Subscribe Daily Bible Study Mailing List Receive Daily Bible Studies directly into your email inbox.
You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
James 5:16
16 Confess [exomologeo] your faults [paraptoma] one to another [allelon],
and [kai] pray [euchomai] one [allelon] for [huper] another [allelon], that [hopos] ye may be healed [iaomai].
The effectual fervent [energeo] prayer [deesis] of a righteous man [dikaios]
availeth [ischuo] much [polus].KJV-Interlinear
16 Therefore, confess your sins
to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The
effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. NASB
The word for confession
used in 1 Jn. is homologeo, which means to list our sins in confession to
God.
But here, the word
for confess is exomologeo, which means to acknowledge or to agree.And this refers to your acceptance of the
fact that you are indeed a sinner, that everyone who is alive or has ever
lived, is a sinner, that all of humanity is a sinner.
So, James tells us to
all agree on one important fact of life, and that is that we are all
sinners.There is none among us that is
perfect, pure, or some type of messiah substitute, that we should look to for
redemption, sanctification, purification, forgiveness, etc.
This rules out all
priests, pastors, and so forth.They are
sinners just as you and I are.And
therefore, they cannot hear your prayers of confession, just as angels cannot
hear your prayers, just as ancestors cannot hear your prayers of confession,
just as stars, bears, whales, or cockroaches cannot hear your prayers of
confession.
There is no one under
heaven who is authorized to hear your prayers, other than God the Father
Himself.
This verse does not
direct you to tell people of your faults.They probably already know of them anyway, but feeding the gossip
pipeline is not an answer to reducing sins, but rather tends to promote even
more sins in others.
The whole direction
of these verses is getting yourself into fellowship, so that you can function
effectively within your spiritual life.
Unless you enter into
a daily, or hourly, or whatever it takes, confession routine within your own
personal life, then you cannot be effective in your spiritual life, especially in
your prayer life.You cannot pray for yourself,
and certainly not for others, when you are habitually out of fellowship.
In fact you do not have
an effective spiritual life at all, when you are out of fellowship.
Therefore, become
interested in doctrine, study regularly, obey Gods mandates for getting into
and remaining in fellowship, learn doctrine, and grow up spiritually.
You are not a
spiritually mature believer, if you do not grow up in your spiritual life.
Of all of the people
on this planet earth, of some seven billion folks now, only the mature believers,
which number quite possibly in the very few millions or perhaps thousands (only
God knows this number), but only the mature believers on the planet have
effective prayers and spiritual lives.No one else does.
To accomplish much,
means to possess the power to achieve abundance.When there are wars, economic difficulties,
sicknesses, and great events that make the news headlines, or when there are
events that are small and never known but to a few folks in some private inner
circle, such as a family, the mature believer is on the front lines of the
spiritual battle.Firing off their
barrage of prayers to God, and God answers them.
This does not mean
that prayers for healing sick individuals will not work.But, when God provides us with surgeons, medications,
hospitals, bandaids, etc., then those prayers have in effect already been
answered.Go see your doctor.Don t be stupid and pray for something you
already have.
Prayer is the most
powerful weapon that has ever existed.But it must be used properly, and it must be consistent with Gods plan.
When you get to
heaven, you will probably be dumbfounded as to just how effective prayer has
been in human history, and how useless, mans plans have been.
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
If you enjoy these Bible Studies, please consider making a Donation
Subscribe Daily Bible Study Mailing List Receive Daily Bible Studies directly into your inbox.