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Praying

             Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16 NIV)

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16 KJV)

“This, then, is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:9-13)

Growing up with the King James version of the Bible, I tend to remember James 5:16 in terms of “effectual, fervent prayer…” availing much. It feels like it’s lost something when we say that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Maybe that’s because the focus is no longer on the prayer, but on the person. Maybe it’s because we think we know what effectual fervant prayer is like, but we’re less confident about our righteousness. How are we to pray? I’ve no doubt that we’ve heard or read some magnificent prayers, sometimes full of thee and thou, but more importantly, filled with passion. Now those are prayers with which to storm the gates of heaven. Or maybe they’re a nice stage show that makes the pray-er seem like a spiritual giant.

In comparison, the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray, and the prayers I tend to pray don’t seem to even register on the scale. Last night, I found myself wondering whether I was even praying. Yes, I was using words one might find in a prayer, and I meant it for God’s ears. It wasn’t even that I thought the prayers were bouncing off the ceiling, it was whether what I was thinking was something other than just thoughts. They weren’t fervent. They were just a list of things I’d like to happen, like praying, “And God bless Mommy, and Daddy, and my doggy, and the new neighbors, and my writing, and the garden.”

But that’s not far off from the emotional level of the prayer Jesus taught His disciples: hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Give us our food. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others. Don’t lead us into temptation. Deliver us from evil…

Vanilla,

Boring,

Quotidian,

Pedestrian,

Not an ounce of drama.  

        Yawn.

          But then again, we’re not supposed to be acting. And how often do most of us talk to anyone else in the fashion we think we must with God in order to be powerful and effective?

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