v 16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
The connection between prayer and healing is something with which many of us have struggled, and perhaps still do. And how about this business of confessing sins to one another, it’s not exactly common practice in our day and age is it! The verse presents us with so many challenges!
Confessing sin to one another speaks of honesty and openness in our relationships. It reveals the real me which is frequently masked.
Then there is the matter of how much, or little, we pray for each other. An occasional ‘Bless x… ‘ is hardly earnest prayer.
And what does constitute earnest prayer? Is it a matter of the time spent praying, or of the emotional input that goes into our praying?
To crown it all, James suggests prayer has wonderful results – is that the outcome of your prayers? Could you – would you – stand up in the Sunday morning worship time and speak about the wonderful answers you have experienced to your prayers?
Oh James, my prayers fall far short of this standard.
Is it something to which we should give more attention?