“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”~ Ja. 2:15-17
“But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”~ 1 Jn. 3:17-18
It is a great honor and privilege to pray for a brother or sister’s needs. But just as wonderful, if not more so, is for you to be the answer to that prayer. To be sure, some can’t but others can. To be in the first class is no shame; God knows what you would do if you could do it.
But to be in the second group of those who have the answer to the prayer they are praying for another, lying beside them, cannot claim cannot but will not! In such cases the Word say’s one’s faith and love is voided. As Ezra of old such need to blush when looking up.
In situations where we can take care of the matter it is useless to pray about it. Joshua prayed concerning something he could handle himself and God told him to cease praying. “And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide… And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?”~ Josh. 7:6,10
Before we pray for another’s difficult situation we need to make sure we have done all that’s possible to humanely relieve his predicament.
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