Pray or be a prey

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
James 5:13-14

In the context of this passage, the troubles that James referred to included persecution, fear, injustice, misunderstanding and the likes. He simply instructed that if any one of us are in trouble, we should pray.

When we are faced with problems, do we turn to prayer only as the last resort? Is this a "man" thing, that we think that we can "solve" the problem with our own intellect and might?

I remember when my son was about 3 years old, he had a cut on his finger which bled. Crying, he came to me and said, "Daddy, pray for me!". To him, asking God to help was the first thing in his mind. He knew of no other way except to depend on God. Such is the innocent and child-like faith that our Father wants us to have.

As I read this passage from James, I am reminded once again that our trust must be in His faithfulness always. Just a couple of days ago, I lay awake in bed feeling anxious over my youngest daughter who was not home yet after her cell meeting. It must have been past eleven o'clock at night and my calls to her mobile phone went unanswered. All I could, besides worrying (which was useless anyway), was to pray. Michelle told me to be at ease after committing her to God in prayer.

I did and guess what? Using a friend's phone, she called to say that her phone went out of battery and as such, she could not inform me earlier that she was out having supper with her cell mates. A lesson for me .... no use falling prey to fear, simply pray.

Indeed, we are to be prayerful all the time and not only when troubles come our way. Prayer marshals God's power into our life. No wonder our Lord taught us in Luke 18:1-8 that "...we should always pray and not give up."

So, let's decide to pray, so that we may not fall prey....

God bless.

Steven