Category Archives: Faith

Prayer to Encourage the Believer

Praying for Healing from Depression

James 5:13-18 (KJV): “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14Is 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: 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. 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. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

Statue of Elijah on Mount Carmel

Statue of Elijah on Mount Carmel, Israel

This passage gives several interesting points on the subject of prayer for our consideration:

  • We should pray any time we have a need, or when we wish to offer praise to a faithful God
  • We can and should pray together
  • We can ask the elders in the church to pray for us
  • The phrase, “The prayer of faith” points us to the important connection between faith and answered prayer
  • Forgiveness of sins can result from prayer
  • Confessing our faults to one another can be beneficial
  • The fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful
  • James then cites for us, the example of the prophet Elijah, a man of prayer
  • He had passions and feelings just like us, that is, he was entirely human
  • He prayed earnestly and persistently
  • God answered Elijah’s prayers that were in accordance with His will

Some people argue that James 5:13-18 is not talking about prayer for physical healing from sickness alone, but about praying for healing from feeling low, depression and discouragement as well. The Greek words for “sick” in verse 14 and 15, and “healed” in verse 16, do allow this interpretation. Notice, also, the word “cheerful” in verse 13.  Cheerfulness is contrasted with depression. This suggests we can have a positive attitude when we pray because we are praying to the One who can do something about whatever difficulties we face in life. God does not want us low, but to be encouraged.

Jezreel Valley north of Mount Carmel where Elijah Prayed in Israel

Jezreel Valley north of Mount Carmel, Israel, where Elijah Prayed

Elijah’s Name – My God is Jehovah

Biblical names are often full of great meaning, and that is definitely true of Elijah’s name.

The Hebrew word for “God” in the Old Testament is Elohim, which is occasionally shortened to EL. Elijah’s name begins with “God”, telling us that he has been marked by God for His purposes.

California Beach

California Beach

Elijah’s name ends with “JAH”, a shortened form of the Hebrew word, Jehovah, God’s personal name. Elijah’s name, therefore, includes the word for “God” as well as the word for “Jehovah”. What a great honor to have God’s names as part of one’s own!  Elijah’s name reminds us that he has a special ministry to fulfill for God.

Inserted between those two words, EL and JAH, is the letter “I”, which translates from the Hebrew as “me”, “my” or “mine”, asserting Elijah’s personal relationship with his God.

California Beach

California Beach

Putting all this together, then, we find that Elijah’s name means “My God is Jehovah”, “The Lord is my God”, or “Jehovah God is very personal”. You could say the name means: “God is very personal to me”

California Beach

California Beach

Elijah’s name had great significance, and was a testimony to who Elijah was, and what he would do for God’s people.

Seeing God Who is Hidden

God sometimes seems to us to be quiet or hidden. Many of us would prefer a very visible God, but God is Spirit, and often works in wonderfully hidden ways. We can’t always see what He is doing. Occasionally we may experience a big miracle by God’s power like Elijah did, but most of the time there are no miracles, big or small.

Priest Lake, Idaho

Priest Lake, Idaho

Do you remember the Lord Jesus in the gospels? There we saw Him perform many dramatic miracles, but consider how many people were not touched by Him with miraculous healing, or how many He simply passed by. The truth is, God does not always work by means of miracles.

You might recall that Israel was very callous toward God in Elijah’s day. They ignored God’s Word and worshipped the idols of the pagan peoples among whom they lived. God jealousy desired for His people to respond to Him by faith but He occasionally did miracles through prophets like Elijah and others to prove these prophets were His spokesmen. God wanted to win the hearts of His wayward people. The miracles were God’s gracious warning of impending judgment for continued disobedience.

California Beach

California Beach

Elijah performed many miracles by God’s power, but he was still very human. There were times he was fearful, and felt alone and weak. Wow, does sound like us sometimes! These human frailties, however, did not hinder Elijah from remaining faithful in ministry, nor did they keep him from following His God day-in-and-day out.

