Prayers

How many prayers have you answered for God?

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. - James 5:13-18

I often wonder if God has a spam filter on the prayer requests He gets.

Does God get prayers he ignores?  Are there prayers that come from people who have no real faith?

James tells us that God is eager to answer our prayers.  Jesus had told us the same thing, asking if we would deny our children anything they need.  But not all prayers get answered, or at least the answer is not what we want.

Maybe that is because there is a role we all play in answering prayers.

How many times have you suddenly felt a need to call someone you haven't talked to in a while only to find they were having a difficult time?

Could that be an answer to their prayer for help?

The Holy Spirit works through us to extend the love and grace of God to all.  Through the Spirit, we are all connected to one another.

So, when God calls us to action, we need to answer.  It could be someone's prayer we are called to work on.

More to come...