Daily Devotions

James 5: 16

Pray for each other.

In the following verses, James is reminding the believers that in all seasons and at all times they need to pray for one another.

Jas 5:13  Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 

Jas 5:14  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 

Jas 5:15  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 

Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 

James then elaborated on the different occasions that we should pray. When we are blessed then we ought to offer our prayers of thanksgiving and praise. When anyone is ill then we ought to offer prayers of intercession for the healing of the sick.

When there are testing and trials, then we ought to pray for wisdom and victory over the trials and testing.

In this direction James turned the attention of the believers to the example of Elijah. When he was faced with a life threatening challenge, then Elijah prayed to God to intervene. He asked God to withhold the rain for three and a half years to punish the evil people. After that He prayed for rain and his prayers were answered almost immediately and a great storm came within a short time.

There are many needs that we have on a daily basis and Jesus also taught systematically to His disciples that they must pray not only for others but also for themselves. Jesus set an example by going aside each night after a long day’s ministry to pray for himself as well as for others.

This reminds us that we must be in prayer all the time, we need to pray before ministry and we need to pray after ministry. Prayer before is to prepare and equip ourselves for ministry and praying after is to recharge ourselves after we have exhausted our spirit man during ministry time.

We do spend a lot of energy whenever we minister especially if we have entered into spiritual warfare. There needs to be time to be refreshed by the Holy Spirit after our ministry. Otherwise we will experience weakness in us.

In today’s verse, James reminded us that we need to pray for one another. When we spend time in prayer, pray for the needs of one another as well as for greater needs like corporate or national needs. We are to pray for those in authority so that they may lead and rule wisely and in a godly manner.