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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comThrough the Bible Day by Day - James 5:12 - 5:12
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Effectual Prayer
Jam 5:12-20
In view of the judgment-seat, at which we shall have to give an account of our words, we shall do well to employ the simplest, plainest speech, Mat 5:34; Mat 12:36-37.
How shall we act in any given situation? The Apostle says in effect, be perfectly natural. The suffering should pray, the glad sing, the sick confess his sins and call for believing prayer. The oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The body is the Holy Spirit’s temple, and He is asked to bring it to the level of that spiritual wholeness which is His ideal. Where He gives the prayer that can affirm and claim, there is no doubt that perfect health will result. But there is all the difference between human telepathy and divine healing, which is God’s gift to faith.
Elijah became what he was by faith and prayer. Naturally he was subject to the same fears and failings as ourselves. There are two reasons why we should endeavor to convert men: (1) for their salvation, (2) for the arrest of their baleful influence.