Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. - James 5:13

A Bible teacher asked his class this question: "When you are in trouble, what do you most often do first?" He gave them three answers from which to choose:

       1. Take care of it yourself.
       2. Call a friend and talk it over.
       3. Ask God for help.

Only two people in the class of 35 indicated that they prayed first. Most of them chose number 1. Several chose number 2. My guess is that these responses are typical.

James wrote, "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray" (5:13). Too often, prayer is not our first response to trouble. We may try to figure out a solution by ourselves, using our own skills or financial resources. Or we may turn to our friends. When none of that helps, we finally get around to praying.

Not only that, we don't pray about the trouble very long or pause to consider what the Bible has to say about our response to our problem. It's amazing, though, what can happen when we take time to pray about the issue and listen to God speak through His Word. He will give us a fresh way to look at our situation, and help us to be more Christlike.

James said, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (5:16). So always pray first!

-DCE

Thinking It Over
When you face a problem, where do you turn first?
How has prayer helped you during difficult times?
How has God answered your prayers?

Prayer should be our first response - not our last resort.