Fervent Prayer

Sunday, April 11, 2010
Listen to this devotional:

James 5:16 – Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. (AMP)

Through this and Scriptures like it, I frequently need to bring my personal prayer life to be examined by the Lord. Of all that I do pray for, what may I be leaving out? I've never heard that I'm doing just fine — thus far. Always what the Lord shows me makes me want to put total days aside for His list of prayer needs.

Ephesians 6:18 – Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God's consecrated people). (AMP)

Here are some of the realities which our compassionate Lord looks upon daily and calls us to consider:

  • those who are constantly hungry and homeless

  • those on the verge of suicide

  • those who have lost loved ones in sudden death

  • the elderly, wracked with the pains of aging, whose only "escape" is death

  • those horribly deformed by painful arthritis

  • grieving families with members suffering Alzheimer's disease

  • those tormented by the horror of irrational fears

  • people whose minds are destroyed by mental disorders

  • those tormented by demons of alcoholism and drug addiction

  • the blind, who never see the ones they love or the beauty of God's creation

  • children suffering from leukemia and other terminal diseases

  • people dying of brain tumours

  • those laid waste with various cancers

  • emphysema victims struggling for the breath to live

  • those suffering the agony of AIDS

  • abandoned children

  • the sexually abused

  • wives locked in despair, beaten and abused by cruel and/or drunken husbands

  • people whose lives will be taken today by murderers

  • victims of floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, and earthquakes, and their aftermath

  • burn victims with agonizing body burns, faces burned beyond recognition

  • people whose bodies have been shattered in car wrecks

  • people whose loved ones have been literally blown apart in planted minefields and other deliberate bombings

  • the millions who don't know the comfort, forgiveness, and eternal life that is in Jesus Christ.

This list compels me to fervent prayer. It also refreshes me in the knowledge of the difference we can make in so many lives in the world. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man [person] availeth much." (James 5:16b KJV)

As I increase in prayer, so does the depth, sincerity, and gratitude in my personal thanksgiving, praise, and worship offerings to God, for His all-embracing grace and loving protection in my life.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for Your every call and service unto You. On behalf of those suffering the world over, may we ever respond compassionately, positively, and willingly, as You always respond to us. With grateful hearts, we pray. Amen and Amen!

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About the author:

Rosemary Renninson
Westbury, Victoria, Australia

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