"The Posture of James"- The Virtue of Vulnerability
As we look again at the posture of James, asking the Lord to help us establish a prayerFULL life, I want to invite us to look once again at James 5:13-16.
A truth that stands out powerfully to me in this passage is the necessity of vulnerability in establishing a life of prayer. I find that a lack of vulnerability is one of the strongest hindrances to praying with power. If we look closely at this passage, we notice that James asked if anyone is suffering let him pray, if anyone is cheerful let him sing songs, if anyone among you is sick let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him. The prayer of faith will save the sick and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven. Verse 16 says “confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.” Did you catch how much vulnerability is required in this passage? James is telling us that when we are suffering, when we are sick, when we have committed sins, when we have hidden trespasses, we are to become open, honest, and vulnerable with each other (with those in the body we know Love and follow Jesus and those who love and care for us) confessing our needs, confessing our sins, and coming together in prayer over one another.
James tells us that it is in coming together in prayer for one another with that openness and honesty that we will be healed. I have to wonder if this is something that we engage with easily or something we shy away from?
I have often noticed that when someone is suffering, the tendency is to suffer alone. When someone is sick. The answer is often isolation. If someone has sinned, they tend to hide, and where there are trespasses, there is often secrecy. If these are our customary actions it is no wonder so many of us do not walk in freedom and healing.
Have you ever noticed that when prayer requests are asked for in the body of Christ, the prayer requests voiced are so often for others? We so rarely ask for prayer for ourselves, and if we do, it is very rarely something true, deep, and genuine, but something “acceptable.”
I believe if we want to a establish a prayer filled life like James then we have to obey the word that God spoke through him and open ourselves up in vulnerability to our brothers and our sisters in Christ. We are called to share one another’s burdens, to know one another Well, and to pray for each other in spirit and in truth that we may be healed.
One of the simple truths of living a life of prayer is living a life of vulnerability.
Have you ever noticed that when you genuinely pray to the Lord, you are at your most open and your most honest? Aaron and I often share with young people, who we are premaritally counseling, that if only one person, in the middle of an argument, will stop and ask if they can simply pray together, it will be in that time of prayer that that relationship is healed almost instantly.
Here’s why: if you’re in the middle of a fight or an argument with someone and you sit down to pray together, as you pray both people become open and honest before the King of Kings and it doesn’t take very long before our hearts are softened toward each other, the truth of each person’s hearts are rightly discerned, and unity is established once again.
Vulnerability is Essential in establishing a life of prayer!!!
Lord, Thank you for Your Word!! Thank you that you invite us to be open, honest, and vulnerable with each other! Help us not pull away but join together in prayer when we are at our most desperate, at our most needy! Thank you that we are Not alone but that we are apart of Your Body!! May we be kind with each other, and handle each other’s hearts and needs with care! May we love each other as we love ourselves! In Jesus Name! Amen!
Who knows the real you? Is there someone in your life with whom you can be honest about your struggles?
What is in the darkness? Take the risk today to bring one hidden "fault" or sin into the light by sharing it with a trusted friend and asking them to pray for you.