'Therefore confess your sins to each other an pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective'. James 5:16
I wonder how much power my prayers have? I mean I don't feel, or think that I am all that righteous. So does that mean that my prayers are ineffective and weak?
It is strange that today I don't feel as drawn to the first part of this verse, the part that is often suggested to back-up the Catholic practice of Reconciliation. It is the part I used to be most concerned about, but now my questions leave this beginning behind.
Do my prayers have a lesser chance of getting a response when my righteousness has failed? Are my prayers quieter in God's ears? Does He even hear these prayers at all?
This reminds me of the whole; at the hardest times God carried us thing (you can find this theme in the poem footprints ). Maybe when our righteousness fails us, it is the words that we feel the most unworthy to speak that God hears the loudest.
Thirsting for truth, compassion and righteousness; that is at the heart of a life of worship.