California Beach

California Beach

God is God, and Elijah is Elijah! What does that mean? God knows we are human, and He mercifully reaches out to us as He did to Elijah and the people of Israel. God wants us to live by means of faith as we depend upon His strength and wisdom every day, especially when He allows trials to come our way. He has a loving purpose for these trials as He shapes our character to be more and more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Friends with God

John 15:13-15

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

California Beach

California Beach

Isaac and Joseph – More Impossible Situations

Luke 1:37  “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

The Birth of Isaac, the Son of Promise
After arriving in the land of Canaan, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, faced an impossible situation. God had promised to make a great nation from Abraham’s descendants. The problem was, Sarah was 90 and Abraham close to 100, and as yet they had no son through which God could fulfill His promise to them. Could God be taken at His Word? Abraham and Sarah faced what seemed to be an insurmountable challenge their faith, so they came up with a plan of their own to have a son. Sarah gave Abraham to her handmaid, Hagar, that Abraham might father a son through her. Hagar gave birth to a son, Ishmael. Ishmael would become the father of the Arab nations, but Abraham and Sarah were in for a big surprise as they looked adoringly at the son of their own planning. God informed them that Ishmael was not the son He had promised. Sarah, herself, would give birth to Abraham’s son within a year. Upon hearing this Sarah laughed, but God performed a miracle. The promised son was born, and at God’s direction he was named Isaac, meaning laughter. God specializes in impossible circumstances through which He can show Himself strong, and this is no laughing matter!

Priest Lake, Idaho

Priest Lake, Idaho

Joseph: from a Pit, to a Prison, to a Prince in a Palace!
Joseph was one of twelve sons born to his father, Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Jacob loved Joseph deeply because he was the son of his beloved wife, Rachel. Jacob played favorites when it came to his sons, showering Joseph with special honor and privileges. This did not sit too well with Joseph’s older siblings, who eventually hatched what they thought was a clever plan to get rid of their proud teenage brother once and for all. As a result of their jealous and heartless treatment, Joseph was thrown into a pit and left to die, his father being told he had been killed by wild beasts. This looked like an impossible situation for Joseph, but God wasn’t through with him just yet! God moved hearts and men, resulting in Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt, where he eventually became a slave in the house of Potiphar, Pharaoh’s servant, serving him loyally. What was Joseph’s “reward” for all his hard work? He was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife because he would not respond to her repeated sinful overtures. This landed Joseph in prison for many years. There was nothing he could do to help himself, so he waited on God and served faithfully even in prison. In time God vindicated Joseph, taking him out of the dingy prison, and putting him into a palace. Joseph rose to be second in authority only to Pharaoh in Egypt. Impossible! God not only honored Joseph, but He had a big surprise planned for Joseph’s brothers who had determined evil for him so many years earlier. Impossible circumstances sometimes lead to unique opportunities to display God’s glory.

Priest Lake, Idaho

Priest Lake, Idaho

God Will Put You in Impossible Situations to Prove He is God

God loves impossible situations!

Elijah, God’s prophet, faced an impossible and discouraging situation. The people of Israel refused to follow God and worshipped idols despite His unfailing kindness to them. How did Elijah handle these thankless rebels? He trusted God and turned to Him in fervent prayer. God responded with a series of amazing miracles that proved He, alone, was the true God, and challenged the people of Israel to obey God’s Word.

A Lake in Montana

A Lake in Montana

Let’s consider another impossible situation from earlier in Israel’s history. God chose Abraham out of a pagan society and made a very important covenant with him. God asked Abraham to leave his country and family for a new land He would show him. Just imagine what a difficult thing God was asking Abraham to do. It was nearly an impossible challenge for Abraham, but he pulled up stakes and left his home in Ur of the Chaldeans, never turning back. God graciously blessed Abraham’s trust, declaring him to be righteous in His sight.

Now consider the children of Israel and another impossible situation in this timeline.

  • Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, twelve sons
  • A famine
  • Down to Egypt they go
  • They are led into slavery
  • After 400 years of slavery they cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliver, Moses
  • There was much talking by Moses and miracles showing Egypt God’s judgment for refusing to let His people go free.
  • Now they are free and traveling towards the good land of Israel as God promised

Then they arrived at to the Red Sea, facing another impossible situation

They were walled in on four sides:

  • Behind: the army of Egypt
  • In front: the Red Sea
  • On the left: mountains
  • On the right: mountains

So what could they do?

Multnomah Falls, Oregon

Multnomah Falls, Oregon

They cried to the Lord, and the Lord made a way through the Red Sea.
This is by means of another miracle led by Moses listening to God and following God’s command.

