LIFE ABOVE REPROACH

James 5:16 NKJV states: “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

When one confesses, they are simply concluding that they were wrong. The one they are confessing to either is in right standing, or has the method of making the fault void. Often times, I have stood on the wrathful side of judgment because I failed to confess my faults. See, the scripture at hand says, “Confess your faults”. That is a difficult task when I am operating in pride, and refuse to humble myself. Pride goes before destruction. The Bible tells me to examine myself; take the plank out of my own eye. All that has to do with me knowing where I am and judging myself, so I would not be so quick to judge another. I first have to confess my own faults, especially when I am dealing with the body of Christ, my dear brothers. If I falter in my confession area, then it is impossible for me to pray for anyone else. Failing to confess is like putting the cart before the horse or being an ankle out of joint. I will be nowhere, and my condition has the potential to get worse. This reminds me of a time in 1992 when I shot myself in the leg with one of the most powerful handguns known to man, a .44 revolver. Any doctor would tell you that I should have lost my leg, and the devil had that in store for me. On the other hand, someone had already confessed her faults. Therefore, she had a clear pathway to the throne of God where mercy, grace, and help were in the time of need. I needed healing, and someone who was living right before the all-seeing eyes of God was able to pray. The latter half of the scripture simply put it, “the effectual prayer of a righteous man avails much.” That is exactly what happened the night I laid on the ground with two bullet holes in my leg, both gushing out blood. When I arrived at the hospital, the doctors examined my injuries and told my mother, “You must be a praying woman”. That is the only way I would have walked out of the hospital with the legs I was born with. I had a mother who prayed for her son. I shared that to say I know the responsibility of having to confess my faults to others. I need that clear pathway to the throne; I need my prayer to avail much. I simply do not know what situation someone might be in that will require the prayer of a righteous man. Not just any prayer from anybody but a fervent, intense, sincere, targeted prayer from a righteous man. A man who is living in right standing with God shall avail, accomplish, bring to pass, cause one to be healed and delivered. Out of all the scripture covered in the 32 weeks of ‘Life Above Reproach’, I chose James 5:16 because it speaks volumes to me. It shows me the power I have when operating within the Word. There is no other power one can possess that can compare to the power of prayer. May God bless the reading and study of His eternal Word. In Jesus’s Name.

Brother Harvey T.