BROADCASTS.com

Welcome to Day 2131 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom James \u2013 Wisdom is Faith in Action 13\u2013 Patience Through Prayer \u2013 Daily Wisdom Putnam Church message \u2013 01/09/2022 James: Wisdom is Faith In Action \u2013 Patience Through Prayer We are continuing our series today on the Proverbs of the New Testament, better known as the letter of James. Last week we continued in James 5 and focused on verses 7-12. This message is titled, Patience in Suffering. This week we will study James 5:13-18, so join me on page 1885 in the pew bibles as I read the Scripture for today. I would recommend keeping this passage open as we go throughout the message today: James 5:13-18 \xa0Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.\xa0Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.\xa0 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders\xa0of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil\xa0in the name of the Lord.\xa0 And the prayer offered in faith\xa0will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.\xa0 Therefore confess your sins\xa0to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.\xa0The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are.\xa0He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.\xa0Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. \xa0 \xa0 Like a car without fuel, life without prayer grinds to a halt. The prayer-starved Christian fails to shine like a lamp without electricity in a dark, desperate world. (Unplug Lamp) But show me a man or woman of prevailing prayer, and I\u2019ll show you a man or woman whose faith is deep. Ernest, fervent prayer moves the heart of the omnipotent God of the universe. Yet far too many Christians fill their lives with dizzying activities, leaving no time for this crucial ingredient that can transform mere human actions into divine acts of power. \xa0 From the introduction to James\u2019s letter, you may recall that James was well-known for his prayer life. He had the nickname \u201cCamel Knees\u201d because he spent so much time on his knees in prayer that they resembled the calloused knees of a camel. As one would expect from a book written by a man famed for prayer, the theme comes up repeatedly in the letter. In 1:5, James wrote, If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. \xa0And in 4:2, he said, Yet you don\u2019t have what you want because you don\u2019t ask God for it. Now, at the climax of his letter, James develops the theme of prayer more fully. \xa0 Here in 5:13-18, James continues to develop the idea of how we are to conduct ourselves with patience as we await the Lord\u2019s return: true faith exhibited through patience, manifests itself in prayer. In the face of every obstacle, whether sickness or sin, the correct response is prayer. Prayer reflects an attitude of genuine faith and reveals patient endurance as we rely on God to handle life\u2019s struggles in His timing and according to His promises. As such, prayer becomes an essential mark of authentic faith. \xa0 James refers to two ends on the spectrum of...