Title: Prayer of Faith
Contents
Sermon Day-070121 Sunday Noon
Text - James 1:5
Title - Prayer of Faith
It is said that those who do not pray are “like a tree without roots.”
Just as a rootless tree withers and dies, it can neither blossom nor bear fruit, so the soul who does not pray is a dead soul.
And it is impossible for the received gift to blossom or bear fruit of its use.
Such a person cannot receive and bear the gifts God has given them.
Therefore, believers must have the wisdom to receive gifts and use them through continuous prayer of faith.
James exhorts us to ask God for such wisdom through the text.
In order to receive gifts through prayer and use them in accordance with God's will, we want to share grace by pondering together what attitudes and attitudes we should have in prayer.
Example - Mystic Power
Mystical powers come from the Spirit. The spirit is moving.
The heinous criminal has escaped from the prison.
He already raped a college girl and took money from people.
A housewife while watching the TV news felt strangely popular.
The fugitive had entered my house.
It was terrifying, but it didn't upset me.
After a while, my daughter, a college student, came in, and my husband returned.
The whole family was held for 48 hours by a fugitive with a gun.
The housewife was worried about how her daughter would take this.
But the daughter was also a man of faith.
The daughter calmly speaks to the fugitive who threatens and says dirty things to herself who gives her food.
"I am praying earnestly for you right now."
Seeing her daughter, the housewife is relieved.
That's not to say my time with the fugitives wasn't okay.
This time was, of course, unspeakably painful.
But these spiritual people were feeling that an unknown force was still helping them.
Seeing and listening to his blackmail and evil deeds, he did whatever he asked for, but he did not get caught in fear.
Eventually, the fugitive quietly left the house.
And the family experienced great spiritual confidence during this time.
A couple of hours later, the fugitive is caught by the police. Then he did not resist and was caught obediently.
“The worst behavior is about to come out of giving up.
I changed my mind because of the strange emotion I experienced for the first time from the family of that faith.
The innocence of those people had an unknown majesty."
What made them so?
If we truly look to God, an unknown spiritual power will come from within.
At that time, I am not afraid of the things of the flesh.
1. Because of our shortcomings
Paul stresses that we must be able to wait for the appearing of Christ without lack of gifts.
However, human beings are bound to always feel insufficient and limited by their own talents and abilities.
Just like the disciples who trembled in fear when there was a storm, we are always anxious and anxious.
Like the disciples who were rebuked for lack of ability, we lack faith.
Therefore, believers should always seek faith and wisdom from God because of their lack and need for gifts.
Mark emphasizes the importance of prayer, which we need in order to become gifted saints and to make good use of the gifts we have been given.
Abraham Lincoln testified that he received the wisdom he needed from God by getting down on his knees and praying in times of need.
Because of our shortcomings and God's omnipotence, believers should always ask God in prayer.
Illustration - The Lord's Prayer written on the wall
Don't say "in heaven". Don't be "we" while you're absorbed in the world. Living while thinking only of yourself... Don't say "Father". Don't say "Father's name is sanctified" without living as sons and daughters. Don't say, "Thy kingdom come" while struggling to glorify your name. Don't say, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Don't say, "Give us today our daily bread" while praying that my will be done. Don't say, "Forgive us our sins, for we forgive those who trespass against us." Don't "lead us into temptation" while still holding a grudge against anyone. Don't go looking for opportunities to sin... and say, "Deliver us from evil." Seeing evil and not hearing any voice of conscience... - A prayer written on the wall of a small church in Uruguay -
2. Believe and seek
God wants to give everyone good gifts first.
However, without this belief, we cannot receive and use the gift.
Just as a vessel cannot hold water without a vessel, it is because those who do not have faith cannot receive and use the gift of God.
The reason the servant who received a mina and wrapped it in a towel was rebuked for being an evil servant was because of his lack of faith.
The God who gave the gift also gives us the ability to use it.
Paul was a man who experienced that God is a generous God, who gives abundantly above all that we ask or think.
John talked about the secret of experiencing this kind of God,
“This is the confidence we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14).
We often want to seek our will, according to our will.
However, when we ask according to God's good, pleasing, and perfect will, the saints experience God's generous grace.
When Solomon asked for the gift of wisdom according to God's will, he generously gave him the gift of wealth and glory that he did not ask for.
Receiving a gift from God through the prayer of faith and exercising the gifted power does not mean that we share any power.
It simply means that we have become instruments for the work of God, which is used as a gift in itself. I hope that you will become a blessed believer who is constantly awake and prays of faith so that you can become a worker that God uses.