5 above tell us to pray in?
3. How whole-heartedly do you pray? When we take the time to think and acknowledge God for all that he is, and who we are praying to, what can happen to our prayers? What will this do for our life as a disciple?

Take the Next Step

If we would pray aright, the first thing we should do is to see to it that we really get an audience with God, that we really get into His very presence. Before a word of petition is offered, we should have the definite consciousness that we are talking to God, and should believe that He is listening and is going to grant the thing that we ask of Him.

R.A. Torrey