Daily Bread 1/23/2025

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Email from Abiding Place     Daily Bread – January 23, 2025 (The Fifth Day – Genesis 1:20-23) James 5:16-17 – Confess your offenses one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The supplications of a righteous man has great power at work. Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of feelings we have, and he prayed the prayer that it would not rain and it did not rain upon the earth for three years and six months. James connects the working of miracles to a person’s prayer life. Elijah was a man like everyone else, subject to fears and doubts – the only difference was he took hold of the power of God through prayer. Paul and Barnabas said something similar about themselves after the working of a miracle. When the people tried to make gods out of them, Paul said, “We are men just like everyone else” (Acts 14:11,15). The power of God is not displayed because a person is someone special, but because of the power of faith functioning in that person. Peter and John declared to the people how it was not because they were devout and religious that miracles took place, but because of the Name of Jesus and the faith which is by His name (Acts 3:11-12,16). The efficacy of a prayer life is revealed by the answer to those prayers that are prayed. God the Holy Ghost is dedicated to teaching us how to pray the prayer of faith. Prayer hones our senses to the operation of the Holy Spirit, Who fills us with faith for the things God has declared He will do if we will only believe. The Father has called us and ordained us to come into a place of prayer in which whatever we ask in the Name of Jesus will take place (John 15:16; Mark 11:24). It is the prayer of faith that makes the difference. The prayer of faith is the prayer the Holy Spirit breathes through our hearts and mouths. We can be certain Elijah was concerned about the peril his life was in when he was standing against Jezebel and the prophets of Baal. The difference was made in that he had a direct line of communication with God, and he had learned that, through prayer, the faith of God was released through his life (1 Kings 17:1; 18:42-44). Let the Holy Spirit teach you how to pray the prayer of faith by the fiery fervent prayer of the Spirit He desires to fill you with (James 5:16; Ephesians 6:18; Jude 1:20; 1 Corinthians 12:9, 14:15; Matthew 21:21). Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen