Prayer

Prayer. I’ve been learning lately how much I need prayer. Scratch that, how much I need to pray. Not for anyone’s benefit, but for my own.

You can read over and over again in the Bible about the importance of prayer. Multiple verses come to mind when prayer is mentioned, but the one I want to focus on is James 5:16.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) can accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power].”

James 5:16 AMP

Have you noticed how quickly life can weigh you down? You can be sitting on a couch, laughing with a friend, and within the same hour, you’re lying on your bed alone, facing an anxiety attack about the amount of money that’s not in your bank account. It seems like no matter how happy we seem to be, worries of the world take that happiness away.

One thing that’s always worked for me is opening up about those worries. Confessing my stresses to a friend is apparently the magic potion to lift the weight off of my shoulders, without fail. As James says, confess and be healed and restored. It’s both relieving and benefitting to shrug off those worries onto someone else.

What if that Someone else was Jesus?

Someone who’s always listening, Someone who offers to take those burdens, Someone who wants to give you rest (Matthew 11:28). Jesus is always there, ready to be your friend and take away your stress. He wants to hear about your sins and help you walk away from them. He wants to reassure you about your future because He’s ready to provide for you.

Talk to Him. Release the weight holding you down. Experience freedom! It will allow you to, in turn, help others around you. And it will pull you closer to your heavenly Father to experience the relationship He wants to have with you.