This Lenten season we will be exploring prayer, and I wanted to start with these two passages, both of which speak directly to the power of prayer. In Matthew 21, Jesus blights a barren fig tree with a word and tells his disciples that if they have faith, without doubt, they can do such things, too – can even tell mountains to cast themselves into the sea, because anything they ask in faith they will receive. Then, in the second passage, Jesus’ brother James says that when the elders of the church pray over the sick, the afflicted will be healed and their sins forgiven, because the prayer of the righteous is powerful. These are inspiring, encouraging words. God hears us when we pray, and God does reach into the world and change the normal order of events in response to our prayers, in recognition of our faith and righteousness and that of the church.
Sermon Notes