Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; James 5:13-14

God works through us in order for us to grow in our faith. To the world, David killed Goliath with a sling and a stone. Though it would have been easier for God to slay Goliath directly, God worked through David. We must understand God works through us to enable us to grow in our faith, and prayer shows us the way we should act so that God can work through us.

When we encounter difficulty like David and the Israelites faced with Goliath, we must pray. When trouble comes into our lives, we must pray and seek God’s guidance. We must believe God sends hardship our way to help us. God may answer and work through us, or God may not answer because we are not ready to receive his help. How our prayers are answered works as a guide for us. 

Rather than pray to get a positive result in our lives, we must pray to see if God listens and answers our prayers. We pray to gain a better understanding of God and his purpose. When God answers our prayer,  we develop faith and conviction in God’s power to answer those prayers. When our prayers are not answered, we must know that there must be a reason for it – could it be because we still have something to repent? Or is it not the right time yet, or does it require more prayer? This is how prayer guides us.

Whatever difficulty comes into our lives, we must have complete confidence that the thing we must do is pray to our Lord, seek Him and have the conviction that He will help us. This brings God joy. Prayer is our dialogue with God. Being a believer in prayer brings joy to God. We still need to do our part – work hard, be diligent – we cannot just sit back and pray and think everything will be done for us. We must become people who do everything we can, put forth every effort AND pray to God. Then our prayers will be answered. 

We must all recognize we need God’s help to succeed in our salvation and to move along the path set before us. We do our part and then pray, seek his purpose, wisdom, and commandments. When we do this, God will send us blessings, joy, and ability to accomplish anything. Armed with God’s help, we can overcome any hurdle we face. If there are any of us who face difficulty, sickness, a business issue – any problem, we should come together and pray. God will come to our aid. We must do what we can do AND pray. 

God gives us trouble so that we hold on more tightly to him. Prayer guides us to see what we must gain in understanding when we overcome these hardships. We must know that we cannot succeed on our own, but, importantly, we must know that it is God’s power working through us that helps us overcome any tests or challenges we face in our lives of faith.

Click for Korean sermon https://soundcloud.com/yhpaik/1984-6-6-1a-2