God’s people were griping and complaining while Moses was listening to God’s Word and depending on God’s grace.

God loves impossible situations!

God will always make a way through life’s challenges and difficulties if we believe Him, pray and trust Him.

Learn to pray through the rough situations that come your way and obey God.

God will put you in impossible situations to prove that He is God.

Divine Purpose with Elijah

God has a purpose, a divine purpose resting behind every event in life. Many times we do not realize it till we look back and see God’s hand working, protecting and guiding us. Why did we meet this person, why did we end up at this church, at this fellowship, at this function in the body of Christ.

So now look at a few events in the Bible about Elijah.

Sea of Galilee, Israel

Sea of Galilee, Israel

It was not what Elijah did,  but who he was that is most significant. People love the story of the burnt sacrifice and how God proved that Jehovah is God. But the real significance of Elijah’s life and ministry is that he is a man who was available for whatever the Lord wanted to do. He followed The Lord, or to use a hard term for many “He Obeyed The Lord“. Elijah was a person what followed the Lord. Again not what he did, but that what he did was what the Lord was doing.

Even thought Elijah’s Prayer was wonderful, yet he is a person the Lord could use in any situation. Elijah prayed and the rain stopped, Elijah prayed and the rain came. The Lord could use him in any direction. Elijah could be used by God even when the direction or plans seem to change.

He did not stick to a program, but was available in many situations. I am not saying we should not have programs, but what if the Lord adjusts it or suspends it for a time, or sometimes terminates it?

Elijah is mentioned a few times in the New Testament, but not even mentioned in the great chapter on faith in Hebrews 11.

One day Jesus took a few disciples (Peter, James and John) to a high mountain, perhaps  it was mount Hermon in northern Israel.

Mount Bachelor, Oregon

Mount Bachelor, Oregon

And there appeared with Jesus two people from the Old Testament:  Moses and Elijah. These two represented the Law and the prophets. But why not Samuel, I always personally thought Samuel should be the top represented prophet, but God choose Moses and Elijah to appear with Jesus.

The two were talkng to Jesus, Luke says they were talking about Jesus’ death.

Then Peter had a “great idea”, no it was a “bad idea”. Peter wanted to build a great monument to all three people: Jesus, Moses ands Elijah.  So the Father started to speak from heaven saying “This is my son,  Hear Him“.  We should never get distracted from Jesus.

All these events and activities have a divine purpose. These all show we need to follow Jesus and not be distracted by other things. We need to follow Him.

Pray, and Let God Worry

A new Christian song encouraging us to pray and let God worry about our life. The phrase was inspired by Martin Luther who in the 1600’s wrote to his wife in a letter “…Pray, let God worry…”

Enjoy a short devotional music song video on “Pray Pray Let God Worry”

Martin Luther (16th century monk) said “Pray, and let God worry“. Which means don’t worry, give the concern to God. He can handle it.   Paul in Philippians 4:6 said: “Don’t worry; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” 

Enjoy a short devotional video on “Pray, Let God Worry”

Little Spokane River Area

Little Spokane River Area

Anxiety never seems to go away.  Anxiety and worry seem to be part of life.

Here is a video in which I shared on this subject.

So we need to pray and turn towards the Lord by praying, reading the Bible, singing or listening to inspiring Bible music.

Little Spokane River Area

Little Spokane River Area

Sometimes we need to back off and focus on God. In the world there are problems but have faith in Jesus.

Pray and Let God Worry

Pray and Let God Worry

Don’t lose sight of Jesus.

Little Spokane River Area

Little Spokane River Area

In the gospels, Peter needed to keep his eyes on Jesus not the raging stormy waters.
Peter sank when he looked at the water.  He needed to get his vision and perspective back on Jesus.

In Matthew 6:33  Jesus said: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Pray, and let God worry – Martin Luther

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Hebrew 13: 5-6  be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Psalm 103:1-5, A Psalm of David

Psalm 103:1-5, A Psalm of David

Isaiah 30:15 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel;
In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

So Isaiah is saying you need to slow down and trust God, but some of us have a hard time doing this. Just trust in Jesus.

Pray, Let God Worry

Pray, Let God Worry