The Power of Prayer

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. 

Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.

 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

James 5:13-18

“Prayer is as necessary as the air, as the blood in our bodies, as anything to keep us alive- to keep us alive to the grace of God.”

- Mother Theresa

“I grow achingly sad at times that the good things in my life are arduous. I procrastinate and grumble about my work. I get bored of and cynical about spiritual things. I resent that I have to call my mom back or listen to my kid tell an interminable story or sit through a sermon or pray for my enemies or say hello to my neighbors. I get overwhelmed by the number of texts or emails I receive in a day, and the number of needs in the world- and even in just my own home. I do not want to try. I do not want to love or care. I protest. I form a picket line in my front yard -me, alone, marching in a circle with a sandwich board: “What do I want? Ease! When do I want it? Now and forever!”

-Tish Harrison Warren, What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience

 “The way to walk in faith today is the way Christians have, more or less sustained the faith for 2000 years: practices like prayer and fasting, silence and solitude, study of and meditation on the scriptures, gathered worship, the sacraments, repentance, obedience, generosity, and love of neighbor. These all involve repetition, failure, renewal, perseverance, and hard won wisdom. They will all feel slow and take time, which is why, more than any new strategy, plan, app, or insight, what we most need to sustain a life of faithfulness is to learn the practices of stability… The desert call to stay in one cell is an invitation to the deep internal work that only happens in us with patients, struggle, and perseverance. “Away, enter your cell and sit down,” Said Abba Moses, “and yourself will teach you everything.” 

-Tish Harrison Warren